After a combined nine years behind the bench at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, boys varsity coach Bill Brooks and girls varsity coach Frank McGrady are leaving the Huskies’ basketball programs.

The open positions have already been advertised by MCI and athletic director Julie Treadwell said she has received a couple of applications for one of the jobs.

“There’s no timetable in mind. We’re just going to take our time to find the two best candidates and go from there,” Treadwell said.

The field of candidates will be weeded down by a four-member search committee including Treadwell, a member of the faculty, a coach and a student. That committee will then make recommendations to the school’s headmaster.

Brooks, an alumnus of Nokomis of Newport, is stepping down after five seasons with the Huskies. He led them to three Eastern Maine Class B tournament appearances with an overall record of 56-40.

“We won 17 games our first two years and then 39 the next three,” said Brooks. “It was heading in a direction we were happy with.

The 32-year-old Brooks will retain his position as a science teacher at the high school.

“I put a great deal of time and energy and heart into building a good program here and I’ve always wanted to coach at a Class A school and I would like to coach at a school that’s excited about that type of success,” Brooks said. “It was a positive experience for me here, but it just seemed like a good time for a change.”

McGrady is resigning after leading the Huskies to the Eastern Maine basketball tournament in Bangor three of his four seasons and compiling a 40-37 record.

The Medomak Valley High School alumnus and Pittsfield resident is giving up his post to free up more family time to see his son, who will be an eighth grader next fall, participate in sports. Of course, if McGrady has his way, he could be seeing a lot of his son during the winter season in a couple years.

“It’s no secret I’m interested in the boys job,” McGrady said. “I plan to apply for it.”

McGrady, who is pharmacy director at Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield, was an MCI boys basketball assistant and volunteer assistant prior to taking the girls job.

Sailing, sailing

Tuesday’s bad weather and stormy seas claimed the first day of competition at Blue Hill in the annual Wells Cup, a two-day exchange team racing regatta involving George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and Mount Desert Island.

But there’s still day two on May 21st in Southwest Harbor.

It’s a busy month for sailing in the Blue Hill/Castine area as, in addition to the Wells Cup, the 5th Downeast Fleet Racing Championship will be hosted in a joint venture between George Stevens and Maine Maritime Academy on Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed because it’s such a great event, but Saturday’s weather forecast doesn’t look too great right now,” said Gay Leach, who helps organize the event along with husband Tim.

Tim and Gay Leach will host a team from Greenwich, Conn., for the event, which means they’ll have an extra 10 people living at their Castine home.

Greenwich is one of 19 teams from 15 schools in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut which will compete. More than 100 student sailors will compete in races of various lengths and courses all through both days off the coast of Castine. Six teams will represent Maine (two each from George Stevens, MDI, and Casco Bay (made up of students from various Portland-based schools).

“We’ll run three relatively simple courses: a triangle, an Olympic style triangle windward leeward, and a standard triangle windward leeward,” said regatta chair Jim Modisette. “The courses and the races tend to be short. We’ll try to do 15 A and 15 B division races.”

All-star academic athletes

The State of Maine Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Inc. has selected 13 recipients for its 15th annual scholar-athlete awards.

Two student-athletes from Lawrence High in Fairfield top the list as Alex Pellerin and Adam Foley are two of the 11 high school players to receive the honor. The others include B.J. (William) Dunlap of Skowhegan, Jeff Cutler from Messalonskee of Oakland, Jesse Edwards from Oxford Hills in South Paris, Jeff Fasulo from Scarborough, Jared Justice from Cheverus in Portland, Patrick Lyons of South Portland, Stefan Scarks from Thornton Academy in Saco, Ben Chapman from Bonny Eagle in Buxton, and Michael Duperre of Portland.

The lone collegian to be honored is Maine Central Institute grad Jason Cummings, now a senior at Colby College in Waterville. The other non-high school pick is former Sanford High player Patrick Shairs of Bridgton Academy.

All 13 award recipients, who also happen to be the first class to be entirely from Maine, will be honored at a banquet in Bowdoin College’s Thorne Hall Monday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available by calling chapter president Howard Vandersea at 729-4210.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or aneff@bangordailynews.net.