After a combined 11 seasons coaching varsity and junior varsity sports at Orono High School, Aaron Watson has decided to resign both his varsity baseball and basketball positions.

As a rash of coaching turnovers continue to affect the local landscape, Watson, who teaches physical education at Asa Adams Elementary School in Orono, says it might be time to re-evaluate the tenuous tenure of coaches these days.

“I certainly think high school sports has suffered some major blows lately with Mike Webb at Hampden and other good coaches at other schools because if you let the kids and/or the parents run the way the athletic programs are being handled, then it allows people to run coaches out of town,” Watson said. “I think it’s disturbing to see so many schools in such a localized area [with] such a high coaching turnover.”

Watson’s current situation resulted from what he believes was a disagreement by a “couple of parents” in the way he was running his summer basketball program.

“In mid-July I received a phone call from my athletic director [Mike Archer] and he stated he had some concerns about the way the summer program was being run, and/or the parents’ concerns with the way it was run, and he wanted to meet with me,” Watson explained. “The bottom line is during that meeting, he convinced me to resign my position based on the fact there was displeasure with the way things were going and he didn’t want to see me go through a rough season.”

Shortly after his meeting, Watson said he found out his job was “discussed and/or offered to someone else.”

“I asked if that was true and my AD said that it was,” Watson said. “That kind of put me back because I didn’t think that’s the way things should be done.”

“At that point, I decided it wouldn’t be best to continue baseball either because if they don’t have confidence in me as a coach at this point in one sport, what happens if we start losing close games in baseball?” Watson said. “Would the same thing happen to me?”

Archer was unable to offer much comment due to the confidential nature of meetings with employees.

“I felt Aaron and I left on as good [of terms] as possible given the circumstances,” said Archer. “I can tell you the job is open, the timing is unfortunate and this was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an easy decision.

“As far as baseball goes, I know nothing about him getting done. As far as I know, Aaron is our baseball coach.”

Archer said the basketball post has been advertised once already and will be advertised again this weekend. He hopes to have all applications by late next week and will then begin interviews.

Watson led Orono’s baseball teams to the playoffs three of the last four seasons and all the way to the Eastern Maine Class B finals last year. His two basketball seasons ended with preliminary losses in the round prior to the quarterfinals at the Bangor Auditorium.

“This is nothing personal at all, but it’s frustrating because I don’t see the reason I’m being dismissed,” said Watson. “I still want to coach, but I can’t see myself coaching at Orono any more. It’s just not a comfortable situation for me.”

Watson said he’s interested in a job with the University of Maine men’s basketball team as director of basketball operations.

“It’s kind of a volunteer thing where you do a lot with preparation, behind the scenes stuff, and game tape exchanges,” he said.

Cash infusion for the Indians

The Harold Alfond Foundation has awarded a $50,000 donation to the Friends Assisting Skowhegan Track, Inc., for the construction of a state-of-the-art track and field facility at Skowhegan High School.

This donation, combined with contributions from members of the SAD 54 community, is expected to help match the $100,000 challenge grant from the New Balance Foundation. So far, $25,000 has been raised by community members.

Construction, as approved by SAD 54’s board of directors, is expected to begin in the spring of 2003. SAD 54 voters have approved the expenditure of $100,000 for construction and $40,000 for engineering and other project-related costs.

Paint the campus red

Fans might notice a fresher look to Orono High’s athletic facilities after about 50 students, parents, and coaches volunteered their time to spruce up the school’s buildings and fields on “Red Riot Pride Cleanup Day.”

“They were out there from 7:30 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. in the hot sun doing just about everything from picking up trash to painting,” said Orono athletic director Mike Archer.

Volunteers also provided burgers, hot dogs, salad, chips, dessert, drinks and other things for the workers as part of an early afternoon barbecue.

Workers cleaned up the fields, dug new culverts for field drainage, repainted all the benches, dugouts, grandstands, and bleachers (basically anything already stained a shade of faded red), mowed the grass, cut down and hauled away dead trees and brush, rebuilt the long and triple jump pits, and re-dug and relined the shot put circle.

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