The economic strife caused by the closure of the Great Northern Paper mill in Millinocket has now taken a coaching casualty.

Ed Mooney, the baseball coach at Katahdin High School in Sherman Station, has decided to resign.

“I’m a little discouraged. It’s something that I’ve been doing for the last seven years,” Mooney said.

The 51-year-old Mooney worked in GNP’s Woodlands Department as a lead scaler at the time of the mill’s closure. He had worked for the mill for 31 years.

Mooney said that because of the uncertainty of whether he would return to work at the mill, he felt is was necessary to step down as the Cougars coach.

“…We don’t know if we’re going to get called back. In the meantime we’re looking for jobs. I didn’t really want to start the season and then have to quit when I find another job,” Mooney explained.

Mooney coached the Cougars to a 74-52 record. His teams reached the playoffs each of his seven years as the coach.

He said he had been looking forward to coaching this year’s team because the team was going to have “five or six” freshmen starters. He said he will miss coaching.

“I would have liked to have brought them up through the ranks. Hopefully I’ll get back into [coaching] at some point down the road,” Mooney said.