Sinclair gains two positions at MA

Rick Sinclair has been named athletic director and boys varsity basketball coach at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln.

“This is an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” said Sinclair, a former basketball standout at Hermon High School and Husson College who also coached Hermon to the Eastern Maine Class B championship in 2000.

“I’ve wanted the chance to coach my own team again, and being the athletic director is a great opportunity for me professionally to work in a program with a great tradition.”

Sinclair, 28, replaces the late Dale Curry as athletic director. Curry died of cancer July 26 after a career at the school as a teacher, coach, athletic director and assistant principal that spanned nearly four decades.

On the basketball side, Sinclair replaces Ron Weatherbee, who was not renominated for the post after coaching the Lynx to a 102-60 regular-season record over the past nine seasons. Last winter, MA finished 12-6 and lost to Dexter in the Eastern C quarterfinals.

One factor in that decision, said MA principal Dick Greenlaw, was that Sinclair was already in the school system as a full-time math teacher, while Weatherbee teaches in the Old Town school system.

“Ron’s a nice guy, it wasn’t anything bad about him,” said Greenlaw, who added that all coaching positions at the school are opened up annually. “We had one candidate in house, and one who wasn’t. We had two great candidates, and it was one of those tough decisions that was made.”

Weatherbee said he was disappointed not to be rehired.

“Mr. Greenlaw made an administrative decision, that’s the best way to put it,” said Weatherbee, a Lincoln resident who coached basketball in SAD 67 for 19 years and taught in the district for 25 years before taking the teaching job in Old Town in 2001.

“I’m not thrilled with it, but there’s nothing I’m going to do to fight it. It’s his decision.”

Weatherbee, who coached the Lee Academy softball team to the 2003 Eastern Maine Class D championship, said he was notified by Greenlaw on Aug. 1 that he would not be renominated.

“It was kind of a surprise, so that I hadn’t made plans to go elsewhere to coach,” said Weatherbee, who ran this year’s MA boys summer basketball program. “Whether it’s this year or another year, I think I’d like to coach again.”

This will mark Sinclair’s second stint as a head basketball coach. He guided Hermon High School for two seasons, compiling a 29-15 record and leading the Hawks to their first-ever Eastern Maine championship in his first season on the varsity sidelines. In 2001, Sinclair led Hermon back to the regional championship game before leaving to become an assistant coach at Husson College, a post he held for the last two years.

“I spent two years coaching at Husson, and I learned a lot that I want to implement here, along with what we did at Hermon,” Sinclair said.

Sinclair is a 1992 Hermon High School graduate and a 1996 graduate of Husson, where he earned a degree in sports management as well as his teaching certificate. During his basketball career with the Braves, the 6-foot-8 center scored 1,146 points and was an NAIA All-America honorable mention as a senior.

“He’s a very organized individual,” said Greenlaw of Sinclair. “Last year as a full-time math teacher he did an outstanding job. He’s been around the Eastern Maine sports scene, and we’re fortunate to have him here.”