In more than two decades at what is now Camden Hills High School, Jeff Hart has dealt with most of the pressures faced by the state’s basketball coaching community.

Hart has been more fortunate than most of his brethren. Guiding your program to three state championships and five Eastern Maine Class B titles in the last 10 years has a soothing effect on potential detractors.

Still, Hart recognizes the tenuous – or tenure-less – nature of the coaching profession.

“You have tenure in teaching and you don’t have that in coaching,” Hart, the new president of the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches, said recently. “In reality, I’ve been here 22 years and someone could tell me at the end of the season we’ve had enough of you and I wouldn’t even have an argument. I could argue with them, but if they want to make the move they’re going to make the move.”

Hart hopes the collective coaching voice offered by the MABC can be a great source of support to those members who participate.

“I think administrators have to appreciate everything coaches are doing and not fall prey to the ‘my kid’s not playing and I want him or her out of here’ talk,” Hart said. “I think they’ve got to support their coaches as much as they can, but certainly the more coaches are together and the more of us there are to stand behind people, the stronger we all become.”

Hart sees the MABC as a mechanism for providing that support. The organization recently developed a Web site, and currently is gathering a master list of the state’s basketball coaches. Membership in the organization has grown, he said, but not as fast as he would like.

“We’ve got to get our acts together,” Hart said. “We’ve got to get coaches to be more willing to step out and make the association work for them, and get to meetings and vote for their players for the McDonald’s all-stars and become more involved.”

Awareness of the MABC is one of Hart’s biggest tasks, in part because of the significant change in the coaching ranks from year to year.

“There’s such turnover in coaching now, it’s hard,” Hart said. But our coaches have to get out there and get involved, and make sure we’re doing the right things for kids, and I think we’ve been a little lax on that.”

“Unless we have a big percentage involved, when we want something changed or want to have our voice heard, if we go to an MPA meeting or I go and they say, ‘well how many of your coaches feel that way’ and I don’t have numbers behind me, they’re not going to listen to me.”

Big East, KVAC renew rivalries

The drop of Presque Isle to Class B this season has left the Big East Conference Class A ranks with just six teams: Bangor, Brewer, Nokomis of Newport, John Bapst of Bangor, Hampden Academy and the northernmost Class A team in the state, Old Town.

Under a two-year agreement reached last spring, each Big East A team will play five crossover games against Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A teams in addition to 13 games against teams from its own league to fill out an 18-game schedule.

A year ago, Big East teams played each other three times during the season, which coaches generally regarded as too much familiarity.

For Bangor, the new schedule creates a chance to renew a rivalry the Rams had for many years with Waterville, one of the KVAC teams on its schedule. Coach Roger Reed’s club also will face Oxford Hills of South Paris, Gardiner, Mt. Blue of Farmington and KVAC newcomer Lewiston.

“It’s definitely a good thing in the long run,” said Old Town coach Marty Clark, whose team plays Skowhegan, Lawrence of Fairfield, Morse of Bath, Gardiner and Messalonskee of Oakland. “I wish we had kept playing them all these years.”

“I’m fine with it,” added John Bapst coach Jason Mills. “It’s nice to get the chance to play some different teams and go to some different places.”

John Bapst has road games against KVAC foes Messalonskee, Medomak Valley of Waldoboro, and Leavitt of Turner Center and home games against Skowhegan and Brunswick.

The current scheduling plan will be in place for the next two years, until further refinement is necessitated by John Bapst’s potential drop to Class B in the 2005-06 school year.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net