David Tims, who coached the MDI girls basketball team this year, has resigned.

MDI athletic director Bunky Dow said he received a letter of resignation from Tims in which the coach said personal reasons led to his decision. Dow said the letter came about two weeks ago.

Tims, who serves as the Southwest Harbor police chief, spent five years as the assistant to longtime coach Burt Barker. Barker resigned in August 2003 after 26 years with the Trojans.

Tims also served as the junior varsity girls coach.

Tims definitely faced some challenges this year as he took over a program that had won three straight Class B state titles from 2001-03.

Although he knew the team well from his years as an assistant, Tims didn’t have a chance to work with the Trojans during summer-league play because Barker announced his resignation in August, after the summer league ended.

And the Trojans had to replace four starters from the 2003 title team. The only returning starter, guard Jessica Norwood, suffered a season-ending knee injury in December.

So with five new starters Tims coached MDI to a 9-9 record in the regular season. The Trojans garnered the No. 10 seed for the playoffs, where they lost to No. 7 Rockland 52-31.

“I thought 8-10, 9-9 was possible, and he fulfilled that,” Dow said. “I thought it was a successful season considering that he lost Jessica and he got a late start because Burt was figuring out what to do.”

Tims did not return a phone message Monday, but he told the Bar Harbor Times last week that his resignation had nothing to do with his job. According to a story in the weekly newspaper, Southwest Harbor selectman Mark Campbell questioned if Tims’ part-time position as basketball coach conflicted with town policy because of his full-time job with the police.

Town manager Ken Minier told the newspaper in February that supplementary employment was neither encouraged nor prohibited.

Tims, a 1974 Winthrop High graduate, also served as an assistant coach at Wiscasset High School in the late 1980s.

Barker coached the Trojans to four state titles, 20 appearances in the Eastern Maine Class B tournament, and a regular-season record of 220-110.

Tims’ resignation means the MDI coaching job is just one of several vacant girls basketball positions in the area.

Dexter, Lee, Nokomis of Newport and Houlton are some of the high schools that will also be seeking coaches.

Dexter athletic director Steve Bell said he’s already had in-house applications for the girls basketball job, but he’s got field hockey and girls soccer coaching positions to fill, too. The latter jobs are the ones he’s worried about.

“In general it’s always a concern to find qualified people in-house,” he said. “It’s just getting harder and harder in these small rural towns. But hopefully we’ll find somebody.”

Dow said he plans to start looking for a new coach after school vacation ends and wants to have a new coach in place by the end of May or early June.

Blizzards win YBOA title

All of the playoff experience among the members of the Maine Blizzards must have helped the YBOA (Youth Basketball of America) team in a recent state championship tournament.

The Blizzards, a 15-and-under girls basketball team whose roster is packed with Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference standouts, recently won the U-15 state title at a tournament in Waterville.

The YBOA state championship means the Blizzards will represent Maine at the YBOA Nationals, which will be held July 3-10 in Alexandria, Va.

Among the high school varsity players on the Blizzards are Jillian Ross and Jamie Flagg of Belfast High; Nicole Crupi and Caitlin Hynes of Rockland; Stephanie Bossie and Ashley Carter of Winslow; and Kelsey Butler and Kristen Richards of Camden Hills. Fallon Atkinson and Kayla Carleton, also of Camden Hills, were not on the varsity roster this year.

All four high schools made it to the Eastern Maine Class B tournament. Camden Hills won the regional title.

The team is coached by Tom Philbrick.

The Blizzards beat Howard Hoops of Scarborough 52-19 in the first game, and then topped the Jaguars, with players from Jay and Livermore Falls, 58-40. The team beat Maine Elite in the final 34-26.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.