Rockland District High School is expected to have a new boys varsity basketball coach tonight.

Matt Breen, a 1997 RDHS graduate, has been nominated by SAD 5 superintendent Anne Demers to replace Casey Morrill, who took the job on an interim basis last fall and did not seek to retain the position for next season.

Breen’s nomination will be considered during a special SAD 5 board of directors meeting.

Breen is a former 1,000-point scorer for Rockland who went on to play at Husson College. Employed as a lobsterman, he entered the coaching ranks last winter, leading the Rockland boys junior varsity squad.

The varsity coaching position originally was advertised in conjunction with a physical education-health teaching vacancy, Demers said. But when the full-time athletic director and assistant principal positions at the high school were combined into one position due to budget constraints, Brian Plourde stepped down from the AD post and accepted the PE-health teaching position.

With a teaching position not part of the package, several candidates opted not to continue their pursuit of just the coaching position, she said.

Rockland basketball supporters are hoping Breen will bring stability to a program that has gone through three coaches in less than two years. Donald “Buddy” Wood’s three-year-tenure ended when he wasn’t rehired after the 2003 season. His replacement, Karl Henrikson, left before coaching a single game to become the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Southern Maine.

Morrill then stepped in on relatively short notice, and led Rockland to a 5-13 record last winter.

In another personnel move, former Oak Hill and Medomak Valley basketball coach Todd Sanders has been nominated to fill the new position of athletic director-assistant principal at Rockland District Middle School.

As was the case at the high school, the AD and assistant principal positions were combined at the middle school for budgetary reasons, Demers said.

Sanders, who has taught at Medomak for the past five years, also has been a successful softball coach for the Panthers. This spring, he guided Medomak to an 11-5 regular-season record.

Demers said she expects to make a nomination for the high school AD-assistant principal vacancy before the school board’s July 8 meeting.

Wrestlers fare well in Nebraska

Kyle Bonin wasn’t sure what to expect as he joined a contingent of Maine wrestlers that trekked to Nebraska last week for the 20th annual Friendship Series exchange.

While Maine has a rich high school wrestling tradition, it pales in comparison with that of Nebraska, where as many as 25,000 fans have turned out for regional and state championship meets. Many schools there have separate buildings to house their wrestling programs.

“It’s so huge out there,” said Bonin, a Northport resident who will be a senior at Belfast Area High School this fall. “I only wish it could be half as big here.”

Bonin and his teammates returned to Maine on Tuesday afternoon with lessons learned amid a more than respectable showing.

Maine finished with a 1-3 record in four dual meets against Nebraska regional teams, capping off its trip by defeating the Omaha All-Stars 13-5.

“We kind of got out butts handed to us the first meet,” said Bonin, “but we started coming on in our second match and we were closer, and the third match was even closer. Our last match was supposedly against the second-toughest team we were supposed to wrestle against, but I guess we put it all together and won 13-5.”

Of the Maine wrestlers who made the trip, all won at least one match. Four-time state champion Chris Remsen, who recently graduated from Camden Hills of Rockport, went undefeated in five matches, while Decota Cotton of Noble of Berwick won five of six matches.

Other top competitors included Ben Kinerson of Kennebunk and Blair Academy (N.J.), 3-0-1; Seth McAlister of Oxford Hills of South Paris, 3-1-1, and Caleb Pelletier of Charleston and Foxcroft Academy, 3-2.

Bonin, the reigning Class B state champion at 112 pounds, split his four matches.

“The first two guys I wrestled were 15 pounds heavier than me,” he said. “But it was a great experience, and it was good to be able to hang in with them. I wasn’t necessarily expecting to win out there.”

Other Maine wrestlers were Jake Rollins of Camden Hills, Chris Desrosiers of Winslow, Brooks Thompson of Skowhegan, Justin Cornell and Derek Giusto of Lisbon, Shane Holton, Jon Brooks and Colby Lamson of Marshwood of Eliot, David Smith of Mountain Valley of Rumford, and David Gregory of Lincoln Academy of Newcastle, who won two of his first three matches before suffering a broken ankle.

The team’s performance was comparable with the last Maine team to trek to Nebraska. The 2002 Maine team also won one of its four dual meets, and finished with a 35-37 cumulative match record, compared to 35-38 this year.

“I learned some new moves, and gained some confidence,” said Bonin. “It’s the most competitive situation I’ve been in in a long time, but I felt good about myself afterward.”

The Maine team was coached by Dennis Walch of Westbrook, Neal Wood of Belfast and Mark Stevens of Lisbon.

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