Jon Porter has only been on the job for two weeks, but he’s already been asked the same question several times since taking the principal position at the Southern Aroostook Community School.

So what’s it like being the boss of your former coach?

“It’s a little bit strange, but I’m not really thinking of it in that way,” said Porter, who played baseball for longtime Warriors coach and athletic director Murray Putnam. “We just work together. He’s been very helpful.”

Porter, who spent a decade as the Dyer Brook school’s physical education teacher as well as its girls basketball coach, boys soccer coach and softball coach, is now Southern Aroostook’s principal. That means he’s given up all but the boys soccer position, which he’s continuing because the season has already started.

“The administration felt that it would be better not to make a change in the middle of the season,” said Porter, whose Warriors are 2-0.

Porter coached the girls basketball team for nine years, the soccer team for 10 and the softball squad for 11. All three have been quite successful, especially in recent years.

The Warriors were the Eastern Maine Class D runners-up in softball last spring, made it as far the EM Class D basketball semifinals, and earned the No. 4 seed in boys soccer before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Van Buren.

Porter coached the basketball and softball teams to Eastern Maine Class D titles in 1997.

“I’ll still have that interest in the teams, but I’ll take a seat on the sidelines now,” he said.

Porter takes over the principalship from Clark Rafford, who left in June to take a principal position at Hodgdon High. Porter earned his master’s degree from the University of Maine this past spring, so he decided to apply for the principal job.

“The community was always very supportive,” he said. “I hope I have that same support in my new position.”

The next step will be hiring replacements for Porter’s teaching and coaching positions. One natural hire would be Hodgdon girls basketball coach Jill Pisano, a 1994 third-team All-Maine and Eastern Maine Class D all-tourney basketball player when she played at Southern Aroostook. Her maiden name is Jill Mathers.

But Porter said he doubts she would leave Hodgdon.

“The last time I talked to her she was pretty happy there,” he said.

Luce, Donovan gain Hermon jobs

The Hermon High boys soccer team was all set for its 2005 season – that it, until its new coach resigned.

Enter Amy Luce, who has served as the junior varsity coach since 1995. She was approved to take over the Hawks varsity position in a school board meeting last week, athletic director Paul Soucy said.

The school hired Madawaska native Kevin St. Jarre as both the girls soccer coach and a social studies teacher. But about 10 days, Soucy said, he e-mailed Hermon administrators to let them know wouldn’t be able to take either position because his wife had been unable to find work in the area.

Luce, a Spanish, civics and English teacher at Hermon who is also an assistant indoor track and field coach and the head outdoor track and field coach, agreed to take the job on short notice.

“I was the runner-up applicant [when Mike Poulin resigned in the spring],” said the 1994 Hermon High graduate. “When [Poulin] stepped down, it was time. And he encouraged me to apply for it.”

Luce has worked under three head soccer coaches.

“She’s paid her dues, she’s a veteran soccer person and she wanted to take that next step,” Soucy said.

The school has also hired Riley Donovan to coach its cross country program, Soucy said. Donovan, who ran track at Cheverus of Portland, also competed at the University of Maine, where he’ll be a senior this year.

“He’s a nice young man and I think he’ll be a good role model for the kids,” Soucy said.

MPA supporting steroid program

The Maine Principals’ Association is supporting a national campaign to encourage steroid awareness.

The National Federation of State High School Associations developed the “Make the Right Choice” campaign, which includes a multimedia package of DVDs, brochures and posters to educate high school administrators, athletic directors, parents, coaches and athletes about steroid abuse.

The MPA is mailing a copy of the DVD and the rest of the materials to each member high school.

The DVD features two 10-minute segments geared toward coaches and students, and parents. The DVD highlights include interviews with Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green. Two parents also share stories of their children’s struggle with steroids and a coach talks about the side effects of his steroid abuse.

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