Sumner names Pinkham coach Ex-star to guide girls hoop team

SULLIVAN – Four new coaches have been hired for Sumner Memorial High School’s basketball programs.

Elwood “Bimbo” Pinkham, who scored 38 points to help the Sumner Tigers win a state championship in 1973, will be the new girls varsity coach. He previously coached the girls varsity team at Narraguagus High School in Harrington.

He replaces Wayne Newenham, who will now serve as coach of the boys junior varsity team.

Also, Harold Page will coach the girls junior varsity team and Amy Michel will coach the girls freshmen team.

Practices start Nov. 21 and the season opens Dec. 9.

The appointments cap a controversy that surfaced last June after some members of the school community objected to Superintendent Donald LaPlante’s daughter being chosen to coach the girls varsity team.

Page, who applied for the job, said he wasn’t given fair consideration because his application materials were not distributed to all members of the selection committee. Page had been the freshman girls coach and assistant junior varsity coach for two years.

The dispute led to a debate about whether coaches should be appointed by the Flanders Bay School Committee or by the superintendent and principals without school board approval. State law requires that school boards approve appointments for teachers and principals, but there is no state requirement for coaches.

Officials reopened the search for a girls varsity coach after LaPlante’s daughter submitted her resignation. The district now has a written policy that gives administrators, not the school board, the authority to hire coaches as well as make appointments for all other extra-curricular activities.

In other news, Sumner is seeking a new athletic director since Matt Haney accepted the position of assistant principal at Mount Desert Island High School. The district has received about nine applications so far, high school principal Michael Eastman said Thursday.