Clark returning to OT basketball post Veteran coach coming out of retirement

Marty Clark, who coached the Old Town boys varsity basketball team for 16 years before leaving that the post after the 2004 season, is coming out of retirement.

Clark’s nomination to return as the program’s head coach for the 2005-06 season was approved by the Old Town school committee Tuesday night, according to Old Town athletic director, Greg Thibodeau.

Clark replaces his replacement, Brad Paradis, who recently decided not to return to coach the varsity after guiding the team to a 6-12 record in 2004-05. Paradis cited family reasons for his decision.

A 1980 Old Town graduate who as a senior played on an 18-0 team that won an Eastern Maine Class A championship, Clark coached Old Town to a 253-143 regular-season record during his first tenure, which began in the 1987-88 season.

His best run came between 1990 and 1993, when his teams amassed a combined 64-8 regular-season record. Old Town won the 1991 Class A state championship, defeating Biddeford 68-63 in the final, and earned the No. 1 seed in Eastern A in 1993 by finishing the regular season with an 18-0 record.

Clark was named Big East Conference Coach of the Year six times and was twice selected as the Eastern Maine Class A Coach of the Year. His teams also won numerous sportsmanship awards.

One of the smallest schools playing Class A basketball statewide, Old Town has managed just one winning season since 1998, that coming in Clark’s final year, when Old Town went 12-6 during the regular season before being eliminated by Mount Ararat of Topsham in the Eastern A preliminary round.

Preseason practices for Maine high school basketball in all four classes for the 2005-06 season are scheduled to begin Monday, Nov. 21.

Old Town, whose returning cast will be led by senior guard Logan Bouchard and senior forward Travis Shaw, is scheduled to play its first game of the season at home on Friday, Dec. 9, against Lawrence of Fairfield.