Schwarz, Savage gain Brewer coaching positions

Two veteran coaches familiar with the Brewer High School athletic program will guide new teams for the Witches during the next school year.

Sort of.

Bill Schwarz, who has coached Brewer’s girls varsity soccer squad since 1996 and guided the Witches’ ice hockey fortunes for eight years during the 1990s, is returning to the varsity hockey post next winter.

Mark Savage, who preceded Schwarz as the school’s girls varsity soccer coach, will coach Brewer’s boys varsity soccer squad this fall.

Both appointments were approved by the Brewer School Committee this week.

Schwarz replaces Steve Van Dolman, who stepped down to pursue educational goals after compiling a 67-41 record over five seasons, capped off by the 2006 Eastern Maine Class B championship.

Schwarz coached hockey at Hampden Academy for the last two years, The Broncos went 9-11 last winter, good for seventh place in Eastern Maine Class B. Hampden then lost to No. 2 Houlton-Hodgdon in the regional quarterfinals.

“I had no problem with going back to Hampden,” said Schwarz. “Dave Shapiro and the people there do a great job, the principal is very supportive and the kids work hard, but I just thought it would be kind of neat to go back to Brewer.”

Before coaching at Hampden, Schwarz spent six years at Bangor High, leading the Rams to postseason play five times.

During his earlier stint at Brewer, he guided the Witches to Eastern B titles in 1994 and 1995 and twice was named the Eastern B Coach of the Year.

Before taking the Brewer post for the first time, Schwarz coached at Foxcroft Academy for two years.

“I’m looking forward to working with the kids on team play and basics and being good citizens on and off the ice,” said Schwarz.

Discipline will be one area of focus for Schwarz, an area that bit the Witches during their 4-2 loss to Cape Elizabeth in the 2006 state final when they committed 19 penalties, four of them majors or misconducts and three of them resulting in ejections.

“My reputation is to be a disciplinarian, it was when I was at Brewer before and at Bangor and Hampden, too,” said Schwarz, an ex-Marine who lives in Brewer. “You need to be disciplined to be successful.

“The players have to be able to stay out of the penalty box and help each other by not taking dumb penalties. There are going to be penalties during the course of a game … but we want to play hard and play clean. I’d much rather play a man up than a man down.”

Savage steps into the boys soccer post for Darren Hall, who wasn’t rehired after four seasons in the aftermath of Brewer’s decision earlier this year to open up all its co-curricular positions for applications. The positions were initially advertised within the schools, and if no suitable candidates were found then the positions were advertised externally.

Hall, who does not work in the school system, did reapply for the position. He works as a certified public accountant, and serves in the Maine Legislature as the representative for House District 20 (Holden).

Savage has taught at Brewer since 1986 and was named the Maine Physical Education Teacher of the Year in 1996 for his work in starting and developing an outdoor education program.

He coached girls soccer at Brewer from 1986 through 1995, and also had an 11-year stint as boys varsity basketball coach and four years as the girls’ varsity coach before he stepped down after the 2004-05 season.

“I absolutely love to coach, and I missed coaching even though I was only away from it for one year,” said Savage, who also coached girls soccer at Hermon and Bangor before coming to Brewer.

Savage said considerable work needs to be done to elevate the program, including improving the school’s soccer facilities and expanding participation in the local youth soccer program.

Brewer finished 5-8-1 last fall, good for 11th place in Eastern Maine Class A. The Witches lost to No. 6 Lewiston in preliminary-round play.

The Witches return a large number of players from that team, a group that currently is playing for Savage in a summer league based in Hampden.

“They look to be pretty good quality players, and they’re real good kids,” said Savage.

Brewer opens its 2006 varsity soccer schedule at Waterville on Saturday, Sept. 2.