The subject is coaching.

News out of Fort Kent last week that longtime soccer personality and coach Bill Ashby has returned to his native state to coach men’s soccer at the branch of the University of Maine there was good for all those involved with the popular sport in the area.

In fact, Ashby, a Lubec native, may be the most qualified college soccer coach at the college level in Maine.

Recognition has come from his peers, certainly – he’s a seven-time coach of the year winner – but perhaps the greatest recognition for this talented coach comes from the number of young people who have been the direct recipients of his talent.

Aroostook County soccer players of all ages will now reap the rewards of the youth programs Bill will establish in his new home to enhance what is transpiring on the UMFK soccer fields.

Bill’s other soccer-related love centers around coaching education. He has held numerous administrative positions in the coaching field, and he has a real passion for improving the level of expertise in the coaching realm.

I first met the likeable Ashby at a Fourth of July celebration in 1989. Accompanied by his lovely wife, Pam, the couple made the short trek from their Corinth home to Bangor to witness the fireworks display along the Penobscot River.

It didn’t take long for two coaches to compare sports notes, and I came away from the meeting thinking that this is certainly a guy who loves his game.

And why not.

After all, Bill has been playing and coaching the game for more than 30 years, and he remains one of those guys who is notorious for the love of its evolution and growth in our nation. Frustrated by critics, who favor the highly publicized, seemingly more popular sports such as baseball, football, and basketball, Bill is the first to point to the ever-rising popularity of a game that grows by leaps and bounds each year in Maine.

Now, Bill Ashby is back where many people feel he belongs: Maine.

The good he did in such wayward haunts as Owensboro, Ky., at Brescia University, and in Bismarck, N.D., at the University of Mary, will translate into success in Fort Kent, Maine, at UMFK.

Another familiar face, donning coaching gear this summer, is David Carey.

The former Penquis Valley of Milo hoop sensation has returned to the boys varsity basketball position he once held at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

Despite a brief hiatus from the sidelines, Carey returns to rebuild a hoop program he had a large hand in bringing back from the dead several years ago.

I know this coach well, for it was my privilege to coach a younger version of the talented man when he played his high school ball at Penquis.

The Ponies of FA will be back in the tourney hunt just about as quickly as David could release his baseline jumper in the late 1970s.

Like soccer followers in Fort Kent, basketball faithful in Dover-Foxcroft will soon be in the midst of youth camps, clinics, and other fun activities.

Heck, that’s what winning coaches do. And make no mistake: These two gentlemen are winners in every sense of the word.

Soccer aficionados in Fort Kent and hoop junkies in Dover-Foxcroft are already buzzing about what two, enthusiastic coaches will do for their favorite sports and how quickly they’ll do it.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net