Hughes relishes challenge as Camden Hills athletic director

These are busy times for the area’s high school athletic administrators.

Except in Aroostook County, where soccer season already is under way, this marks the first week of practices for fall sports teams, and one of the athletic administrators’ main jobs is to make sure those practices and subsequent scrimmages run smoothly.

Bill Hughes, the new athletic administrator at Camden Hills of Rockport is no exception, and he’s looking forward to the challenge, both now and once school is in session.

“This is an exciting opportunity for me at Camden Hills,” said Hughes, who takes over from Dave Cook, who has retired from the post after 16 years. “To work with a top-notch coaching staff, to have one of the best Class B facilities in the state, to be in a community that has displayed a great amount of support for athletics, and to have a very good pool of athletes, I’m happy to be part of this.”

A native of New York state, Hughes played college baseball under Dr. John Winkin at the University of Maine. He helped the Black Bears reach the 1976 College World Series, and captained the 1979 UMaine team.

This is not Hughes’ first affiliation with the Camden Hills athletic community. A Midcoast resident for the last 25 years, he was the head baseball coach at the former Camden-Rockport High School for three years during the early 1980s and also was the junior varsity boys basketball coach for two years under current Windjammers head coach Jeff Hart.

Hughes spent the last 16 years at Thomaston Grammar School as a physical education teacher, dean of students, and athletic director.

“The number of teams and the number of athletes I deal with are magnified at the high school level, but the major responsibilities are the same,” Hughes said. “Those are to provide support for the athletes and coaches in the areas of scheduling, equipment, facilities, and transportation.

Hughes inherits one of the more diverse – and growing – high school athletic programs in the state.

The school offers 17 varsity sports, having added boys and girls lacrosse in the last two years and with varsity ice hockey set to start with the 2006-07 season.

Among the other sports offered are mountain biking and ultimate frisbee. Neither is a Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned sport, but Camden Hills competes in mountain biking against the likes of Hebron Academy, Kents Hill, Gould Academy of Bethel, and Carrabassett Valley Academy during the fall, and plays an ultimate frisbee club schedule during the spring.

Camden Hills also will offer club football at the high school level this fall, with an eye toward some day moving to the varsity level in that sport. Football has been a club sport at the middle school level for the past two years, Hughes said, and graduates of that program are now in high school.

‘Jammers job stays in the family

John Kelly, who coached the Camden-Rockport/Camden Hills of Rockport wrestling team to 10 Eastern Maine championships and seven Class B state titles between 1988 and 2002, is returning to coach the Windjammers next season.

Kelly’s nomination was approved by the local school board Monday night.

Kelly replaces his brother, Patrick, who had replaced him as head coach in 2003 and guided Camden Hills to three state titles and four Eastern B crowns in four years before stepping down after last season for family reasons. Patrick Kelly’s teams compiled an overall meet record of 117-5.

“We are thrilled to have John back as head coach,” said Hughes. “His experience speaks for itself, and he’s very excited to take back over for his brother.”

John Kelly, a local contractor, compiled a dual meet record of 299-30 during his first tenure as the Windjammers’ head coach. His teams also won seven Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championships, and in four of the years Camden Hills did not win a state title under his watch, the Windjammers placed second at the state meet.

In 1998, he was named USA coach of the year, and this summer Kelly was inducted into the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame.

“When you look at your pool of applicants for a coaching vacancy and see a Hall of Fame coach who lives in the community, that’s a pleasant place to be,” said Hughes.

Camden Hills, which finished second to Mountain Valley of Rumford in the 2006 Class B state meet, figures to be a strong contender to regain its championship stature next winter as eight 2006 state finalists are expected to return to the Windjammers’ lineup.