McKay Coyotes’ coach Former MDI fixture moves to Old Town

OLD TOWN – Old Town High School has had three head football coaches in the last two seasons alone.

Longtime former Mount Desert Island coach George “Toogie” McKay is now adding his name to that list but hopes to provide what he sees as the stability needed for the struggling Class B program to grow.

“I can’t say I’ll be here for 20 or 25 years,” said the 61-year-old McKay, whose appointment as the Coyotes’ new varsity football coach became official Tuesday night.

“But it’s not going to be a one-year wonder, either. I want to get involved with the school on a regular basis and help build the program. I’m seeing this as a five- or 10-year situation, maybe more.”

McKay replaces interim coach Todd Ellis on the sidelines at Old Town. Ellis took over the Coyotes midway through the 2006 season after Peter Kenny was relieved of his duties for using ineligible players in a game. Dan Baker coached the team the previous three years.

“We were looking for stability and hopefully for some longevity,” said Old Town athletic administrator Greg Thibodeau. “[McKay’s] been coaching for more than 20 years, so we hope he can bring that stability to us.”

McKay served as varsity football coach at MDI for 22 years before stepping down after the 2002 season.

More recently the retired educator has coached middle school sports in Northeast Harbor. McKay also rejoined the MDI football staff last fall under current head coach Mark Shields, who in 2006 guided the Trojans to their first playoff berth since 1998.

“I found I missed coaching,” said McKay, “and then the opportunity came up at Old Town. I think it’s a good opportunity.”

One of McKay’s coaching duties at MDI last fall was scouting future opponents of the Trojans, and it was in that capacity he had the chance to see Old Town play.

“I came away from watching them impressed with how excited they were about playing football, and that they played very hard,” he said.

Old Town finished 0-8 in the Pine Tree Conference Class B ranks last season and has not had a winning season since a 7-4 effort in 1997 when the team reached the LTC Class B final.

One problem the program has faced is because of that lack of success plus declining school enrollment, fewer students have played football at Old Town in recent years.

“One of the first things you’ve got to do is to build some numbers, and we’ll try to do that,” said McKay, a 1963 graduate of Bar Harbor High School, where he was an All-LTC center as a senior on the Seasiders football team. “That’s the first step, and then you build from there.”

The 1969 University of Maine graduate is optimistic about the players who will be returning from last year’s team this fall, as well as a promising incoming freshman class developed by eighth-grade coach Lester Cowan.

“One of the big things when it comes to being competitive is working hard,” McKay said. “If you just go out and do a good job and work hard, you can be competitive quicker than you might think. I don’t necessarily mean wins and losses, but being competitive later in games, and that’s the first step.”