Dewey Martin, who coached the Hampden Academy girls soccer team for five seasons, has been let go – and he said he doesn’t know why.

Martin said Broncos athletic director David Shapiro told him in December he wouldn’t recommend the coach be asked back for the fall 2008 season.

Martin met with Hampden principal Ruey Yehle and SAD 22 superintendent of schools Rick Lyons, but neither administrator would tell Martin why he wasn’t going to be recommended for the job.

“Neither one of them could offer anything,” Martin said. “They said they it was the AD’s recommendation and they support the AD. So that was the end of it.”

The girls soccer position was advertised last month.

Shapiro referred all inquiries to Lyons, who said he could not comment on the open position because it is a personnel matter.

Lyons confirmed he met with Martin but would not comment on their conversation because of confidentiality issues.

Under Martin, a Hampden resident and certified public accountant who also teaches accounting classes at Husson College in Bangor, the Broncos won 72 percent of their games.

Martin said he was most proud of his results from 2007, which included an 11-4-1 record with a berth in the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals. To get there, the Broncos had to beat Bangor in the quarterfinals. Hampden won that game 2-0, which was the third time that season the Broncos beat the Rams.

Hampden had an 8-3-1 record against Bangor in Martin’s tenure.

Martin said he also strove to spread out playing time among his players. The lowest average minutes per game for players in his tenure was 13, he added.

He received one yellow card and no red cards in his five years, he said.

The Hampden girls have been honored five years in a row with High School Team Academic awards from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Teams who earn that honor must have a combined grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.

All of which has Martin confused about why he isn’t coming back.

“I’m coming from the business world and this isn’t how it would be done in business,” Martin said. “But this is education. … I’ve been in coaching for a while and I’ve seen coaches be fired justly and unjustly, when you have no idea why. It took me completely by surprise. I wasn’t expecting it to happen to me. I must have done something wrong, but I just don’t know what it was.”

Martin is also the president of Hampden-Winterport Little League, a position he has held for about 10 years.

Martin, a longtime soccer referee, said he will likely officiate games next fall. He didn’t rule out a return to coaching, although if he were to do that, he’d like to go back to a girls team because he said he feels he has put in a lot of time to learn the game.

And he still has a soft spot for the Broncos.

“I loved coaching the Hampden Academy girls team,” he said. “There probably isn’t anywhere else I’d want to coach.”

Lyons said the school will look for a coach who meets SAD 22’s Core Characteristics, a template of 10 qualities the district looks for in hiring. Those qualities include passion and knowledge of the sport or academic subject.

“Those characteristics apply to anyone we would hire, not only coaches but also faculty and staff,” Lyons said.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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