Tony Hamlin’s coaching career has been marked by more than 300 victories, state championships at two different schools and a perennial presence in postseason play.

But the 2007-2008 campaign has presented a different challenge for the Penquis of Milo boss – a challenge that only comes along every 30 years or so.

Not since 1979 when his Morse High School Shipbuilders went 3-15 will a Hamlin-led basketball team finish with such an inauspicious record.

Penquis entered its season finale against Orono at 2-15, but the news isn’t all bad – the Patriots took a two-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game.

“Actually it’s been a pretty good year in a lot of ways, as counterintuitive as that seems,” said Hamlin. “I’ve got a great bunch of kids, they get along well, there’s been no dissension, and I think you find you learn more in losing than you do in winning in terms of life lessons.”

Known for his intensity during stops at Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield, Morse of Bath, South Portland and for the last 12 seasons at his hometown school, Hamlin has modified his motivational style for this year’s youthful squad.

“I dialed it way down,” said Hamlin. “On a scale of one to 10, I’ve probably been a two in terms of how intense I’ve been with them. It wasn’t as if they weren’t trying or working hard. These kids have really hung in there.

“When you’ve got a lot of talent and they’re not getting the most out of it, then you can get in their grille, but with a group like this that’s giving maximum effort, you can’t go there.”

One would be hard-pressed to find many teams coached by Hamlin over the years that lacked the necessary work ethic, and that fact is reflected this year by the Patriots’ play on the defensive end. In 11 of its 15 losses and in 13 games overall, Penquis has yielded 56 points or less.

“We’ve been pretty tough defensively,” Hamlin said. “We just haven’t had the ability to put the ball in the basket.”

That’s been especially true at the free-throw line, where the Patriots have shot less than 40 percent for the season – a statistic Hamlin believes has cost his team four or five victories.

“You think back to our state championship team [at Penquis in 2000],” said Hamlin. “If that team had shot 40 percent from the foul line, we’d have gone 11-7 and nobody would remember us.”

Hamlin didn’t have championship aspirations for this year’s team but believed the Patriots would be competitive within the Eastern C ranks.

“I thought we’d win nine or 10 games,” he said, “and had we been able to put the ball in the basket, we would have been close to that.”

As the losses mounted, Hamlin grew concerned about his young team’s psyche – and dealing with that became a primary coaching challenge.

“It’s a lot easier to do this job when you’re 15-3 instead of 3-15,” said Hamlin. “But it’s all about communicating, it’s all about making sure they know you care for them. This was a situation where we had to deal with this together.

“They say winning and losing are both habits, but losing is an awful tough habit to break. You’ve just got to be indefatigable in this situation.”

And while this season’s tough times have taught the players plenty of life lessons such as coping with adversity, they’ve also taught the teacher a thing or two about his craft.

“It’s been good for me because it’s made me look at my approach and adjust,” said Hamlin. “I think going through this will help me next year, and the year after that.”

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045