LINCOLN – The coaching staff at Mattanawcook Academy will sport a different look beginning this spring with the retirements of two veteran coaches from the system.

Greg Reed, the Lynx’s varsity baseball coach for the last 28 years, has decided not to return to that post this spring. He’ll be replaced by former Lee Academy coach Dave Hainer.

And Art Greenlaw, head football coach at MA for the last three years after an earlier 18-year stint at Stearns of Millinocket, also has decided to step down. No replacement has yet been named to fill that vacancy, according to Mattanawcook Academy athletic administrator Rick Sinclair.

Reed, who retired from a 33-year career as an English teacher at Mattanawcook last June, had planned to return as the school’s baseball coach until recently.

He now works in an academic support capacity for postgraduate students at Lee Academy and cited the fact that he wasn’t at MA during the day and during the offseason as making it more difficult to develop and maintain relationships with his players.

“It just makes things a lot harder when you’re not in the school,” said Reed, who also was a longtime golf and basketball coach at Mattanawcook.

In addition, Reed began to grow weary of the travel required of the job.

“Since we’ve been reclassified [to Class B], with some of the travel it gets to be a lot of time involved,” said Reed.

Reed also acknowledged the changing complexities of coaching since he began guiding the Lynx on the diamond as varsity coach in 1979.

“It’s very different,” said the 57-year-old Reed. “Not to say it’s good or bad, but it’s hard for someone from my generation to be in coaching these days.”

Reed’s baseball coaching tenure at Mattanawcook was highlighted by two regional championships, an Eastern Maine Class B title in 1991 and an Eastern C crown in 2001.

Hainer was a sophomore second baseman and No. 2 hitter in the Mattanawcook Academy lineup on that 1991 championship team, and he’ll return to his hometown school’s baseball program after three seasons at neighboring Lee.

“I had a great experience at Lee,” said Hainer, who guided the Pandas to a 38-18 record and the 2006 Class D state championship. “I have nothing but great things to say about the whole community. They really get behind their teams, they’re very supportive.”

Hainer already works in the Lincoln school system as SAD 67’s health coordinator, and he also serves as an assistant football coach at MA.

“I wasn’t looking to leave Lee, and I probably wouldn’t have taken another job, but this was the opportunity to coach my alma mater,” he said.

The Mattanawcook baseball team finished with an 8-8 regular-season record last spring, and Hainer hopes the Lynx’s returning pitching depth will be the catalyst for a solid 2008 campaign.

“I think we’ve got some talent,” he said. “But I think we’ve also got a very tough schedule.”

Greenlaw guided the Mattanawcook football team to a 23-9 record and three postseason appearances as varsity coach after coming out of retirement as an assistant with the Lynx in 2004 under former head coach Mike Bisson.

“I still have a love for the game and a passion for coaching,” said Greenlaw, a retired educator who lives in Millinocket. “But I really feel the program needs somebody who’s in the [school] building for more hours during the off-season than I can give.”

That’s of particular importance, he said, in order to develop a training regimen during the winter and spring months that is pivotal to success in the fall.

“The easy part is from mid-August to whenever the season ends in November,” said Greenlaw.

Mattanawcook advanced to the Eastern Maine Class C championship game under Greenlaw in both 2005 and 2006 and qualified for the regional semifinals last fall before dropping a 15-14 decision to John Bapst of Bangor.

Greenlaw was the head coach at Stearns from 1976 to 1990 and from 1995 to 1997. He guided the Minutemen to a 111-59-5 record, with state championships in 1982, 1984, 1987 and 1995 and LTC titles in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1995.

A former president of the Maine Principals’ Association, Greenlaw continues to serve as a part-time consultant to the University of Maine’s Sports Done Right initiative.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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