Templates: Vachon, McShane

Schoolgirl basketball in Maine won’t be quite the same next winter.

First Bob McShane retired as the head coach at Calais after 22 seasons, 375 wins, nine Eastern Maine Class C championships and five state titles.

Now Paul Vachon has ended his 23-year tenure at Cony of Augusta, where he led the Rams to 433 victories, 11 Eastern Maine Class A titles and seven gold balls.

That’s 808 victories – with a winning percentage of .867 – 20 EM crowns and 12 state championships between them.

The basketball world doesn’t lose such numbers from its active roster without feeling the loss, but beyond those numbers, of course, there are the intangibles that won’t be replaced.

McShane built the biggest Down East dynasty since the Jonesport-Beals boys. After a losing season in his first year, McShane and the Blue Devils became a constant postseason presence, reaching at least the regional semifinals in 19 of his last 21 years.

His generally calm sideline demeanor provided a stabilizing influence even during the most trying of circumstances, yet McShane’s motivational skills were obvious given the tenacity of his players.

The glory days of McShane’s run came during the 1990s and early 2000s, with the Blue Devils’ most recent state title coming in 2001 and Eastern Maine crown in 2002. Yet he fielded competitive squads to the end – this year Calais was the only team to defeat Class C state champion Lee Academy.

Vachon, who will become the athletic administrator at Cony, simply ranks among the top innovators in Maine schoolgirl basketball history.

He was ahead of the curve in incorporating the 3-point shot into the Cony offense, blending it seamlessly into a high-tempo attack that featured a succession of talented guards, including his daughter Amy.

But while backcourt players were the stars for much of his coaching tenure at his alma mater, Vachon’s ability to adapt to the talent available was on full display late in his career, when Cony featured dominant frontcourt players such as Cassie Cooper and Rachael Mack, this year’s Miss Basketball.

Vachon also contrasted McShane’s sideline demeanor with a more fiery personality, one that agitated fans of opposing teams at times but certainly spurred his own kids to unprecedented heights.

Both teams likely will remain contenders as they enter their new eras, with solid youth programs and the confidence that comes through sustained excellence serving as foundations for the future.

But as was the case with both McShane and Vachon, the leadership at the top will play a pivotal role in where Calais and Cony are in the basketball hierarchy five years from now, or which programs will replace them as the standards for excellence in Eastern Maine.

More than a few high school programs have been torn apart – or at least severely weakened – by the lack of strong leadership that comes when everybody who has ever paid out hard-earned cash for their kid to attend summer camp or to play for a different team during the offseason also wants a piece of the power for that investment.

Those who will select such replacements at Calais, Cony or anyplace else a vacancy exists would do well to use McShane and Vachon as their templates, trust their choices, let them go to work and provide a reasonable amount of support in the face of inevitable criticism.

Surely that’s all Bob McShane and Paul Vachon sought when they were hired more than two decades ago, and 808 wins and 12 state titles later, the results are pretty convincing.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045