BANGOR – Rick Sinclair, the athletic administrator and boys varsity basketball coach at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln for the last five years, has accepted the same posts at John Bapst Memorial High School.

As athletic administrator Sinclair will replace the retiring Mike Thomas, while the basketball post became vacant after Jason Mills decided earlier this year not to return after coaching the Crusaders for the past seven seasons.

The opportunity to work closer to home was one reason for Sinclair’s decision to move from MA to a rival Class B school in the LTC, Penobscot Valley Conference and Big East Conference.

Sinclair and his family live in Brewer, and instead of a 100-mile round trip to Lincoln each day his new job will be just across the Penobscot River from home.

“I just shaved 94 miles off my daily commute,” said Sinclair. “It was a factor, and in this day and age it has to be a factor. This allows me to be three miles from home.”

Sinclair will inherit a fairly young basketball team, after last winter’s senior-laden squad finished the regular season with a 9-9 record and defeated Old Town in a preliminary-round contest before falling to Camden Hills of Rockport in the Eastern B quarterfinals.

“We’ve only got five kids back, and only two played significant minutes last year,” said Sinclair.

Sinclair has yet to meet his John Bapst players, but said a summer league schedule is already in place as the Crusaders open play in the Bangor High School summer league at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“I’ll be coaching some kids I haven’t even met yet,” said Sinclair, who urged all returning John Bapst players to attend Tuesday’s game. “But we’ll meet afterward and introduce ourselves and set things up for the rest of the summer.”

Sinclair stepped down as Mattanawcook’s boys varsity basketball coach in March after guiding the Lynx to a 67-33 record over five years, with his teams winning at least 12 games each of the last four seasons.

His first two years at MA were spent in Eastern Maine Class C before the Lynx were reclassified to Eastern B in 2005-06.

Sinclair was named Eastern Maine Class B coach of the year in 2007 after guiding the Lynx to a 17-5 record, including a one-point loss to Camden Hills of Rockport in the 2007 regional final. MA went 16-5 last season, reaching the EM semifinals before being ousted by eventual state champion Maranacook of Readfield.

Before coaching at Mattanawcook, Sinclair spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Hermon High School, where he guided the Hawks to a 29-15 record. Hermon won its first Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball championship in 2000, then returned to the regional final in 2001 before Sinclair left to become an assistant coach at Husson College in Bangor.

Sinclair, who earned Bangor Daily News All-Maine third-team recognition as a senior center at Hermon in 1992, went on to become an NAIA honorable mention All-American as a senior at Husson. He helped that program earn two NAIA national tournament berths, and he scored 1,146 career points before graduating in 1996.

Sinclair has an overall varsity coaching record of 96-48, including 12-6 in postseason play.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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