Messalonskee of Oakland girls basketball coach John Donato recently resigned for personal reasons and because of an evaluation he received last month from Messalonskee’s new athletic director.

Donato, the former Houlton girls basketball, golf and baseball coach, is getting married to Kelly Scott of Bangor in August. But Donato said the impetus for his resignation – which comes with the coach just four wins away from the 400th of his career – was an evaluation he received from AD Brett Hoogterp which questioned the low numbers in the program.

“I tried to explain that the numbers are down all over the place,” Donato said. “Cony had a hard time fielding a freshman team. Today’s kids, if they don’t play a lot, they don’t stay on the team. … So I just decided it was a good time to step away.”

Hoogterp did not return a phone message Monday.

Messalonskee had 13 players on its roster for the 2005 Eastern Maine Class A tournament. Cony of Augusta, the eventual state champion, had 16 while EM runner-up Skowhegan had 15. Mt. Blue of Farmington, also a tourney team, had 14. But at least two other Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference tourney teams had a smaller tourney roster than Messalonskee. Oxford Hills of South Paris had 12 and Lewiston had 11.

Messalonskee had 11 players on its freshman team last year and a combined 18 on the varsity and junior varsity rosters.

Donato said declining numbers are a trend at many schools because of other options such as track and field, swimming and competitive cheering.

“Kids have a lot of other options,” he said.

Donato, a three-time KVAC Coach of the Year, has racked up an impressive resume with the Eagles. His nine-year record at Messalonskee was 129-51, which includes a couple of big Eastern Maine Class A tournament wins. In 2001 the No. 6 Eagles beat No. 3 Bangor 36-34, and in 2005 No. 5 Messalonskee tipped No. 4 Mt. Blue of Farmington 50-34.

Cony ended Messalonskee’s 2004-05 season with a 62-30 win in the semifinals.

Donato, a Massachusetts native who graduated from Ricker College in Houlton, coached Houlton’s girls varsity basketball team from 1977-78 to 1994-95. He won 261 games with the Shiretowners, including four Class B state championships and nine regional titles.

Donato also coached the Houlton golf team for 18 years, winning a Class B state championship in 1993, and skippered the baseball team for 25 years, including Eastern Maine Class A titles in 1976 and 1983.

In 1995 he moved to central Maine to start a sporting goods business with his brother. Donato coached girls basketball at Hall-Dale in Farmingdale for a year and then took over at Messalonskee in 1996. The Eagles were 5-13 in the previous season but went 17-3 in Donato’s first year.

Donato would have returned to a 2005-06 Messalonskee team that went 16-5 last winter and had four sophomore starters, including fraternal twins Chelsea and Amanda Barker.

Donato, who teaches science and coaches varsity golf at Lawrence High in Fairfield, said he didn’t get his evaluation until June, which made it hard for him to look for another girls basketball coaching job after his resignation.

But he’d like to find another basketball coaching job at some point.

“I want to get back into it,” he said.

MBR hosting hoop clinics

Maine Basketball Report will be hosting two Learn from the Pros clinics featuring 3,000-point scorer Derek Vogel and former Westbrook College coach Jim Graffam.

The clinics will be held on two weekends. The first session will be July 16 and 17 and the second will be Aug. 20 and 21. Both sessions will be held in Portland. Players can attend one weekend or both.

There are sessions for boys and girls and junior high school and varsity players.

The cost for the clinic is $50.

Vogel, a graduate of Greely High in Cumberland Center, recently completed his eighth season of professional basketball in Europe. He scored 3,050 points while at Westbrook College from 1992-96 and was twice named an NAIA All-America. Graffam is currently the men’s basketball and baseball coach at St. Joseph’s College in Rutland, Vt. He coached six years at Westbrook College.

For more information contact Tom Nolette at 665-2030 or tom@mbr.org or go to www.mbr.org/events.