When Chris Hallett was 5 months old, his dad became principal at Washburn High School.

A generation later, and with a 3-month-old son of his own, Hallett is returning to Washburn to become a guidance counselor and the Beavers’ new boys varsity basketball coach.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” said the 29-year-old Hallett, who has been juggling guidance duties at both Washburn and Messalonskee High School in Oakland in recent days but will join the Washburn faculty full time beginning next week.

Hallett replaces Larry Worcester as the Beavers’ basketball coach. Worcester stepped down as a teacher and coach earlier this year to become principal of Woodland Elementary School, also in Aroostook County.

Worcester guided the Washburn boys basketball team to 11 tournament appearances, including a berth in the Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinals last winter. He compiled a 123-109 regular-season record at Washburn, including 28-8 over the last two seasons.

“I have big shoes to fill,” said Hallett, who played for Worcester during his high school days. “He’s a great coach.”

The son of longtime central Aroostook County educators Frank and Pam Hallett, Chris Hallett played basketball, baseball and soccer at Washburn until graduating in 1994. He then went on to the University of Maine at Farmington before moving into education.

Hallett has been a guidance counselor and the boys junior varsity basketball coach at Messalonskee for the past four years, working for the last two seasons under current Eagles coach Tom Hill.

“He’s someone I really respect,” said Hallett. “I’ve learned a lot from him the last couple of years.”

Washburn graduated the school’s career scoring leader in Jason Thompson from its 2004 squad, but the Beavers are expected to have several key players back next winter, among them Adam Thompson, Zach Bird and Stephen Pesut.

“I like to press a lot and push the ball,” said Hallett. “I want us to be all over the place, to play hard and be aggressive.”

Gillies takes Witches’ reins

Autumn is normally a less intense time of year for Colin Gillies in his role as general manager and PGA pro at the Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono.

But that’s changing this year for Gillies, who has added the title of Brewer High School golf coach to his resume.

Gillies has lived in Brewer since becoming the head pro at PVCC 15 years ago. He was approached about the golf opening by former Brewer Superintendent of Schools Betsy Webb, and accepted the position last August.

Now he’s busy teaching the sport to 26 players on the Brewer roster, even though just eight can compete in a varsity match.

As a result, he has developed a junior varsity schedule to complement the varsity schedule, in part to keep younger players not yet ready for varsity competition still in the game.

“Golf is my business,” Gillies said. “I’m a member of the PGA, and part of our mission is to attract people to this sport, so given that I couldn’t see cutting anybody. I want to create opportunities for them to play.”

One other change for the team this fall is that because of his responsibilities at PVCC, Gillies couldn’t leave at midafternoon to conduct team practices at the team’s former home course, Pine Hill Golf Club in Brewer. So the team now calls PVCC home for its practices and matches.

“I made it very clear that everyone had to be on their best behavior because this is my place of business,” Gillies said. “But the kids have been great, they’ve exceeded my expectations. I have 26 terrific kids.”

The Brewer varsity squad began the week with a 4-2 record.

“We’ve probably underachieved so far, but they’re learning every day,” Gillies said. “The real test will come at the end of the season.”