Wayne Newenham has known for several months he was going to coach the Sumner girls basketball coach in his second stint with the Tigers of East Sullivan.

What he found out two weeks ago was that he was also going to be coaching the Sumner boys soccer team.

The Gouldsboro resident, who skippered the Tigers basketball team for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons, stepped up to coach soccer because no one else had applied – illustrating the increasing trouble athletic directors have in getting quality applicants for jobs.

“They didn’t have any applicants and we were scared we’d have to cancel the season,” Newenham said. “I didn’t want that to happen. I told [athletic director Dan Clifford] all along if there were no applicants I would do it.”

Newenham has the soccer experience – he coached the girls varsity for two seasons several years ago.

And he’s employed in the school system in maintenance, which gives him a flexible schedule.

“He’s a hard worker and he has a good rapport with the kids,” Clifford said. “They all know him.”

In his first stint with the Sumner girls basketball team, Newenham led the Tigers to a 20-18 record and back-to-back berths in the Eastern Maine Class C playoffs. Although Sumner didn’t get past the preliminary round in his first tenure, it was an improvement from the 4-48 record in the three years before he was hired.

He resigned the first time, he said, because of burnout and took the junior varsity boys basketball job under varsity head coach Walter Crabtree, whom Newenham said taught him to have patience, organizational skills and use of practice time.

“I don’t know if I was ready to coach at the varsity level,” Newenham said. “[Crabtree] helped me with that.”

Now, he said he’s ready to come back.

“It’s the challenge of it,” he said. “I wanted to get back to the varsity level.”

Newenham replaces girls basketball coach Elwood “Bimbo” Pinkham, a former Sumner standout – Pinkham was a 1973 All-Maine second-team member – who coached the Tiger softball team to the Eastern Maine Class C championship last month.

Clifford said Pinkham, who is a lobster fisherman, resigned because he just didn’t have time to coach and keep up with fishing, especially in the summers when many coaches are expected to take teams to camps or play in leagues.

“It’s tough to coach two varsity sports,” Clifford said. “This is really his busy season.”

Pinkham coached Sumner to a 9-9 record this season. They missed making the playoffs by 1.08 Heal points.

The Tigers will be young after graduating their top three scorers and top two rebounders, but they will have three starters back in Caitlin Smith, Tashia Daley and Kayla Higgins.

Field hockey all-stars in action

The state’s top senior field hockey players will get to play their all-star game Saturday.

The Maine Field Hockey Association McNally Senior All-Star game will be held at Yarmouth High School starting at 6 p.m.

The day actually begins that afternoon with a 2 p.m. clinic for those in grades 3-8. An alumni game will be held at 4 p.m. followed by the senior all-star game.

The game, which is named after longtime Gardiner coach Moe McNally, benefits the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland.

The West all-stars got the win last year, beating the East 3-2 in overtime.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.