With a lot of cram sessions, late nights, and caffeine-laced drinks in his future, Old Town High School teacher/coach Ian Braun decided that football would not be.

After seven seasons as the Indians head football coach and two before that as an assistant, Braun is turning the program over to someone else as he prepares to gear up for a master’s degree.

“It was a tough decision, but I thought that it might be time to get some new blood into the staff and the timing seemed to be right,” said the 33-year-old Braun. “I think overall, because of my age, it’s just something where if I’m going to get it done, I want to do it now while I’m motivated to do it.”

Braun’s wife Kristen is already hitting the books. A sixth-grade language arts teacher at Milford’s Lewis Libby Middle School, Kristen Braun resigned as Old Town’s basketball and football varsity cheering coach last fall after seven seasons to work on her master’s in English.

Ian Braun, who has taught history at Old Town for the past nine years, is eyeing a master’s in either administration or history.

“I’m not sure exactly, but I’m doing it with an eye toward maybe getting into an administrative post down the road. I took a couple of courses last summer to get back into it and I’ll probably start this spring and into the summer,” he said, adding that his decision to walk away from football was a tough one.

Braun told his players of his decision at the team’s banquet just before Thanksgiving.

“I read a prepared statement because I thought I’d be emotional about it. I had a pretty close relationship with some of the players,” Braun recalled. “They were surprised. I thought maybe a new person starting fresh could maybe start some things and build from the ground up.”

Braun compiled a 19-44 record with the Indians overall and was 1-2 in three playoff games. The Indians’ last playoff season was 1998 and their most successful was 1997, when they went 6-4 and lost to Belfast in the LTC Class B championship game.

“That was the most successful, but for a variety of reasons, all my seasons have been memorable,” he said. “I think I’ll miss the relationships with the players the most, plus the preparations and practices, even more than the games.”

Braun said he’d like to eventually return to coaching, but doesn’t see it happening in the near future.

Old Town High principal Terry Kenniston said finding Braun’s replacement is on the back burner for the time being as the top priority is now finding a baseball coach to replace Jay Kemble, who resigned in August.

“We have some applicants and now we have to take care of the interview process,” Kenniston said. “That’s first and foremost. After that’s done, we’ll need to look at whether we might have any teaching openings to go along with the football job and go from there.”

Big help for the Hawks

With plenty of experience in the backcourt, but little size returning from last season’s Eastern Maine Class B runner-up squad, Ron Lane was invaluable to Hermon.

The 6-foot-5 junior center was the Hawks’ leading rebounder and lone returning inside presence. Without him, it was goodbye halfcourt game.

So when Lane went down with a broken foot in preseason and head coach Alan Tweedie learned he’ll be out for most of the regular season, things looked grim.

Enter 6-7 junior center Adam Porter, a talented but raw and unproven bigger man who was able to try out but not practice with the Hawks because he was academically ineligible for the preseason.

Porter got his grades up and returned to the team just in time for the new quarter and regular season. To say he’s been a big boost to Hermon would be understating it.

“I don’t think you can overstate it,” said Tweedie. “He’s been improving every game. He’s working really hard at picking up some post moves and Ron’s working with him a lot. He’s got a great attitude.”

Despite the fact they’re classmates, Porter has great respect for Lane and appreciates any advice he has for him.

“Kids don’t like anyone the same age or younger telling them anything, but even though they’re peers, Adam really listens to what Ron tells him,” said Tweedie.

And he puts it into practice.

Despite a four-game losing streak for the 3-4 Hawks during a murderous stretch of the schedule against two 2000-2001 Class A tournament semifinalists and another Class A team, Porter is still turning heads with 52.5 percent shooting from the field (32-for-61), 65 percent (13-20) from the line, plus a team-leading 56 rebounds – 29 defensive and 27 offensive – and nine blocked shots.

“Because of him, we can try and release people earlier to go back in transition because your odds are better on getting rebounds,” Tweedie said. “On defense, you can gamble a little more on getting in passing lanes knowing that Porter is still back there.”

Andrew Neff’s High school report is published each Wednesday. He can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or aneff@bangordailynews.net.