Bob and Margaret Ackley of Old Town have been happily married for 27 years.

Even in his role as Old Town High School’s softball coach, Bob Ackley wanted Margaret at his side, as a volunteer assistant.

What happened this summer is testament to the strength of their relationship.

Bob Ackley has taught mathematics at Old Town High School for 27 years. He was the softball coach for the last seven seasons, leading the Indians to a 184-112 record.

Ackley enjoys teaching, and he loves coaching. But his seemingly comfortable teaching and coaching marriage in Old Town was thrown into turmoil in July.

Ackley was in Denmark, directing a month-long Children’s International Summer Village program that brings together 17- and 18-year-olds from across the globe to discuss world problems and the issues facing teens.

While Ackley was gone, the Old Town school board voted 4-3 not to reappoint him as the Indians’ head coach, even though he had received recommendations from School Union 90 Superintendent John Grady, high school principal Don Sturgeon, assistant principal Lionel Bishop, and interim athletic director Garry Spencer.

Knowing how much it would hurt her husband, Margaret Ackley decided not to relay the bad news to Europe.

“She chose not to tell me, because there was no sense to ruin my experience while I was over there,” Ackley said. “The happened on the 11th . I found out on the 28th.”

Ackley likes coaching so much that he has spent the past three years looking for a college job. There were no takers.

He luck changed while he was in Denmark. His younger daughter, Lisa, saw an ad in the Bangor Daily News for the softball head coaching job at Hussson College in Bangor.

Margaret Ackley didn’t hesitate. She went to their home computer, called up his resume, updated it, signed her husband’s name, and mailed it to Husson.

“He had been hunting for something on the college level for a while,” she said. “I wasn’t risking an awful lot. Bob just loves coaching too much to lose out on ”

She told her husband, over the phone, what she had done, but kept the Old Town situation a secret.

“I really didn’t think that much of it,” he said. “Next thing I knew, everything fell into place.”

Two weeks after Ackley’s return to Maine, he had his first interview with Husson athletic director Pam Hennessey. A week later, he was offered a job as the coach of Husson’s softball, volleyball, tennis and cross country teams.

Ackley recently was hired by Husson, where he replaces Butch Arthers of Belfast, who stepped in on an interim basis last spring when former coach Shannon Whiting resigned early in the Braves’ season. Ackley also will serve as Husson’s director of intramurals and sports development.

He will continue to teach at Old Town.

“I’m ecstatic. I couldn’t be happier,” Ackley said. “This job opened up, and the timing was perfect. I actually have an office for the first time in my life.”

Ackley said he was saddened but not surprised by the Old Town situation because coaches are constantly scrutinized by parents and school administrators.

“It was disappointing when it happened,” Ackley said, “but it wasn’t as shocking as you would think. Intuitively, I knew the situation,” about which he would not elaborate.

The Husson jobs present an exciting challenge for Ackley.

“Honestly and truthfully, if I have to take some other job for this thing to work, then so be it,” said Ackley, who met with the softball team for the first time Tuesday.

Above all, Ackley is glad the small-town politics that cost him his Old Town coaching job led to something positive.

“They took me out of coaching in Old Town, but they can’t take me out of coaching completely,” Ackley said. “I love working with the players, because you get to know them much better on your team than you do in the classroom.”

There will be some conflicts for Ackley, including Husson’s spring softball trip that he will miss because of his teaching job. But he said Hennessey and the Husson administration are willing to work around that.