When John DeRaps was thinking about whether to apply for the girls basketball coaching job at Narraguagus, he turned to fellow coach Ron Brown, under whom DeRaps coached at the high school in Harrington, for some advice.

“He told me that varsity jobs were hard to come by and I should take the chance to start [coaching at the varsity level],”

DeRaps took Brown’s advice and applied for the job. He was officially named the Knights’ coach at a recent school board meeting.

DeRaps, a Franklin resident who is self-employed as a fisherman, recently coached junior high school teams in Trenton and was the freshman boys coach at Narraguagus last year. That’s where he came to know Brown.

“That was quite an experience,” DeRaps said of working with Brown, who recently announced his retirement after more than 30 years of coaching. “He’s one of the most well-known coaches in the area and it was great to coach under him. I learned a lot from him.”

DeRaps played basketball at Sumner of East Sullivan in the mid-1980s.

Although the Knights lost standout guard Missy Barbee and forward Lou Torrey, DeRaps is pleased with the girls returning and the incoming class of freshmen.

“We have quite a few seniors and some talented freshmen,” said DeRaps, who is working with the girls in a summer league in Machias.

DeRaps replaces Steve Noyes, who resigned for personal reasons after the 2003-04 season ended. He had a 51-26 record coaching the Knights and was named Downeast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2003.

The team made three straight appearances in the Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinals. Narraguagus lost to No. 1 Calais 50-44 earlier this year.

DeRaps said he plans to stick around for a while, which would provide some consistency for a program that has had five coaches since 1996.

“I’ll be here for as long as they’ll have me,” he said.

Morrow commits to Holy Cross

South Portland basketball standout Whitney Morrow has made a verbal commitment to attend NCAA Div. I Holy Cross, where she has a full scholarship.

She decided to commit early because she didn’t want the pressure of applying to schools. It’s been a load off her mind, she said.

“I just didn’t want to go through the process,” Morrow said. “I knew I wanted to go to Holy Cross.”

Morrow, an All-Maine second-teamer who helped South Portland gain a tourney berth, had also been in touch with coaches from Massachusetts, Michigan State, and Providence but settled on the Worcester, Mass., school in part because it’s only about two hours away from home.

She also liked the atmosphere there.

“It’s smaller and I really liked the coaches,” Morrow said.

Morrow averaged 20.5 points per game this year, second-best in the Southern Maine Activities Association. She also averaged 6.3 rebounds, 2.9 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game and shot 80.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Holy Cross was 13-15 overall and 8-6 in the Patriot League last season – a down year for the Crusaders, who have won nine league titles in the last 13 years under 20-year coach Bill Gibbons.

Morrow said the Holy Cross coaching staff got to know her primarily through her AAU team, the New England Crusaders. Former University of Maine star Melissa Heon played for the Crusaders.

The next step for Morrow is to sign a National Letter of Intent. The earliest she can do that is in November.

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