John Donato admitted that he hasn’t had much time to reflect on reaching the 500-win plateau as a high school girls basketball coach.
The Lawrence High School of Fairfield girls coach said “maybe if I wasn’t coaching, I would have time to reflect on it. But I’ve been so busy with this year’s team.”
And his current team is 7-0 after Saturday’s 76-39 victory over Brewer which elevated him into the exclusive 500-win club.
“That’s a lot of bus trips,” Donato quipped about his 38-year career.
His impressive resume includes stops at Houlton (18 years), Messalonskee of Oakland (9), Mount View of Thorndike (5), Lawrence (5) and Hall-Dale of Hallowell (1).
Donato’s teams won nine Eastern Maine Class B titles and four state championships at Houlton. He racked up 261 wins with the Shiretowners.
He also won a state golf championship and two Eastern Maine baseball titles at Houlton.
“I would love to get into another Eastern Maine championship game with the crew I have now,” Donato said.
His career is full of highlights but one that stands out was his 1993 team at Houlton which captured the Eastern Maine title before losing to Kennebunk in the state final.
“We won all of our Eastern Maine tournament games at the buzzer or in the last second,” Donato recalled. “In the championship game, we were down by two points and had a one-and-one at the foul line with four seconds left. We made the first one but missed the second. Liz Nelson grabbed the rebound and put it in.
“We had a great run for a long time at Houlton,” he said.
His first season at Messalonskee was also memorable.
“They were 5-13 the previous year and we went 17-1,” said Donato, who grew up in Middleborough, Massachusetts.
He was a shooting guard on the 1965 and ‘66 basketball teams at Middleborough High which were inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
“We reached the semifinals in Boston Garden both years,” said Donato, who averaged 23 points per game his senior year.
He also played baseball.
He wound up attending Ricker College in Houlton where he played both sports.
That led to his coaching jobs at Houlton which included 25 years as the baseball coach in addition to his 18 seasons as the girls basketball coach.
He eventually bought a sporting goods store in Augusta and moved to central Maine where he landed his other coaching positions. He left the sporting goods business to return to teaching and is in his 15th year teaching science at Lawrence.
“I really enjoy teaching, too,” the 67-year-old said.
He is a firm believer that game outcomes are determined by practices.
“You win games during practice not during the games themselves — how hard you work in practice and how well you prepare,” Donato said.
He has been successful wherever he has coached and still has the same passion for the game he had 38 years ago.
“I really enjoy coaching basketball,” he said. “When I feel I can’t add any more to the game, I’ll give it up. The kids are all good. They’re responding and they’re very supportive.”
He said he is constantly learning.
“Every day you learn something,” said Donato, who scouted two games on Tuesday featuring future opponents. “Every day is a challenge.”
And his next game should be a real challenge as his Bulldogs will host a Bangor High team that took a 6-0 record into a Tuesday night game against a good Mt. Blue of Farmington team.
“Bangor is talented. They have three girls from their Eastern Maine championship team [2012-13] and they have the transfer from Brewer [Emily Gilmore],” said Donato, who has no desire to retire any time soon.
Bangor, Brewer change times
In an effort to avoid a conflict with the New England Patriots’ home American Football Conference semifinal game, the Bangor-Brewer boys and girls basketball games have been moved to the early afternoon on Saturday, Jan. 10.
The varsity girls game at Brewer will tip off at noon and the boys will square off in Bangor beginning at 2 p.m.
This will also allow fans to take in both games.
The girls junior varsity game will start at 10:30 a.m. in Brewer and the freshman game will take place after the varsity game.
The boys freshman game in Bangor will tip off at 11 a.m. with the Junior Varsity game to follow at 12:30 p.m.