Nick Winchester is unfazed by the situation he has stepped in to as the new girls basketball coach at Orono High School. He was approved for the job by the RSU 26 board on Tuesday night.
Winchester is replacing Jessica Witham, who resigned in April after nine seasons because she claimed athletic director Mike Archer and Principal Jim Chasse didn’t follow proper school protocol when concerns about her coaching style and allocation of playing time were brought to their attention at the end of the season.
“All I can deal with and work with is what I have in front of me. Mike Archer and the search committee made me feel very comfortable from start to finish,” said the 45-year-old Winchester, a former basketball and baseball standout at Brewer High. “Jessica did a great job and had a tremendous amount of success. I’m looking to build on that success.
“This is a great opportunity. I can’t wait until the summer program starts in three weeks. We’ll have a chance to know each other and get ready for next winter,” he added.
Winchester has an extensive AAU basketball coaching background and spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Maine Maritime Academy women’s basketball team in Castine under Craig Dagan.
“I fell in love with coaching at an early age,” said Winchester, who is the general manager of Creative Digital Imaging in Bangor.
He had the opportunity to coach his daughter Alex Winchester for his two seasons at Maine Maritime Academy. She will be a junior next fall.
“It was a very difficult decision to leave. I helped Craig with recruiting and practices, and it was a lot of fun. It was the most enjoyable coaching experience I’ve had. It was difficult to leave him and the Lady Mariner family,” he said.
As a recruiter, Nick Winchester had the opportunity to see Orono play several times this past season, and he liked what he saw from the Red Riots.
“There is a tremendous amount of talent returning to the team next year,” said Winchester.
He will inherit a sophomore-laden team that went 13-6 and graduates just three seniors. There were eight sophomores on this past season’s roster.
Winchester also likes the fact 80 percent of the students at Orono High are involved in at least one athletic activity.
“That speaks volumes to how committed the school and the students are to athletics. They have had a long line of success. It’s exciting to be part of that and it seems that there is a lot of support around athletics at Orono,” he said.
Winchester, who formerly ran Mid-Maine Communications, said there are distinct parallels between his business and coaching careers.
“In both, you have clear and common goals and the roles are defined. There should be an open forum of communication between coach and players just like there is in business between employees and management,” he said. “It’s your job to empower and encourage your players to believe in themselves. I’m going to create a practice environment that will help everyone reach their full potential.”
He said unlike college, where a coach can recruit players to play a particular style, high school coaches must “adapt to the players you have,” and he will do that.
Winchester credits his father, Larry, former Brewer High baseball coach and athletic director Dennis Kiah and Dagan with being the major influences in his life and coaching career.
Winchester, who lives in Orrington, has two daughters, Alex and Mackenzie. Mackenzie Winchester will be a freshman at the University of Maine in the fall.