EAST MACHIAS, Maine — The first full day of summer provided no respite for Barry Terrill.
First he organized 10 Washington Academy football players for their trip to the LTC football camp at Orono High School on Monday evening.
Then there was the local youth basketball program to administer, followed by an open gym workout for the high school basketball team.
But for Terrill, named the Raiders’ boys varsity basketball coach last week — to go with his continuing tenure as WA’s head football coach — it’s a labor of love.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Terrill of adding the varsity basketball duties. “It will be a long stretch, there’s usually not a lot of down time between football and basketball, but I love coaching. It’s what I want to do, so I’m actually looking forward to the challenge.”
The Orono native, who served as the boys JV basketball coach and varsity assistant at WA for the last six seasons after a year as the Raiders’ freshman boys coach, replaces Steve Pineo in the varsity post.
Pineo, who guided WA to its first boys basketball state championship in 2010, stepped down after the 2015 season for family and business reasons.
“I’m excited,” said Terrill. “I’ve been working in the program for seven years now and the last six under coach Pineo, but at the same time it’s still a fresh start. Any time you hire a new coach, it’s like hitting the refresh button, and then you factor in all the senior graduation we had with four-fifths of the starting lineup, and it creates an opportunity for the kids coming back to really compete hard.”
WA finished 12-8 last winter after reaching the Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinals, but next season figures to be a season of change for the Raiders with the recent graduates including 6-foot-5-inch forwards Gage Feeney and Austin Seavey, who have been the face of the program in recent years.
“We’ve got talented young players coming back but they just haven’t been tested at the varsity level, and certainly losing Gage and Austin is big,” said Terrill. “Those are awful big shoes to fill, not just offensively and scoring points but defensively and with rebounding and shot blocking. Those two guys did everything.
“Each of the last two years, it’s been pretty clear who’s going to play and get the majority of the minutes, who’s going to start and who’s going to fit into what roles. Now those roles are wide open,” he added.
Washington Academy will return a veteran point guard in Cam Varney.
“It will be nice to have a senior point guard who’s going into his third year with the varsity, so that will help things go smoothly,” said Terrill.
WA also will be one of five schools — along with Central of Corinth, Houlton, Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln and Orono — moving up from the former Eastern C to the new Class B North under the expansion of high school basketball in the state from four to five classes as approved this spring by the Maine Principals’ Association.
“It definitely will be a transition year,” said Terrill.
