ORONO, Maine — Former University of Maine quarterback Marcus Wasilewski has joined the school’s Sports Performance staff as a coach.
“We’re very excited to have a former collegiate star join our department,” Matt Murray, Sports Performance director, said in a news release Wednesday.
“I’m confident that Marcus is going to jump in and immediately do great things, not just with football, but with all of our athletic programs. He is young, knowledgeable, passionate and all you can ask for in a staff member. Marcus is eager to learn and one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met,” Murray added.
The Sports Performance coaches assist Maine athletes with speed, strength and conditioning.
Wasilewski has served the past three months in an interim role as assistant strength coach and nutrition advisor with the Black Bears. He achieved his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certification in July and worked as a graduate assistant of exercise physiology at UMaine for a year beginning in 2014.
Wasilewski was a first-team All-Conference quarterback for the Black Bears, leading the football team to the Colonial Athletic Association championship in 2013 when he held career records in multiple categories including completions in a season (276), passing yards in a season (3,238), career pass completion percentage (.646) and most yards of total offense in a season (3,770).
“Marcus was a great performer here as a Black Bear student-athlete. We have high expectations from him and have great confidence that he will be an outstanding teacher, coach and role model,” Maine head football coach Jack Cosgrove said.
Wasilewski graduated from UMaine in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology/physical education and recently earned his master’s degree in exercise physiology/physical education.
UMaine names assistant softball coach
Ryan Jones has been named an assistant coach for the University of Maine softball team.
“We are excited to add Ryan to our softball staff and have him become a part of the Black Bear athletic family,” head softball coach Mike Coutts said in a news release. “He brings the right combination of knowledge, enthusiasm, loyalty and trust that will help us continue our quest to become one of the premier teams in the northeast. We expect great things from him.”
Jones has spent the past three years as the head varsity baseball coach at Scarborough High School.
He succeeded Coutts at Scarborough.
He also coached three summers of travel team softball, guiding one of the Maine Thunder 16-year-old softball teams from 2012-14.
Jones graduated from the University of Southern Maine in 2015 with a degree in business administration and a minor in sports management.
He played two years of baseball at the University of Southern Maine after playing for Bangor High School.
He was the starting second baseman on Bangor’s State Class A championship team in 2006.