CALAIS, Maine — Darrin Constant’s quest to balance family life with a passion of coaching has led him to become the new boys varsity basketball coach at Calais High School.
Constant, who held the same position at his alma mater, Shead High School of Eastport, for the last four years, was approved for his new coaching job Tuesday night by the Calais school board.
The 31-year-old Constant lives in Calais where he works as a juvenile community corrections officer covering all of Washington County. He and wife, Alissa, have an 8-month-old son, Thomas.
“We’ve got a little fellow now, and he was a big part of the decision because during basketball season I get out of work at 5 [p.m.] and then I’m headed off to basketball, and by the time I get home, he’s asleep,” said Constant, who had an approximately 50-mile round-trip from work to practices in Eastport.
“Coaching here in Calais will keep me a little closer to him,” he said.
Constant has coached in the Shead system for the last seven years and led the Tigers to a 39-35 record over his four seasons as the boys varsity coach. The Tigers were 35-21 with three postseason appearances during the last three years.
Shead finished seventh in the final Class D North Heal points last winter with an 11-7 record, then defeated No. 10 Deer Isle-Stonington in the preliminary round before falling to No. 2 Machias in the regional quarterfinals at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“I’ve been involved in the Shead community for my whole life, and it was just that [the Calais job] was a better fit for me and my family,” Constant said. “It was really a tough decision for me to leave the Shead boys.”
Constant replaces Chris Woodside, who stepped down at Calais after two seasons to pursue a full-time career in basketball.
Woodside guided the Blue Devils to a 20-2 record and the Class C state championship in 2015. A much younger Calais squad finished 6-12 last winter, missing the final Class C North playoff berth by 0.1234 Heal points.
“They have a lot of good, young players,” said Constant. “I think they only graduated [two players], and they have a strong sophomore class and a few strong freshmen from last year who will be sophomores this year that all played big minutes. There’s a good core there.”
Constant was impressed by the competitiveness of last winter’s youthful Calais varsity squad against a rigorous schedule. Only two of the Blue Devils’ losses were by more than 20 points.
Constant anticipates fielding a Calais team in the University of Maine at Machias summer league.
“I don’t know them personally, so I can see that being a challenge, just establishing those relationships,” he said. “But I think that’s one of my strengths as a coach, so in the end, I don’t think that will be an issue.”
