ELLSWORTH, Maine — Paul Lock faces what many would consider an unenviable challenge this fall — following the winningest coach in Maine high school soccer history.
The retired schoolteacher and former college soccer player was named Tuesday evening as the new boys varsity soccer coach at Ellsworth High School.
Lock replaces Brian Higgins, who retired from the post in May after leading the Eagles to a 566-103-45 record with 18 regional titles and four state championships during his 42 years on the sidelines.
“In some ways there’s more pressure because I don’t want to let anybody down,” said Lock, who has coached varsity middle-school soccer in Ellsworth since 1992. “In some ways there’s less pressure because I know most of the young men that I’ll be coaching, so there’s both sides of that.”
The 67-year-old Lock, who concluded a 22-year teaching career at Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School in 2014, brings a vast soccer resume to his new post.
He was a goalkeeper at both Manhattan College and Syracuse University, then was active as a coach and referee in New York after his college days before he and his family moved to Ellsworth in 1984.
Since arriving in Maine he has coached teams from the Ellsworth Travel Soccer League through the Downeast Family YMCA as well as at the middle school, and he also worked closely with Higgins during the Bootin’ Eagles soccer camps held each summer in the city.
Lock, whose children Becky, Tim and Casey all came up through the Ellsworth soccer program, also assisted Higgins with Sunday evening soccer programs for local youth.
“Because I knew Brian from back when our oldest was in first grade and then getting the job as the middle-school coach, we would talk a lot,” said Lock. “We became friends and I always admired what he did and saw how much he enjoyed it and how much he loved kids.
“I thought I would like to try that someday, since the majority of the students on the high school team come from the middle school and I already had instructed them in soccer for a couple of years.”
Lock takes over an Ellsworth High School program that reached the Class B North championship match last fall and concluded its season with a 13-3-1 record — the Eagles’ 42nd straight winning season under Higgins.
During Higgins’ tenure, every class of players he coached played in at least one regional championship game.
“The challenge will be following Brian and his many wins and many Eastern Maines and gold balls that he’s won,” said Lock. “The challenge in that also is going to be keeping a lot of what Brian did, keeping that continuum, and then introducing any new things that I might see or feel and weave that together.
“For the kids here, the parents here, the school, the community and for Brian, I’d like to keep things on the winning side.”
Ellsworth opens its season at home on Saturday, Sept. 3, against Caribou.
“Really what it came down to was that Paul had worked at the middle school since 1992 and has a wealth of experience working with those kids and then sending them on to the high school level,” said Ellsworth athletic administrator Josh Frost, who played for Lock in middle school and then for Higgins at Ellsworth High.
“We had several candidates for the job, all with good soccer experience. It just took a while to process through them and come to the conclusion that Paul was where we wanted to go.”
