When legendary high school girls basketball coach John Donato announced he was retiring from teaching and from coaching the Lawrence High School girls team in March, he said he would consider returning to coaching “if the right opportunity comes along and I can get excited about coaching again.”
That opportunity has come.
Donato will replace Nick Winchester as the Orono High School girls basketball coach. Donato was approved by the Orono School Board on Friday evening.
Winchester left to replace Tim Scott as the Hampden Academy girls coach.
The Red Riots went 10-27 in Winchester’s two years at the helm.
“Orono is a program that hasn’t been successful recently so this gives me an opportunity to build a program. It will be a challenge for me to turn it into a successful program. Getting some fresh blood and experience in there might help turn the program around,” said the 70-year-old Donato, who has compiled a 547-219 record at five Maine high schools over 40 years and has 11 regional and five state championships to his credit.
The Red Riots were 5-13 in Class B North this past season and finished 14th in the Heal points standings. They failed to qualify for postseason play. The previous year, they also went 5-13 during the regular season but qualified for a berth in the preliminary round as the 11th seed before losing to sixth seed John Bapst of Bangor 55-40.
They will remain in Class B.
Donato guided Lawrence to the 2015 Class A state title and his Bulldogs captured the regional title in 2016 but lost to York 58-57 in the state game.
The 2015 state championship was Lawrence’s first since 1994 when phenom Cindy Blodgett was playing for the Bulldogs.
Despite losing Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl Basketball first-teamer Nia Irving and second-teamer Dominique Lewis to graduation in 2016, Donato still guided this past year’s team to a 12-6 record and the fourth seed in the Class A North standings before the Bulldogs were eliminated by No. 5 Hampden Academy in the quarterfinals.
Donato also said he and wife Kelly [Taylor] were looking to relocate to the Bangor area since she is a Bangor native.
“We’re excited about moving to the Bangor area,” said Donato. “Her parents [Joe and Nancy] live in the area and Kelly is applying for some administrative and teaching jobs.”
Donato said he plans to stay retired from teaching.
He will begin his tenure by getting involved in the summer program.
He said he was impressed by Orono High athletic director Mike Archer and the search committee.
“They were very professional and they had the same passion as I do,” said Donato.
“I told them I wasn’t a miracle worker but I’ll get the kids excited to play basketball. The style we’ll play will bring a lot of enthusiasm to the area,” he said.
Archer said they are “very excited” to have Donato on board.
“He obviously brings instant credibility with his vast experience,” said Archer. “More importantly, he spent a lot of time talking about relationships with his former players and how he still enjoys coaching. It was very evident to us he hasn’t lost any passion for it. He wants to continue to develop girls as players and people.”
Archer said he finds it intriguing knowing what Donato accomplished while having a full academic load and now he won’t have that to deal with so he can focus solely on coaching.
Archer also said “we were honored that someone with his credentials found our job appealing and applied for it.”
Donato was a three-sport athlete at Middleborough High School in Massachusetts and was inducted into their Hall of Fame. He went on to play baseball and basketball at the former Ricker College in Houlton.
He then spent 18 years as the girls basketball coach at Houlton High, guiding the Shires to nine regional titles and four state crowns. He spent nine years at Oakland’s Messalonskee High School, five at Mount View of Thorndike and one at Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale before his most recent seven-year stint at Lawrence.