Longtime central Maine football fixture Brad Bishop will be taking his talents north this fall as the new head coach at Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.
Bishop, who spent the past six years as head coach at Messalonskee High School in Oakland, replaces Pat House, who recently was named the Lynx’ varsity girls basketball coach, MA athletic administrator Bill McCarthy said.
Bishop boasts a lengthy head coaching resume with stints at Morse of Bath, Lawrence of Fairfield, Livermore Falls and most recently at Messalonskee, where his teams advanced to the Pine Tree Conference Class B semifinals three times and earned a fourth trip to the quarterfinals.
Bishop also was an assistant coach at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington when the Cougars won the 2012 Class B state championship.
“Football’s a big deal up here at MA, and when Brad threw his name into the hat we were really excited and had several conversations with him,” McCarthy said.
Bishop is retiring this year after a 37-year career in education, most recently as a physical education and health teacher at Spruce Mountain Middle School in Jay.
He and his wife already were planning to move to Cold Stream Pond near Lincoln, where they bought a waterfront home from relatives earlier this year.
“One thing led to another,” Bishop said. “I had a place to live and there was a place to coach up here, so I put my name in and was fortunate enough to get the job.”
House, who replaced McCarthy as the MA head football coach in 2015, amassed a 23-15 record over four seasons. The Lynx made an appearance in the 2015 LTC championship game and earned conference semifinal berths in 2017 and 2018.
Mattanawcook finished third in the final LTC standings with a 6-2 record last fall, then defeated Mount View of Thorndike in the quarterfinals before being ousted by Bucksport in the semifinals.
They’ve always had a good history of football there, they really have,” Bishop said. “It’s a competitive league.”
The Lynx have run a spread offense in recent years, but Bishop may utilize a wing-T formation this fall.
“I think you want to be ready at Mattanawcook to play in late October and November when the weather changes, and we’ll look to an offense that I think suits the kids up there,” Bishop said. “They’re very competitive, tough, hardworking kids.”
McCarthy also announced the hiring of two new varsity head soccer coaches at MA.
Mike Rowe of Corinth, a former head coach at Highview Christian in Charleston, will take over the Lynx boys team, while Glenn Graef, a sergeant with the Lincoln Police Department and a veteran soccer coach at the youth and club levels, will guide Mattanawcook’s girls soccer program.
