Calvin Powell likes challenges.
That’s why the Texas native took on the responsibility of coaching the resurrected Maine Maritime Academy football team three years after it was suspended indefinitely due to financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I really jumped at the opportunity to get on the ground floor, something I do have experience with, of being able to expose young people to a different experience and use football to teach them life lessons,” said the 38-year-old Powell. “Being on the ground floor with that really gives you a different bond with those young people.”
It’s a highly anticipated return for the Castine-based school, which previously had an NCAA Division III football program for 74 years before the program was suspended indefinitely in August 2020. The program lost its last 22 games prior to being shut down.
In 2022, MMA alums banded together to raise more than $550,000 to get the program reinstated.
The Mariners will play four sub-varsity games this season and three varsity games and several sub-varsity games next season before becoming a full-fledged member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference in 2025.
It’s the same conference as Bangor’s Husson University and the University of New England in Biddeford. MMA will play two games apiece against UNE and Husson this season.
Powell has 38 players on his roster and they will play their first game at Ritchie Field in Castine on Friday against the UNE sub-varsity team. Game time is 7 p.m.
The coach’s 15-year career includes being part of a startup program at Texas Wesleyan. His most recent coaching gig was as the assistant head coach and offensive line/run game specialist at Langston University in Oklahoma, an NAIA school that plays in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
Powell’s first order of business after he landed the job in February was to put together a coaching staff. He hired four assistants in offensive coordinator Nick Sheehan and defensive coordinator Dan McKenna, along with Ryan Whitaker and Brandon Green. Powell is hoping to add three more coaches next season.
And as he begins to recruit players for the team, he’s paying attention to athletes from Maine and New England.
“We have to take care of our backyard first, and our backyard is New England,” Powell said. “We have kids right here that need to be exposed to this opportunity. There are kids who don’t know about Maine Maritime Academy or the maritime industry and we want to give them the opportunity to have some new experiences.”
NCAA Division III schools aren’t allowed to offer athletic scholarships but Powell is convinced that Maine Maritime Academy’s unique maritime education will be attractive to student-athletes from everywhere, even Texas.
“You could leave Texas, go all the way to Maine and, four years from now, come back home and really change your life,” Powell said.
MMA has a job placement rate of more than 90 percent within 90 days of graduation.
“It’s very important to expand where we’re going to find Mariners. There are port cities outside of New England that have student-athletes who understand the maritime industry and want to be able to benefit from what they can learn at Maine Maritime Academy,” he said.
Eventually being in a conference with Husson and UNE will make it “fun,” Powell said.
“You will have that natural game day environment where parents from both sides will be there. Everybody can make the drive,” Powell said.
Powell was a former offensive lineman at Duncanville High School in Texas, and then at Hampton University and Southwestern College, a small private NAIA school in Kansas.
And with his background, you can expect the Mariners to play a “physical brand” of football.
“I’m an offensive guy who believes in getting the ball to your athletes in space,” Powell said. “Defensively, the way football is now, you have to be able to chase guys in space with attitude, effort and speed. You have to be able to run.”
His defensive strategy involves getting as many people to the football as possible, and teaching every player in the program how to tackle — even the quarterback.
“I’m hoping my quarterback never has to use those skills but he is going to learn and make sure he knows how to do it efficiently and safely because I want guys on the ground,” Powell said.
Powell has received “awesome” support from the academy and the alums.
“I got a chance to meet some of the alums last weekend at our Homecoming and I walked up in front of them and thanked them for allowing me to be here because without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Powell said his current team has 12 freshmen, some of whom he recruited, some sophomores and juniors, and seniors he jokingly referred to as the “old men.”
“They want to put the helmets and shoulder pads on one more time. They want to be part of that experience and be part of laying the foundation for us,” Powell said.