Bangor High School has found its new boys and girls basketball coaches for next season.
Jay Kemble, who stepped down as the girls coach earlier this year, will now try to turn around the fortunes of the Bangor High boys basketball team.
Kemble is replacing Aaron Pinckney, who stepped down after one season for personal reasons.
And Bingham native and former University of Maine women’s basketball captain Kristin Hermanson, who UMaine fans will remember as Kristin Baker, will replace Kemble as the girls coach. She was previously an assistant coach for the team.
“I’ve been looking to do this for a long time,” said Hermanson, who had 1,701 points and 443 assists as a player at Valley High School in Bingham before going to UMaine.
Both Hermanson and Kemble teach at Bangor High School. Kemble is in the history department and Hermanson is in the physical education department.
Kemble guided the Bangor High School girls basketball teams to a 68-32 record in five seasons, 83-33 in six seasons counting the COVID year when teams played schools in their local area and there wasn’t a Maine Principals Association tournament.
He is also the Bangor High girls soccer coach and he will remain in that capacity. He has led his two soccer teams to a pair of Class A North championships and a state title this past fall.
Kemble also spent one year as the field hockey coach and led the Rams to an 8-7 season.
“I’ve enjoyed all of my coaching experiences in Bangor. They’ve all been very positive,” said Kemble. “Bangor has a pretty storied history in boys basketball. They’ve had a number of storied athletes in the past and they will have in the future.”
The Bangor boys went 1-17 last season after going 9-47 the previous three seasons under Brad Libby, who coached the Rams to the school’s 13th state title in his first season (2018-19).
Kemble will inherit a team that had nine freshmen and sophomores on its roster and graduated just two players.
“Both coaches are respected faculty members who are very popular among our student-athlets,” said Bangor athletic director Steve Vanidestine. “Jay has obviously been a very successful coach for us in several sports and Kristin spent three years as Jay’s assistant with the basketball team and helped him tremendously.”
Vanidestine said Hermanson has great credentials for the new role.
“She was an outstanding player at Maine and her teams will be well-prepared and well-conditioned,” the athletic director said. “She is a perfect fit.”
Vanidestine said Hermanson will get the best out of her players.
He feels Kemble will make a “really smooth transition” to the boys job with his reputation and organization.
And Vanidestine noted that there are some good young players to build around.
“They’ve been able to compete at the highest level. I really like our kids,” said Kemble. “They’re great kids at Bangor High and this is a good opportunity to get after it.”
He said the administrative support has been “fabulous” and wants their teams to have the resources they need to be successful.
“It’s a matter of going out and getting that success and getting the kids to believe in themselves,” Kemble said,
He also said Hermanson will do a “great job” with the girls program.
“She is very knowledgeable and she’s a fierce competitor. She will get after it,” he said.
Hermanson, who had coached at the high school level in California before returning to Maine, said she is excited about the opportunity.
She has been at Bangor High School for six years.
“I had coached in California when I was younger so this has been on my mind for a while,” added Hermanson, who captained UMaine teams her sophomore and senior years.
Her senior year, 2009-10, she led the Black Bears in assists, averaging 3.8 per game, and was the second-leading scorer with a 10 points per game average. She also had 3.8 rebounds per contest.
Hermanson said she loves coaching and called the Bangor girls “great kids” who she already knows well.
“I know a lot of them well from coaching under Jay and I want to continue building their work ethic,” Hermanson said. “They’re hard-working girls who have also won in other sports and I want to take it to that next level. I want to be a fast, grind-it-out-on-defense type of team that really works and does the little things.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Jay Kemble’s record.