Aaron Newcomb has been involved in coaching basketball in the Brewer system for a long time, including his role as the offseason coach for the Brewer High School boys program for 14 of the past 16 years and as the top volunteer assistant this past winter.
He’ll now be the new boys varsity head coach, replacing Mark Savage.
Newcomb was one of two head coaches recently hired by Brewer, with the other being girls volleyball coach Kristen Granke, who replaced the retiring Rich Nutter.
Athletic Director Dave Utterback also announced that former Brewer standout lacrosse goalie Jake Parker has been hired to be an assistant coach for the boys lacrosse team.
Savage was the interim boys basketball head coach this winter after Carl Parker resigned for personal reasons in early December.
The Witches went 6-12 but won four of their last seven games. However, it wasn’t enough to earn them a berth in the Class A North tournament as they wound up ninth in the Heal Points standings.
Newcomb was one of nine applicants for the job.
He is a board member for the Brewer Travel Basketball Club and has taken the Brewer High players along with their seventh and eighth grade level teams to tournaments while also training them in the spring and fall.
Brewer, which won the state Class A title in 2023, had a young team this past season with just two seniors on the roster.
Utterback said in a statement that “behind the scenes, Aaron Newcomb was one of the architects of Brewer boys basketball for over the past decade and a half and, in particular, the Covid-era ‘Pod’ championship in 2021, the Northern Maine runner-up in 2022 as well as the state championship in 2023.”
Utterback also said Newcomb made sure the players had a “quality training experience” outside of their school-based experience and was one of the keys to building Brewer Travel Basketball into “one of the region’s best feeder programs in any sport.”
He will continue in his role with the Brewer Travel Basketball Club.
All-Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rookie team choice Caleb Campbell said he is looking forward to “the team-building plans Coach Newcomb has talked about. He has a plan to connect us as a team on and off the court.”
Granke, who is an English teacher at Brewer High School, has assisted Nutter over the past two seasons for the girls volleyball team.
She was the only applicant for the job.
The Witches went 9-5 during the regular season in statewide Class B this past fall and earned the fourth seed for the tournament before being ousted in the quarterfinals by fifth seed Messalonskee of Oakland, three sets to two.
Granke will have to replace eight graduating seniors.
“It benefits everyone involved when you have a quality teach working in the school during the academic day, then staying after hours to coach the kids they teach,” said Utterback. “Granke is a well-respected teacher here at Brewer High, so to have her coaching varsity basketball was a natural fit.”
Granke said in a statement that she is excited to continue working with the players “because volleyball is a game that I have always loved and that has always been a big part of my life. And it is wonderful to be able to share my knowledge with the girls and see them connect with it in a similar way.”
Sarah Snowdeal, will be a senior in the fall, said she is excited to play for Granke and that she likes how Granke “pushes us to our highest potential” and that “she is suited to be the varsity coach.”