Oxford Hills hires EL’s Benson as AD
The Vikings find a top-notch replacement for the retiring Jon Ladd with the hiring of veteran administrator Jeff Benson.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

AUBURN – A loss for Edward Little is a significant gain for Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

Jeff Benson was appointed Monday night as the new athletic director at Oxford Hills. He will likely finish up at Edward Little by the end of the month and begin work for Oxford Hills in July. He replaces Jon Ladd, who is stepping down.

“We’re really excited,” said Craig Jipson, girls’ varsity basketball coach at Oxford Hills. “He’s known as one of the best athletic directors in the state of Maine. We wish the best for Jon Ladd. I think he did a great job as AD. I think our school is definitely fortunate to lose someone as great as Jon and still be able to get someone like Jeff. I think it shows how outstanding this school district is to get two outstanding guys like that.”

Benson, who still has to sign a contract with the school district, declined to specify his reasons for the change.

“It’s for personal reasons,” he said. “I don’t want to get into it. I’d rather leave it at that.”

Benson had been at EL for three years. Prior to that he had been the athletic director at Gray-New Gloucester for a year and at Lisbon for nine years. He was also a former baseball coach at Lisbon and was an assistant baseball coach at Saint Joseph’s College.

“I put a lot of thought into it,” said Benson. “It’s something I knew I had to do, personally, for myself. It was a difficult choice. There was a lot of soul searching and whatnot.”

As excited as people are at Oxford Hills, coaches at Edward Little cringe at the thought of losing Benson.

“I only had the privilege of working with Jeff for a year,” said hockey coach Jamie Belleau, whose club won the Class A state championship last winter. “For me personally, Jeff is a true professional. He did everything possible for the people and the students at Edward Little. The success of the athletic teams at EL, taking nothing away from the students, Jeff Benson definitely had an impact on that. He’s going to have a huge impact at Oxford Hills.”

Benson is known as a dedicated and hard-working administrator, one that works well with his coaching staff. He’s a Hall-Dale graduate and earned a bachelor’s degree in special education and elementary education from UMaine-Farmington.

“We’re really, really excited about the chance to work for him,” said Jipson. “As a coach and referee, he has a real understanding of high school athletics. He’s a real top-notch guy. He’s also as good a person as you’re going to find.”

Belleau says that Benson is one of those that is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Quite often, if his team’s hockey jerseys had not gotten washed by an assistant coach following a game, Benson did them himself.

“He did a lot of things for coaches,” said Belleau. “He did a lot of things for the staff. He did a lot of things for the students, and he did a lot of things for the community. He went above and beyond the call of duty. He did the little things that aren’t necessarily in his job description.”

Benson goes to a school district with an excellent athletic complex and a group of coaches Benson already has familiarity with.

“I’m excited about the new opportunities and the new challenges,” said Benson. “I know some of the people. So it’s not like I’m a total stranger with them.”

Jipson has already relished telling fellow summer basketball coaches of Oxford Hills latest hire.

“I’m really, really happy for Jeff,” said Jipson. “I’m looking forward to working with him. His reputation is obviously outstanding. When we’ve told other coaches who we got, their mouths just dropped open. It’s a real quality find for our school.”