AUBURN – Dan Deshaies had given up thoughts of being an athletic director again.

After leaving the AD job at Dirigo to become the assistant principal at Edward Little High School, Deshaies assumed his days in athletic administration were behind him.

That all changed quickly. Deshaies will be the new athletic director at EL, replacing Jeff Benson, who recently took the same position at Oxford Hills.

“I’m just in seventh heaven being the athletic director at a school like this,” said Deshaies. “It’s something that just happened. Things just kind of fell into place.”

Deshaies came Edward Little three years ago for the chance to work closer to home. With Benson seemingly entrenched at EL, Deshaies says he never thought he’d be working with athletic programs again. Then when Benson took the open job at Oxford Hills, it created an unexpected opportunity.

“Athletics is my real love,” said Deshaies. “So when Jeff was leaving, I thought about it and weighed the different options. I talked to the principal and thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get back to what I really love.”

Deshaies was simply transferred from assistant principal to athletic director. The vacant assistant principals job will now be posted.

“Certainly when you have someone with his credentials and his skills in the school, it makes it easier, and he wanted to get back into it,” said EL Principal Jim Miller.

Deshaies, a native of Livermore Falls, is a graduate of the University of Maine at Presque Isle. He was an umpire in professional baseball for eight years prior to taking a job at Dirigo. He was there for 14 years and served as assistant principal for two of those years. He’s not only a certified athletic administrator but also has his Master’s degree in educational leadership.

“Two qualities I admired about Dan as an athletic director was his dedication to kids and his 100-percent support of the coaching staff,” said Dirigo girls’ basketball coach Gavin Kane, who was hired by Deshaies almost 10 years ago. ” He always wanted the student-athlete to be successful both athletically and in life. He went out of his way to pull a kid aside if he thought they were struggling academically, athletically, or with their personal life. He truly cares about young people. “

Kane said Deshaies stood by and supported his coaching staff and always tried to be encouraging.

“From a coaching standpoint, I always knew that he appreciated the time and effort that all of the coaches put in,” said Kane. “Dan came up to you after every single game and gave the coaches a sincere congratulations and thank you. That was just a little gesture on his part that I always appreciated.”

Coincidentally, Deshaies took over a Mountain Valley Conference program a year before Benson became the athletic director at Lisbon.

“We officiate so much together, and he’s leaving, but he’s going to be in the conference again,” said Deshaies, who said he may curtail some of his officiating work in the fall and winter. “It’s kind of ironic that I’m going to follow him.

“It’s turned out to be a good situation for both of us. He’s going to be happy at Oxford Hills, and I’ll definitely be happy here.”

Deshaies admits its a tough task to follow athletic directors like Benson and John White.

“The tough thing is that it’s like following Red Auerbach and Bill Russell,” said Deshaies. “I’m a hard worker. I’m not scared to step into that situation. I’ve done the job for 12 years.”

Being already acquainted with the school, it should allow for a quick transition when Benson finishes up at the end of the month.

“It was nice,” said Miller. “He came with a lot of experience, a lot of credentials. He knows the community real well. He knows the kids and he knows the program already. So he can step right in without having to figure things out.”

Though losing Benson is a tough pill for many at EL to swallow, Deshaies should fit in nicely and make his own impact.

” For years he gave a tremendous amount of time and energy to the Dirigo community,” said Kane. “We have missed him at Dirigo, but Edward Little now has one of the best ADs in the state. As a matter of fact, I often told people that EL had the two best athletic directors in their school with Dan and Jeff Benson.”

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