JAY – The Jay boys’ varsity basketball team will begin next season with its third coach in the last three years.

Frank Williams was named the new coach last week with the approval of the Jay school committee. Williams takes over for Mike Child, who withdrew his name from consideration for the job after one season.

“I think Frank will come in and do a nice job,” said Jay Athletic Director Kenric Charles. “I see him having good discipline with the kids. He has a good knowledge of the game.”

Charles added that he hopes Williams’ hiring will bring some stability to a program where he will be the fourth different coach in the last five years. Williams was originally appointed the school’s junior varsity boys’ coach six weeks ago, but also applied for the varsity position, which, like all other coaching positions at the school, is opened every year. The JV job remains vacant.

Williams played basketball at Livermore Falls, where he graduated in 1983. He is the father of Tyrell Waldon, who graduated from Jay in 2002 and was the center on the school’s last state championship team that same year.

Williams, 39, has coached at various levels for several years, including AAU, and has helped out coaching Jay players in various undergraduate tournaments. Most recently, he coached the JV at Livermore Falls last year.

Jay graduated four seniors, including three starters, from the 2004 squad. The Tigers have a 19-game summer schedule to get to know their coach better, a luxury they didn’t have last year.

“I have a couple of daughters in high school, so I know the kid pretty well,” he said. “We have a good group of kids coming back.”

“The bar has been raised pretty high over the last few coaches,” he added. “Expectations are high and we’ll try to meet them. I look at it as a good opportunity.”

Charles said six applicants put in for the varsity job. Three interviewed and two withdrew their name from consideration. He declined to reveal who withdrew, though Child confirmed last week that he was one of them.

“Sometimes, you’re not a fit for a program and a town,” Child said. “It’s not a big deal to me. I made some great relationships in Jay, and I take nothing away from Kenric and (school principal) Peter (Brown) because I know they both supported me.”

Child took over for Steve Hamilton just before the first day of practice last fall and led the Tigers to a 19-3 record and their second state championship game in three years. Jay lost to Houlton, 64-49, in the title game.

The varsity boys’ job at Winthrop that Hamilton left Jay for, meanwhile, remains open. Athletic Director Jeff DeBlois said the school is readvertising for the position after it was unable to fill the opening left by Hamilton’s resignation the first time around.