Even though athletic directors are enjoying a buyer’s market at the moment, Gene Keene wasn’t looking to leave his first AD post at Maranacook Community School after one year.
There are two or three school districts in the state capable of raising the Auburn man’s eyebrows, however, and one of them surfaced with a plum opportunity over the summer.
The chance to be reunited with some former colleagues and the challenge of overseeing one of the top athletic programs in Eastern Class A have lured Keene from Maranacook to Brunswick High School, where he expects to be behind the AD’s desk full-time by the start of the school year.
Keene’s hiring was approved last week by the Brunswick school committee.
“I wasn’t applying around,” Keene said. “I enjoyed my time at Maranacook. The staff was very supportive. They put me in a position to learn much of what I know.”
Brunswick represents a step up in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference from Class B to Class A, but Keene might enjoy a slight decrease in his workload along with the advancement.
His new position with the Dragons is confined to high school sports. In Readfield, Keene was responsible for both athletic and academic extracurricular activities for grades 6 through 12.
“I learned a lot about theater, math and speech team and the German club,” Keene said. “But I also learned a lot about athletic stuff, and I guess most people know that’s my primary area of interest and focus.”
Although he’s a relative newcomer to athletic administration, Keene was a successful coach for two decades. He helped revive struggling football programs at Winthrop and Edward Little in the 1990s. While at EL, he also led the softball team to a pair of Class A championships.
Last spring, he served double duty as Maranacook’s softball coach for much of the season while filling in for injured Kathy Heselton.
Prior to his stint at Maranacook, Keene left Edward Little and spent the 2003-04 school year teaching mathematics at Brunswick. He’s had a brief opportunity to work with many of the coaches on Brunswick’s 48 varsity and sub-varsity teams.
“I have a lot of respect for people like Peter Gardner, who’s been the soccer coach for such a long time, and Todd Hanson in basketball, and Dan Cooper who just took over football from Dick Leavitt,” Keene said. “Hopefully this is a place where I’ll be able to settle in for a few years.”
Turnover is rampant among high school AD’s in Maine. Of the 23 high schools in the Sun Journal coverage area, only seven have an athletic director who has been on board five or more years.
“You’re dealing with a lot of long days and late nights, and some people get tired of the hassles,” said Keene. “Other people aspire to assistant principal and principal jobs and move on.”
Keene currently knows long days all too well. He’s helping get fall practice underway at Maranacook while the school works quickly to hire a successor. The departing Brunswick AD, Rick Crawford, is keeping the Dragons moving until Keene can fully relocate.
“I’m hoping to get down there at least one day this week,” Keene said, “and then be moved in by next week or the week after.”
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