By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer
Longtime assistant Bob Austin is getting his shot as head coach at Oxford Hills, but Paul Bickford remains on the staff.

SOUTH PARIS – On one hand, Bob Austin won’t concede that life is any different this fall on the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School football sideline.

You’ll probably see Austin and Paul Bickford wearing headsets, as has become the custom.

“I was always the offensive coordinator for Paul,” said Austin, “and he ran the defense.”

You’ll sense the same commitment to a big running back knocking over would-be tacklers like bowling pins.

What you won’t notice, unless you’re behind the scenes, is Austin dotting dozens more I’s and crossing an exponentially greater number of T’s.

After teaching and coaching at Oxford Hills in portions of four different decades, Austin is a varsity football head coach for the first time.

Bickford hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s still delivering the inspirational speeches and dreaming up schemes for the defense.

And at the end of each day of double sessions and game tape dissections, you don’t need to remind Austin there’s been a switcheroo.

“From where I stand, it’s a little bit of a change. Now I’m realizing why I didn’t make the jump sooner,” Austin joked during a recent break between two-a-days.

Truthfully, the timing was right for everyone involved.

Bickford was head coach for four years after taking over from long-time leader Ted Moccia, who walked away from the sideline to become an assistant principal at OHCHS.

A Harvard graduate who was an all-conference player under Austin and Frank Stoutamyer at Oxford Hills in the late 1980s, Bickford has more professional and family commitments than Austin at this stage of his life.

“My kids are all grown up now, so I have the time to devote to it,” Austin said.

The job swap keeps Bickford connected to a program he’s impacted as a player, assistant and head coach for most of the last 20 years.

Austin, meanwhile, was amply prepared to take the steering wheel. He admits to being an Oxford Hills lifer.

“I joined the staff in the fall of 1978 while I was doing my student teaching,” Austin said. “With the exception of one year off here and another there, I’ve been on the sidelines ever since.”

It’s impeccable timing for an offensive-minded assistant to take over the program.

Oxford Hills will start two of the most accomplished offensive players in the Pine Tree Conference, quarterback Ben Ryerson and tailback Jim Bower.

“We found out last year we could throw the ball a little bit,” Austin said. “But Oxford Hills is Oxford Hills, no matter who’s calling the plays. I expect you’ll see us try to run it at people.”

See? Nothing’s changed here.