LEWISTON – Pat Blais joined the basketball coaching staff at Lewiston High School thinking he’d serve an apprenticeship under Jason Fuller before moving on to run his own program.
He certainly never expected his first head coaching opportunity would come so soon, and that Fuller would be the one he was replacing. But that’s exactly where Blais is today after being named the new varsity boys’ basketball coach at Lewiston.
Blais, 26, will be the youngest coach in the KVAC and one of the youngest in the state this winter.
“I don’t feel like I’m 26,” said Blais, a 1998 Lewiston graduate. “Going through this program and learning from Jason, I feel like I’ve been doing this for 10 years.”
He’s actually been doing it for just two years, one as Lewiston’s freshman coach, and last year as the JV skipper. But Blais, who was a jack-of-all-trades while playing for Jim Ford in the mid-to-late-’90s, believes he’s had plenty of seasoning.
“I’m ready. I think Jason recognized that,” Blais said. “I don’t think he would have left the program if he didn’t think that there was someone that could step in there and do the job.”
Fuller, who stepped down last month to become Lewiston’s athletic director, said it was important to find a replacement who was already familiar with the program and the players and vice-versa.
“He already has established relationships with the kids, and he’s great interacting with them,” Fuller said. “With the timing (of having to find a new coach), that’s a good thing.”
Familiarity certainly won’t be a problem since Lewiston’s roster will be dominated by players Blais coached to a 12-4 record as freshmen two years ago and to a 6-11 mark with the junior varsity last year. The Devils lost five seniors, four who saw significant playing time, from last year’s 11-8 squad and should have an athletic and experienced nucleus returning.
“I’ve got no worries with the kids we have now,” Blais said. “They’re gutsy kids, they have talent and they come ready to play. These kids know what they’re doing. They’ve been in the system. They know me and I know them.”
A University of Maine at Farmington graduate who teaches history and government at Lewiston High, Blais said that while he’ll mold his team’s playing style to the players’ strengths and weaknesses, he doesn’t foresee the Blue Devils straying too far from the aggressive pressure defense and up-tempo offense emphasized by Fuller the last six years.
“I’m a big fan of that. I love that. I love getting up and down the court,” he said. “We’ll force people into mistakes. We want to put pressure on people and let them know that we’re there to play the full 32 minutes.”
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