By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

Chris Willer grew up in Binghmam, a town so enamored with its high school basketball team that it almost seems more appropriate for Indiana or Kentucky than Maine.

He grew up with the ultimate basketball mentor, Dwight Littlefield, a man who started coaching basketball at Valley High School before he was born, watching over him. With Littlefield’s guidance, he became a three-year starter, a two-time Sun Journal Class D Player of the Year, and a driving force on three state championship teams.

So when Willer wrapped up a distinguished four-year career at St. Joseph’s College, there was little doubt what he would do.

“Growing up, my dream was to get out of college, get married and earn a varsity coaching position,” Willer said. “But (getting a varsity coaching position) two years out of college…, I didn’t think that would be realistic.”

With two years of coaching experience under his belt (one as the freshman coach at Biddeford High School and last year as the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant at Poland Regional High School), Willer’s dream is most realistic. He is coaching the Knights this year, taking over for J.P. Yorkey.

Willer is one of several new varsity coaches locally who have barely had time to frame their bachelor’s degrees before heading up high school varsity programs. Whether they represent a shot of new blood into the coaching community or are indicative of a wave of veteran skippers leaving coaching for less physically and emotionally-draining pursuits is subject to debate.

What is indisputable is the passion and preparation they are bringing to their jobs and their intent to prove that they belong on the sidelines with their more seasoned colleagues.

Pat Blais had the same dreams of putting his stamp on a basketball program one day. When he took the job as Lewiston’s freshman boys’ coach fresh out of the University of Maine at Farmington two years ago, he figured it was the first step in a slow climb up the chain of command. At his alma mater, he would learn the ins and outs of coaching from varsity coach Jason Fuller for several years, then move on to take over his own program. What seemed virtually out of the question was succeeding Fuller, a young, rising star in the coaching ranks himself.

After leading the freshmen to a 12-4 mark, Blais followed his players to the next rung up and coached them to a 6-11 mark as junior varsity. He figured another year of helping the young talent develop awaited him this season until this past September, when Fuller resigned to become Lewiston’s athletic director.

Some coaches Blais’ age (26) might have wondered whether they had paid enough dues to fill the void left by Fuller, who had turned a moribund program into one of the most consistently competitive in Eastern Class A. But Blais knew he was ready, in large part because Fuller not only told him he was ready, but showed him he was, too.

“Jason was so good to me last year,” Blais said. “He helped me out a lot, let me do a lot of different things, and because of that, it’s been a much easier transition.”

Blais and Willer had their basketball coaching jones’ nurtured by coaches with strong, though very different, male personalities. Shelby Turcotte, who is taking over for Dennis Grover as the Monmouth Academy boys’ varsity coach just five years after playing there, counts a female as perhaps his most profound coaching influence.

Turcotte, 24, met Dena Evans at a basketball camp the former University of Virginia All-American still runs for point guards. Turcotte was attending Mt. St. Mary’s in Maryland at the time, and while he found playing the game wasn’t much fun for him anymore, coaching intrigued him. Evans, who counts UCLA legend John Wooden and Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle among her friends, encouraged his interest in coaching by not only passing on what she had learned to him, but helping him network with coaches all around the country so he could pick their brains.

“She’s an excellent teacher of the game,” Turcotte said. “She helped me out a ton.”

Turcotte returned to Monmouth two years ago and served as JV and assistant coach for Monmouth. Being elevated to varsity coach so soon was unexpected, he said, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take over a program where he knew the players and the players knew him.

Ultimately, it is the players who will decide whether their new coaches will succeed at their first varsity jobs. All three coaches agreed that they have an advantage coaching high school players, many of whom were just starting middle school when they were wrapping up their own high school playing careers because today’s players respond as much to, if not better to, coaches who communicate openly with them as those that expect their players to be seen and not heard.

“Communication is a big part,” Turcotte said. “I’m just old enough so there’s that little bit of a buffer. But at the same time, the kids can relate to me and look at me as more of a player’s type coach because I played so recently.”