By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer
Coach Gavin Kane is trying to build the Dirigo boys’ basketball team in the mold of its girls’ counterpart.

DIXFIELD – “There will come a time when winter will ask you what you did all summer.”

Chris Richards read those words in a letter coach Gavin Kane sent to him and the rest of the Dirigo boys’ basketball squad as their summer basketball program was starting up, and a chill ran up his spine.

“That’s when I really noticed things had changed,” the senior center said.

Ten games into their first season under Kane, the Cougars are making the rest of the Mountain Valley Conference notice just how much things have changed in Dixfield. With a 9-1 record (the only loss coming in double overtime to unbeaten arch rival Mountain Valley), the Dirigo boys are beginning to emerge from the shadow of their dynastic sisters. “Now we go into every game and we know that we have a chance to beat anybody,” said junior guard Spencer Berry, the team’s leading scorer. “We’re believing in ourselves more.”

They’re not alone. The entire population of SAD 21 is believing in them more.

While the Dirigo girls have enjoyed unprecedented success since Kane took over their program in 1994 (six state and 11 regional titles), the boys, though a strong program for much of the 1990s, have slipped deeper and deeper into obscurity with mediocre and sub-.500 campaigns for much of the new millennium.

But since Dirigo announced in May that Kane would coach both the boys and girls, the boys have been as big of a topic as the girls around the breakfast tables of Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru.

“The first game against Monmouth, the gym was almost filled out, and I don’t think there were more than five Monmouth people there,” Richards said. “Every game, even the game down to Lisbon, we had a lot of fans down there. There’s been a lot of people showing up to games, which is nice.”

The change hasn’t just reinvigorated interest in the boys. Despite having his annual battle with bronchitis a month early this season, Kane said the double duty has taken less of a physical toll on him than he expected. He’s also had little trouble juggling practices and games between the two teams, thanks to the help of his assistant coaches, Matt Clark, Rebecca Fletcher, Reggie Weston and Rob Marcia.

“I think it’s been a very positive experience so far, for both the kids and for the coaching staff,” Kane said. “We’re trying to develop a new attitude, so to speak, for the boys’ program, and at the same time, it’s reenergized myself as a coach as well.”

The players have fed off Kane’s energy, and it’s translated on the court, where the Cougars have used a stifling full court trap to wear down opponents physically and mentally.

The Dirigo girls’ dynasty was built on defense and teamwork, and Kane is trying to lay the same foundation with the boys.

“I think they’re catching on quickly to how much our coaching staff does pay attention to small details,” he said. “As much as we’re trying to develop individual skills and team play, we’re really trying to develop the team concept.”

“We spend an awful lot of time talking about the importance of togetherness, the importance of unselfishness, the importance of being able to depend on each other on the floor and off the floor,” he added. “They seem to be buying into that.”

Whether everyone in the district has bought into Kane doing both jobs is another story. One month ago today, the girls lost to Hall-Dale, snapping their 124-game regular season winning streak, setting off whispers and anonymous postings on Internet message boards that Kane was cheating the girls by trying to turn the boys’ program around.

“Obviously, I don’t have any control over that,” Kane said. “It’s not unexpected. When I talked about taking the boys’ job with Superintendent (Thomas) Ward, he said You know what will happen the first time somebody loses, particularly the girls, don’t you?’ I’m sure there may be a few that may question whether I’m giving a fair amount of time or the same amount of time that I’ve given the girls in the past, but I feel like we’re giving them the same effort.”

He’s giving them the same effort, but he admitted he has to be conscientious of switching gears when he switches teams. He knows he can’t let the frustration he’s having with one group in practice carry over into the other’s practice. For that, Kane is glad he’s mellowed with age.

“If I was 25 years old again, I’m not sure I would have handled it quite as well,” he said.

When he was younger, Kane coached the Rangeley boys for nine years, leading them to eight Western Maine appearances and a state title in 1989, so success with the other gender isn’t foreign to him.

Now, success is no longer a foreign concept to the Dirigo boys, either.

“Coach Kane has opened up every door,” Richards said. “With the way we’ve been jelling as a team, if we keep going the way we’ve been going, we’ll definitely be a threat come playoff time.”