LEWISTON – You can take Tim Farrar out of the KVAC, but you can’t take the KVAC out of Tim Farrar.

Farrar, a former player and JV coach at Oxford Hills, is returning to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference after being approved as the new Lewiston boys’ varsity basketball coach by the Lewiston School committee Monday night.

Lewiston athletic director Jason Fuller’s appointment of former Edward Little hockey coach Jamie Belleau as the new varsity hockey coach (see related story) and Amie Emmons as the new varsity field hockey coach also passed Monday night.

Farrar, 29, is a 1997 graduate of Oxford Hills High School, where he played basketball for current varsity coach Scott Graffam. He then played basketball and soccer for four years at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. After spending one year as Graffam’s staff as JV basketball coach, he was hired to take over the varsity position at Fort Kent Community High School. He went on to lead the Warriors to the tournament in three of his four years there despite Fort Kent being one of the smallest Class B schools in the state. He spent last season as a varsity assistant to Bonny Eagle coach Rick Simonds.

“I’m really honored and excited to have this opportunity in a place where I think we can win a state championship,” Farrar said. “The KVAC is a great conference. It’s the conference I grew up in, and I think we can be a power in that conference.”

“I think it could be one of the best programs in the state. There’s a lot of potential athlete-wise and community-wise,” he said.

“I’m very excited for him and for our program,” Fuller said. “He’s going to be a good hire for us.”

Farrar replaces Pat Blais, who resigned in late March after three years. Lewiston just missed the Eastern Class A tournament in 2008 after a turbulent 7-11 season that included players quitting during the season and a Jan. 25th on-court altercation with Lawrence players and fans in Fairfield. Players from both teams were suspended, as were Blais and Lawrence coach Mike McGee because they left the bench to break up the fight.

Farrar said he spoke with Fuller, Graffam and former Lewiston coach and AD Fern Masse about the position and considers the slate clean heading into the summer basketball program.

“This year will be a year of transition, and I think after that, we’re going to have kids that are really good kids. We’re not going to have bad people in our program,” he said. “(What happened last year) doesn’t mean they were bad kids. They just made a bad mistake. They’re going to be judged on their actions going forward.”

The players shouldn’t expect a major shift in on-court philosophy from Farrar. He favors an up-tempo game similar to what the Blue Devils have played this decade under Fuller and Blais.

“The style I really want to play is going to fit the personnel there, from what I’ve heard about them and from what I’ve seen on tape,” he said. “I like to get up and down the floor, and I like to play a lot of people.”

Farrar was a K-5 physical education teacher in the MSAD 6 school system last year and is currently working for his certification in social studies and may split between teaching both subjects in the Lewiston school system.

Emmons, a 1998 LHS graduate, takes over for Norma Heidrich, who led the Blue Devils to a 4-9-1 record in her eighth year at the helm in 2008. The Blue Devils have not reached the tournament in the traditional format since her playing days, and Emmons is hoping to get her players to aim for better results.

“I want to get the girls motivated to strive harder for their goals in the sport,” she said. “I’m excited to start brand new and fresh.”

Emmons, 28, has been leading the team through weekly Monday night games at Oxford Hills this summer, as well as once-a-week “training sessions” to work on skills and conditioning. She said she expects to have seven or eight seniors returning from last year’s squad, but will also be relying heavily on a solid core of juniors.

Emmons played field hockey for four years at Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y., and currently works in the special education program at McMahon Elementary.