WINTHROP – When coaches decide to walk away from the sport they love, some don’t stroll too far.

As basketball season kicked off with the first day of practices Monday, Winthrop’s Ray Convery and Lewiston’s Mike McGraw found themselves stepping back in time of sorts. Both have returned to coach the varsity girls’ basketball teams they mentored for years before retiring.

“You get to a point where you want to say to yourself ‘This is something that’s gone by in my life and I’d like to try it again,'” said Convery. “It’s still something I’m able to do.”

Convery established Winthrop as one of the state’s most successful and consistent programs. In 23 years, Convery went 342-112 and won four regional championships and a state title in 1990. His teams earned 18 straight trips to the regional quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center and made the playoffs in all but one season.

He retired after the 2002 season, but returned as an assistant to Lonney Steeves midway through the following winter campaign. He then was a volunteer assistant at Monmouth the last few years.

“If this job hadn’t opened up, I’d still be at Monmouth, if they’d have me back,” said Convery. “I really enjoyed that.”

Winthrop is coming off its worst season ever. After a surprise trip to the Western C final two years ago, the Ramblers suffered through a miserable 4-14 campaign, despite having four starters back from the previous year. It was the first losing season for Winthrop since 1984 and ended a string of 23 straight trips to the playoffs.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Convery. “There’s a great group of kids here, and they want to be good and they want to do well. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

Joined by assistants Christine Hunter and Steeves, Convery had 19 players signed up and 20 at practice Monday.

“I’ve never coached here in this gym,” said Convery, who had always coached at the old high school and only served as an assistant to Steeves during the first year in the new school. “It’s new. I don’t know what it’s like. I’m pleased with the numbers. We’ve got 19 girls. They didn’t have this many last year.”

As a volunteer assistant at Monmouth, he shared his ideas, but didn’t have to shoulder most of the responsibilities. Now, he’s running the show again. It puts a great demand on his time and energy.

“I probably threw out half a legal pad because I was trying to decide what I wanted to do the first day,” said Convery. “I have so much I want to do. It’s challenging, but it’s fun.”

Convery was excited about the start of the basketball season, but had to admit he was a little anxious as well.

“I don’t care how old you get, it’s a little scary,” he said. “I haven’t worked with a lot of these kids. It makes it a little different. This summer was great because I was able to get an idea of where we’re at.”

Third time’s a charm

McGraw didn’t have that opportunity at Lewiston. He was hired just last month. He began his third stint with the Blue Devils Monday night, replacing Brian Laramee, who coached the team for two seasons before taking an administrative job at Buckfield. Lewiston has had four coaches since McGraw stepped down in 2000, after the most successful stretch in Blue Devils basketball history.

“Every time there was a change in coaching, there seemed to be interest by administration or parents or friends,” said McGraw. “They’d ask me if I’d be interested. I think this time I just bit. I’d always missed it and thought that I wouldn’t do it again, but it seemed to be something I wanted to do.”

McGraw first coached Lewiston from 1977 to 1988. He won 47 games and earned two playoff appearances while trying a build a struggling program. He returned in 1994 and coached six years, winning 83 regular season games and producing five winning campaigns. Lewiston went 17-1 and 18-0 his final two seasons. His club reached the tournament all six years and reached the Western A final twice, winning Lewiston’s only regional title in 1999.

He’s worked with the boys’ freshmen and JV teams the last few years, but decided the opening in the girls’ program was too tempting to pass on.

“When winter hits and you walk into the gym, you smell it,” said McGraw. “I think sometimes it takes an awful lot to say no when it’s really in your blood.”

McGraw is joined by John Hesler and Mike LaBonte. They’ll handle the freshmen and JV teams respectively. They have their work cut out for them as Lewiston tries to rebuild its status in Eastern A. The Blue Devils won just one game the last two regular seasons. A year ago, Lewiston had just two returning upperclassmen, despite the fact the previous year’s club had no seniors. Still, last year’s Blue Devils made progress, and Laramee was excited about the direction the girls were heading.

“I didn’t want to see all that work just go by the board,” said McGraw. “I think they had made progress. I’m just coming in and trying to continue the work that they started.”

McGraw, also the school’s long-time boys’ soccer coach, hopes to bring his brand of excitement and energy to the program. He’s already begun discussing work at the middle school and travel team levels. He had over 50 girls sign up for basketball this year. He has much of the squad returning from last year, but it will still be a difficult road for the Blue Devils as they face a tough Eastern A field.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” said McGraw. “What matters is if I can get the kids to just play and love the game. At least when they go home, they feel like they’ve done their best and done everything they could to win. That’s what we want. We just want them to be proud of themselves and want the community to be proud of them.”