WALES – Some coaches get their fill of the profession in a year or two, turn their back and move on forever.

Then there are others who are forced to give up the classroom and the sidelines due to their professional aspirations but never quite lose that competitive spirit.

Dave Wing fell into the latter category. Most people who recognize his name think of him as an administrator at Noble, Oak Hill, Maranacook and Leavitt high schools. Before that, however, he led Skowhegan to a pair of Pine Tree Conference and Class B football state championships.

“I always thought that when I got done being a principal that I would go back to coaching. Even as a principal, you always consider yourself a teacher, and that’s what coaching is,” Wing said. “Once it gets into your blood, I don’t think it ever gets out.”

Twenty-six years after he gave away the whistle, Wing is back in the game. He was approved this week as Oak Hill’s new varsity football coach.

Wing succeeds Bruce Nicholas, who was informed over the winter that he would not be retained.

“It’s pretty exciting. It should be enough to either keep me out of trouble or get me into it,” Wing quipped.

Oak Hill went 3-6 in 2008, concluding with a close loss to top-seeded Leavitt in the Western Class B quarterfinals. Wing assisted the varsity while coaching the freshmen and junior varsity with Geoff Wright, who will remain in that capacity.

The hiring coincides with the Raiders’ return to Class C. Oak Hill goes from having one of the smallest student enrollments in its division to one of the biggest, putting them in the early conversation about playoff contenders.

“You play who they tell you to play,” Wing said. “I’m sure if they told us to play Class B, we’d be just as happy with that.”

Wing’s coaching background is as diverse and accomplished as his academic resume.

A Brewer High School graduate, Wing was a football assistant under Dick McGee at Colby College before returning to his alma mater as football and baseball coach. Then a conflict of interest sent him searching for a new job.

“My younger brother became a freshman, and he was on both teams that I was supposed to coach,” Wing said. “And boy, that’s tough. He can’t win in that situation. I told myself he wasn’t going anywhere, so I thought I’d better look elsewhere.”

Skowhegan hired Wing as athletic director and baseball coach. He also served as Duke Albanese’s assistant in football until Albanese – later Maine’s commissioner of education – left in July 1977 to accept the post of assistant superintendent in Oakland.

With summer two-a-days and the start of the season looming, Wing volunteered as a stopgap solution.

“I got up in front of a 24-member school board and said, ‘Why don’t I take over for a year?’ And wouldn’t you know it,” Wing said, “we won the state championship, so they decided to keep me around for another.”

The Indians repeated as state champion in 1978. Wing coached through the 1983 season before moving to Berwick, then serving his longest professional stint of 13 years at Oak Hill.

“There’s no question that I love Oak Hill. I’m not embarrassed about it,” Wing said. “They gave me my start as a principal.”

After three years at Maranacook and three at Leavitt, Wing was newly retired in 2003 when Oak Hill athletic director Bill Fairchild called with an invitation to join the football program.

“I really need to thank Bruce (Nicholas) and Bill for giving me the opportunity to get back into coaching,” said Wing. “I’d been gone from Oak Hill six years. I didn’t really know any of the kids. Coaching the freshman and JV was perfect for getting back in.”

In addition to his football and baseball exploits, Wing led the Oak Hill boys’ lacrosse team to a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship in 2008.

Wing is bringing a longtime friend and cohort back into the fray with him. Well-traveled Mike Haley, most recently a head coach at Edward Little in the late 1980s and early ’90s, will be Oak Hill’s defensive coordinator and defensive backfield coach.

Wright will coach the offensive and defensive lines and lead the strength and conditioning program. Oak Hill just advertised the fourth and final position on the staff.

Even as the snow just finishes melting, Wing is reminded that the fall season is only four months away.

“You see the kids in the weight room,” Wing said, “and you wonder, ‘Where does the time go?’ “

Interesting perspective from a proven coach who’s getting ready to turn back the clock.