While coaching at the middle school level for over 20 years, Brian Kelly wondered if he’d ever fulfill his dream of coaching basketball at the high school varsity level.

Jay High School rewarded the 51-year-old Kelly for his patience recently by promoting him as the new boys’ varsity coach.

Kelly, Jay’s junior varsity coach for the last three years, is the third varsity coach at Jay in as many years. He replaces Steve Hamilton, who stepped down after leading the Tigers to an 8-10 record in the only year of his third stint coaching Jay.

“In a way, I wondered if my chance at the varsity had passed me by,” said Kelly, who lives in Wilton and is a physical education teacher there. “When I was younger, I had some people talk to me about going up to the high school at that point, but I had young kids at home myself and wanted to be involved with coaching them. I’ve got the time now, and I’m really grateful to (Jay activities coordinator) Mike Methvin for giving me the opportunity.”

The Tigers are losing eight seniors from a squad that finished one spot out of the Western Class C tournament last year. They bring back three players who saw significant varsity time – Jordan DeMillo, who will be their only senior next year and is one of their top defenders, Kyle Storer, who will be one of four juniors and was one of the top rebounders in the MVC, and Zach Bonnevie, the team’s sixth man as a freshman who leads a deep and talented group from what will be next season’s sophomores.

“We’re young,” Kelly said. “We had a good JV season. We were 12-5. We’re not tall and last year we weren’t really the greatest shooters, but these are the kinds of kids that somehow found a way to win. They’re gamers. They won a lot of close games and a lot of games where we came from behind in the second half and won.”

Jay began the decade as one of the top programs in the MVC, winning two Western C championships in a three-year period, including a state title in 2002. Declining enrollment, transfers, and instability at the top of the program have caused the Tigers to miss the playoffs four straight years.

Participation in the program is currently strong down to the middle school level right now, but consistently getting good numbers for the program will be a challenge, Kelly said. Jay will have the smallest enrollment in the MVC next year.

Kelly grew up in the Oxford Hills area and played basketball at Oxford Hills High School, where his father, Robert, coached both boys’ and girls’ varsity

“My father was a big influence,” he said.

He started coaching middle school basketball in SAD 9 in 1980, helping to develop a number of players who later went on to star at Mt. Blue High School, most recently KVAC all-conference guards Ben Russell and Jamie Sawyer.

Kelly joined Jay as its JV coach when Edwin Thompson, now the head baseball coach at Bates College, took over the program in 2006. Thompson left last spring and Hamilton replaced him late in the summer. Kelly hopes to bring some stability to the post.

“It’s not an ideal situation being the third varsity coach in three years, but the good side is Edwin Thompson and Steve Hamilton taught a lot of good things and there’s a lot that they did that I can build on,” he said.

“He has a very good background, works with students in a very positive manner and is a very positive influence on our program,” said Methvin, who coached much of next year’s varsity roster in middle school. “I’ve coached against him for years and his teams are always well prepared, both knowledge-wise and inspirationally.”

Kelly prefers an up-tempo game, but stresses playing to his players’ strengths above all.

“Obviously, you’ve got to gear towards what you’ve got, but anybody that’s played against my teams knows we press, we play man-to-man, and offensively, try to build a team concept,” Kelly said. “I don’t have any players I tell ‘You can’t shoot’ or, ‘You can’t dribble.’ A fast break style is what I prefer, but if you haven’t got the guns to do that, then you adjust.”

Kelly’s hiring is one of the first coaching chips to fall in the MVC, which has had more than it’s share of coaching vacancies this offseason.

Lisbon, Monmouth and Mountain Valley still have openings for boys’ varsity coaches. All three are expected to hire a replacement within the next couple of weeks in order to have someone in place for the summer basketball season.