WALES — Jared Browne is headed home.

The Oak Hill High School boys’ basketball coach has resigned to take the same job at his alma mater, Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference rival Winslow High School.

“It’s where I grew up. It’s where I learned the game. It’s where I learned everything that made me the person I am,” Browne said.

Browne, a 2002 Winslow graduate, spent five years at Oak Hill, the last two as head coach.

Oak Hill went 7-11 in 2010 and 3-15 in 2011, stymied by a series of close losses each season.

Now the Raiders and first-year athletic director Jim Palmer are searching for a coach two weeks before the start of school and roughly 100 days away from the beginning of the winter sports season.

“They have a pretty good group of kids coming back, so hopefully they get a coach in there who can help them reach their potential,” Browne said.

Browne elevated expectations and participation in a program that has never celebrated sustained success, winning only one quarterfinal tournament game in its 35-year history.

The Raiders had 27 total players in the system last year. Fifteen freshmen had signed up to play prior to Browne’s departure.

“Not many of them played all summer, but that’s the way it is everywhere,” Browne said. “The eighth-grade class is fairly strong. There’s a lot of potential if the kids stick with it and don’t get frustrated with the coaching changes.”

Cam Morin, Cody Provost, Brian Bradstreet and Tanner Lessard were Oak Hill‘s only graduating seniors. Soon-to-be-juniors Trever Samson and Sam Morin lead the returning cast.

Browne coached Oak Hill all summer. He accepted the Winslow job Monday, Aug. 8 before breaking the news to his team later that week.

That’s in stark contrast to the upheaval and uncertainty in Browne’s hometown since the end of school.

Former Winslow coach Scott Wood was arrested in June and pleaded guilty in July to a charge of unlawful sexual touching of a girl under 18.

Wood, who led Winslow to a Class B state championship and more than 100 wins in his nine years at the helm, was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with all but six months suspended. As part of the plea bargain, Wood was forced to resign and forfeit his teaching certificate.

Winslow won 16 games last season, including a victory over Medomak Valley in the Eastern Class B quarterfinals in Bangor.

“The point guard is a kid named Justin Murray, and he reminds me a lot of Tim Levesque, who I had at Oak Hill,” said Browne, who is yet to meet the Winslow players. “I’m looking forward to working with him after I put in my offense.”

With its coaching situation in limbo, Winslow didn’t have its traditional summer program.

“Their rec director ran something. They had a couple of practices and a couple of scrimmages and that was it,” Browne said. “They’ve got some talent, so I’m sure a lot of those guys were working out and playing on their own. It wasn’t a lost summer.”

Browne is no stranger to helping build a winner from the ashes at Winslow.

In his senior season, Winslow ended a 16-year tournament drought. The next winter, Wood took over and guided the Black Raiders to their first state title in 64 years.

“I’ve always been sorry that I missed out on that by a year,” Browne said.

He also has mixed emotions about not being able to finish the climb at Oak Hill, where he started as an assistant in 2007 and was junior varsity coach for two years before succeeding Bruce Nicholas.

“Five years is a long time to be somewhere,” Browne said. “The kids were great. The parents were great. Everybody was very helpful to me.”

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