Six years ago, Jim Hersom stepped down from coaching at Edward Little to battle cancer, knowing even then he would want to run a high school football program again some day.

After successfully conquering the disease and helping his sons conquer most of their gridiron opponents, Hersom has been named head football coach at Gray-New Gloucester High School

“I’m excited. I knew I’d get back into it at some point and am just grateful for the opportunity,” Hersom said.

Hersom, 53,  never actually stopped coaching while battling cancer. He coached at Tripp Middle School in Turner and served as a volunteer assistant to Mike Hathaway at Leavitt Area High School.

While at Tripp and Leavitt, he coached his sons, David and Jordan, and helped the Hornets win three consecutive Pine Tree Conference Class B championships and a state title in 2009. Jordan, who is headed to Springfield College in the fall to play football and basketball, won the Fitzpatrick Trophy in January.

Hersom, who lives in Turner with wife Mary, said he has known Gray-New Gloucester first-year athletic director Gary Groves and assistant principal Eric Klein for some time, and the Gray-New Gloucester job is a good fit for him personally.

“It had to be the right situation for me for a couple of different things,” said Hersom, who is a physical education teacher at Edward Little High School. “It’s an easy commute for me. It’s 15 minutes from school. And they play Friday night, which will allow me to watch Jordan next year.”

Hersom was head coach at Livermore Falls for 12 years in the 1980s and 1990s, leading the Andies to Class C regional titles in 1990 and 1992. After brief stops at Mt. Ararat and Brunswick, he coached Edward Little for seven years and led the Red Eddies to the Pine Tree Conference championship in 2002.

He stepped down from Edward Little in June of 2006 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He is now cancer-free but, like most cancer survivors, remains vigilant.

“We’ve got a good handle on it,” he said. “I see people about it fairly regularly still and we keep an eye on it. I’m just real grateful things have worked out.”

“I’m real thankful to Mike and the Leavitt coaching staff for allowing me to come on and stay involved with the game,” he added. “It was a real positive experience and I know my sons enjoyed it.”

The Hersom family football lineage goes beyond Jim and his sons. His twin brother, John, has coached at Lawrence for the last seven years, where he won a Class A title in 2006 and Pine Tree Conference titles in 2007 and 2011. The roster for his state championship team included his sons, Mike, Tom and Jack, the latter also a Fitzpatrick Trophy winner.

Both Jim and John played under their father, the legendary Lawrence “Doc” Hersom, at Edward Little, leading the Red Eddies to back-to-back Class A state championships in 1976 and 1977. The brothers went on to play at the University of Maine.

“He’s such a man of integrity and such a man of the game of football, coming from a family of football tradition,” Groves said. “With all of his experience, and just how he approaches the game and how he approaches young adults, that really stands out.”

Hersom, whose name was also mentioned as a candidate for the vacant head coaching position at Oak Hill,  takes over for Phil Prideaux. The Patriots were 1-16,  including 1-7 last year, in two years under Prideaux, whose coaching contract was not renewed.

While the feeder system in Gray-New Gloucester has grown to about 80 kids, Groves said, the varsity program has had difficulty improving on the field since its 2003 debut (the Patriots spent two years in the developmental league before joining the Campbell Conference in 2005). The Patriots have never made the Campbell Conference playoffs. Their best seasons were 2006 and 2009, when they were 4-5.

Hersom said he is still learning about the program on the fly, but likes what he’s heard so far.

“I don’t know an awful lot about the program. I have talked to a few people, and talking to Gary, there seems to be a real good group of people in the youth program that have been working real hard to establish that program,” he said. “They’ve noticed the numbers are pretty good.”

“We’re just going to see what we can do,” he added. “Mainly, I just want to go out there and try to work with them and teach them the game of football, try to create a good atmosphere and hopefully, they’ll have some fun.”

This is Hersom’s first foray into a conference that includes defending Class B state champion Wells, perennial power Mountain Valley, recently-added Spruce Mountain (Livermore Falls and Jay) and newer programs that have developed into regular playoff competitors, such as Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and Greely.

“I just got the schedule today, looked it over and — real competitive schedule,” Hersom said. “I don’t know an awful lot about Falmouth and Greely, but I am familiar with the others and their coaches. I know how they coach and I know their programs are real solid and competitive. But as far as comparing leagues, I’m not real sure. I think it’s going to be a good challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Hersom said he plans to meet with the players next week and follow up in the weight room in the spring.

In addition to Hersom, Groves announced the hiring of Brad Smith as varsity baseball coach.

Smith has over 30 years of high school and college prep coaching experience, most of those at Bridgton Academy, where he served as athletic director from 1991-2010.

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