POLAND — There were times this winter when Aaron Rand’s resolve might have wavered a little. Just when he’d made a decision, he’d be tempted to change it.

His mind contemplated coaching another soccer season and seeing the schedule for next year didn’t help.

“I kept going back and forth,” said Rand. “I got the schedule, and I thought that I could make another run.”

But Rand ultimately decided otherwise. After six seasons, he chose to step down recently as the coach of the varsity girls’ soccer team. He says it was a relief to tell athletic administrator Don King that he was resigning, but it still left him with mixed emotions.

“It was definitely tough,” said Rand, who’ll continue coaching the boys’ hockey team at Poland. “It’s a good group. They worked hard, and they tried to please me. But when it comes down to it, it has to be family first.”

Rand was married this January. His son will be a junior next fall and will be playing on the golf team. He wanted to be able to watch him play. He just felt it was a good time to devote more to his family.

“It was a really tough and hard decision for me,” said Rand. “The girls had a tremendous work ethic and have been very loyal to me. So it was really hard to step aside.”

The Knights made great strides over the last six years. Facing a formidable schedule in the Western Maine Conference, Poland had struggled with consistency and maintaining coaches before Rand took the job. Wins were at a minimum and growth was limited. The Knights have made progress ever since. Poland became more competitive in the WMC and challenged for a playoff spot every year.

“I’m very proud of what we accomplished when I was there,” said Rand. “We made three playoffs in six years and had a couple of playoff wins. They’re going in the right direction.”

With much of the squad coming back and building off the momentum of last year, next fall’s squad looks promising.

“I was really excited to have the opportunity to coach this group,” said Rand. “The sky is the limit. They should be able to do some damage next year.”

King says the job opening will likely be posted this week and new candidates will be reviewed in the coming weeks.

Though Rand says it was a challenging choice to leave the soccer program, he feels good about moving on.

“The last six years I coached two sports from summer soccer in June all the way to March,” said Rand. “Two of those years I volunteered with softball, too. So there were two straight full years of coaching. It just got to be too much.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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