One of the region’s high-profile athletic programs and one of its high-profile football coaches are set to join forces.

Multiple sources told the Sun Journal on Thursday that Dirigo High School has selected Jim Hersom to take over its varsity gridiron program.

Hersom will be presented to the RSU 10 school board for approval at its next meeting Monday, March 24.

He would succeed Dave Crutchfield, who coached Dirigo the past three seasons, leading the Cougars to the Class C West championship game in 2012 and 2013.

It is the sixth head coaching stop for Hersom, an Auburn native and longtime Turner resident. Hersom previously coached at Brunswick, Mt. Ararat, Livermore Falls, Edward Little, and the past two seasons at Gray-New Gloucester.

Hersom led Livermore Falls to the Class C West championship in 1992 and EL to the Class A East title in 2002.

He also was an assistant coach at Leavitt from 2009 to 2011, when the Hornets made three consecutive appearances in the Class B title game. His son, Jordan, won the Fitzpatrick Trophy as the state’s outstanding player after the 2011 season.

Dirigo won the Class C state title in 2009, when Crutchfield was an assistant under head coach Doug Gilbert.

The Cougars’ job opened up after this season.

Crutchfield told the Sun Journal earlier this month that work commitments had prevented him from giving the coaching position the attention it merited.

He said that he was willing to step aside if a more committed candidate surfaced, and also didn’t rule out a possible return as an assistant.

The other prominent coaching vacancy in RSU 10 — at neighboring Mountain Valley —  remains open, and interviews are ongoing, according to the sources.

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