Chris Bessey was approved as the new girls’ basketball coach at Spruce Mountain High School, while his brother Scott Bessey is the new boys’ basketball coach.

Both Besseys were with the Phoenix boys’ program last year. Chris Bessey expressed interest in the girls’ job after Gavin Kane resigned the position in late May.

“We’re excited about both Besseys coming on board,” said Lee Hixon, Spruce Mountain’s’ assistant principal and athletic director. “Scott will be taking over the boys’ program and with his experience (as an assistant) at Cheverus, we look forward to what he’ll bring to the table. Chris will be working with the girls. We’re excited about the new road that we have in front of us. We’ll definitely miss Gavin Kane. He’s a class act and an icon in girls and boys’ basketball. We will certainly miss him, but we will look forward to what Chris brings to the table.”

Chris Bessey said he was approved by a narrow margin after the school board went into executive session. Bessey was not at the meeting and Hixon declined to comment about the vote, other than saying that the vote was close.

“I don’t know all the people on the board and they don’t know me,” Chris said. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes in a small community.

“I know I probably wasn’t the first choice of some of the parents that are involved. I don’t know that for a fact but just being in a small community, things get around. I know I wasn’t their first choice for the team. For whatever reason, I’m not sure why.”

Chris Bessey was about to have his name submitted to the board last month as the boys’ coach. He was planning on his fourth season with the program. When Kane resigned that week, Bessey had his name removed and that vote was tabled.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said. “I’m leaving a pretty good program. I think the boys’ program is in a solid position right now from top to bottom.”

With Spruce Mountain moving to the KVAC next year, Chris Bessey faced a conflict. Since the KVAC teams often play on the same night, at different venues,  he would have been unable to watch his daughter, Alex, play for the Phoenix girls’ team. Most MVC games are played on separate nights or as part of a boys’-girls’ doubleheader.

Bessey said he would have liked Kane to stay and that his daughter enjoyed playing for him, but when he resigned, it was a tempting opportunity for him. With his brother, Scott, in the wings to take over the boys’ team, it was a beneficial scenario.

“The biggest thing that made that possible was the confidence I had in the administration that the right thing for the program was to hire my brother, ” said Chris. “Scott’s been with us since the first year. We’ve pretty much been co-coaches for three years. He’s ready to become a varsity coach, and he knows the kids and the style we ran was what we ran together for three years. I think the transition for the boys is pretty easy because of that.”

Chris Bessey previously coached both the Jay and Livermore Falls boys’ teams. He coached the Jay girls’ for eight seasons, winning the Class C state championship in 2009. He also coached the Jay baseball team before taking the head coaching job at the University of Maine at Farmington.

When Jay and Livermore Falls consolidated, he took over the boys’ program. The Phoenix made the playoffs all three seasons, including a 16-3 record and No. 3 seed in Western Class B last winter. Following a playoff loss in the quarterfinals, in which Bessey received a late technical foul, he raised the ire of administration for his postgame comments.

“They weren’t happy with what I said,” Chris Bessey said. “It was very inappropriate. Stuff like that doesn’t belong in the paper. From my standpoint, it was just unfortunate timing with the way everything happened with the end of the game situation and being interviewed directly after when I hadn’t had time to cool down yet.”

Bessey said he didn’t think those issues were a factor in Thursday’s close vote.

“I don’t think they had anything to do with (the vote),” he said. “I think it was two separate things. I don’t think one had anything to do with the other. I think (the vote) was just that some people on the school board, I don’t know them and they don’t know me. They might have issues with things they might have heard from other people.”

Hixon declined to discuss the vote or issues stemming from last season.

“Chris has a long history here,” Hixon said. “People have seen him work as a coach for 20 years in this community. No matter how good of a coach you are, there’s some people that don’t see coaching or see the same philosophy that you do. I will just say that Chris is a great coach, and he’s willing to work with me on fine-tuning his coaching style, and we’re looking toward the future.”

Bessey takes over a girls’ program that went 55-4 during Kane’s tenure and left the Mountain Valley Conference with a streak of 45 consecutive wins in the MVC. The Phoenix went 18-0 in the regular season last year and lost in the Western B semifinals, after winning the program’s first quarterfinal game.

The Phoenix  graduated two players from that team and return a seasoned group. Bessey acknowledged that it is a challenge to follow what Kane did for Spruce Mountain but said he is confident enough in his own abilities to face that task.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “They obviously know how to play after being coached by Gavin for three years. It’s going to be pretty easy to take over a program that has some pretty good habits and ideas about the way they play. That transition should be easy. You’re not starting from scratch.”

It should be a smooth transition for Scott Bessey with the boys’ team, as well. He’s been with the program all three years and inherits a solid team with an expectation of winning.

“There’s instant pressure, which is awesome,” Scott Bessey said. “We’re loaded and we should be able to compete.”

The Spruce Mountain boys went 48-11 the last three years and reached the Western B semis once and the quarterfinals twice.

“I love the kids and I love the team,” Scott Bessey said. “The challenge of going to a new conference is going to be dramatic. Take nothing away from the MVC, but we’re going to be battled night in and night out. Our record probably suffers because of that, but when we get to the tournament we’ll be a heck of a lot more prepared than the MVC prepared us.”

Bessey had been an assistant at Cheverus for four seasons under Bob Brown. The Stags won two state titles, three Western Maine championships and four SMAA’s during that time. He followed his brother to Spruce Mountain when that program was formed. He always thought a head varsity job was in his future.

“It’s always been the long-term goal at some point,” he said. “Obviously to be in my hometown and to be at this school would be ideal, but only when Chris decided to step down on his own terms.”

Like Chris, Scott was planning on returning with the boys’ program. When Kane resigned, Hixon contacted Scott about the vacant girls’ job.

“That’s when I called Chris, and that’s how the ball got rolling,” said Scott, who admits he wasn’t really interested in the girls’ job but knew Chris might be. “I knew Chris has been pondering this for awhile, whether it be the girls’ job or even stepping down because of the move to the KVAC.”

It was a fast moving process. Chris removed his name from consideration for the boys’ job the day of the school board meeting. Then the application and interview process began and moved rapidly.

“Everything kind of worked out and accelerated kind of quickly,” Scott said.

The hardest part was waiting for Thursday’s vote to come. With summer basketball about ready to start, both coaches were anxious to get started. Scott was meeting with players Friday afternoon.

“Between the interview process and last night, it felt like a snail’s crawl, especially when you’re the one waiting to get final word and the summer program’s creeping up on you and you’re waiting and waiting,” Scott said. “We finally got the word last night. Now we get to move forward.”

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