Nate Danforth has been hired as Oxford Hills’ football coach for a second time. Danforth has been on the Vikings coaching staff since 1999, including three seasons as the head coach from 2008-10. Brewster Burns photo

Coaching high school football is addicting to Nate Danforth. That’s why he’s stepped up to be the head coach at Oxford Hills following Mark Soehren’s departure earlier this year.

“I just love coaching football,” Danforth said. “I know, obviously, there’s expectations with wins and losses, but I just love the little things, like watching kids grow through the season, watching guys be successful with all the hard work they put in all summer and the atmosphere on Friday night.”

Danforth played offensive line and defensive end as a student-athlete in South Paris before graduating with the Class of 1993. He’s been on the Oxford Hills coaching staff since 1999, starting as a volunteer assistant under Ted Moccia and helping the Vikings reach the Class A state title game against South Portland that season.

Danforth also coached the JV team, working with past Oxford Hills coaches Bob Austin and Paul Bickford. Then he was hired as the Vikings head coach in 2008, a role he held for three seasons before continuing as an assistant, first for a season under Paul Withee and then 12 years under Soehren. In addition to football, Danforth also coaches the throwers on the track and field team and previously coached wrestling.

“The team members are very excited to have coach Danforth as their head coach,” Oxford Hills athletic director Kevin Ryan told the Sun Journal in an email. “We know the players will give their best. They have great respect for Coach Danforth, and Coach Danforth is dedicated to keeping the program at the level it has reached under Coach Soehren.”

Danforth’s first stint as head coach was during a long period of struggle for the Vikings. They were winless his first season and won one game in each of the next two.

During Soehren’s tenure, Danforth, as defensive coordinator, helped transform Oxford Hills from a struggling program to one of the best in recent years. The Vikings won the school’s first state championship in 2022, played in the Class A title game in 2021 and lost in the final minute of the A North final last year.

Danforth said community support drove his decision to apply to be the program’s head coaching for a second time.

“It’s still kind of new to me the second time around, obviously, but I’m excited,” Danforth said. “I feel like the last few years I’ve been responsible for a lot of lot of things … that’s really what I’m going to pride myself on is setting good examples for those guys and the kids, and trying to maintain the culture we have in Oxford Hills now and stay the course.

“I feel like I have a wealth of knowledge, and it’s just nice to be able to input it wherever I want to now.”

Comparing his coaching now with his first stint as head coach from 2008-10, Danforth said that with age and wisdom have come a different set of goals. He’s about to turn 50 and noted that he has coached alongside a number of great coaches and led several talented athletes.

“Early on in my career, when I got the job, I was really focused on winning, not the entire package,” Danforth said. “So now, I can see how important it is to work on things during the summer and to have communication with the kids all summer. To make sure that there’s a good weight program, kids and coaches are always getting better and I’m always getting better.

“I’ve just been around it so long now, and I’ve just been open to everything, so I have a good direction that I want to follow and hopefully I do a lot better than did last time.”

Danforth noted that the style of play in high school football also has changed, from a “run-oriented, play-action pass with nine guys in the box,” game in the 1990s to a “spread game where you have athletes everywhere.” Improvements in technology for watching film and different styles of weightlifting have also changed the game.

Assistant coach Nate Danforth, right, along with seniors Creighton Medeiros (51), Brady LaFrance (13) and Davis Turner (7) lead the Oxford Hills football team to the Gouin Athletic Complex in Paris for the Vikings’ 2014 season opener. Brewster Burns photo

Danforth worked with the Vikings throughout the summer in preparation for the first day of practices on Aug. 19.

This year’s team, he said, will be underclassmen-heavy. There’s only five seniors returning, compared to the 25 incoming freshmen. He said Oxford Hills will be talented at skill positions while young, but inexperienced on the offensive and defensive lines.

“We have a great freshman class coming in, they were a very successful group of kids in middle school, and we’re looking for good things in the future with those guys,” Danforth said. “Going into preseason on the 19th, I feel like we really were able to accomplish a lot this summer, as far as installing things. Kids are getting comfortable playing positions, and our young offensive line is way above (and) ahead of schedule, as far as where we want them to be.”

Danforth said his sideline excitement will be hard to contain on Friday nights this fall. While he describes his coaching style as “a tough-love guy,” he also knows how to pump up the Vikings pre-game and at the half.

“I definitely get a little excited on the sidelines, and I’ve been giving the pregame speeches and the halftime speeches my whole career. I’m a rah-rah guy, I love the game, I love the physicality part, and I love the excitement,” Danforth said. “But that being said, I do understand that part of my role now is to mentor and to make sure kids are enjoying the process, so that’s definitely going to be on the radar for me.”