Gavin Kane steps down as girls’ basketball coach at Mt. Blue

FARMINGTON — Gavin Kane has resigned as head girls’ basketball coach at Mt. Blue High School.

Kane coached at his alma mater the past two seasons, but has informed superintendent Tom Ward, athletic administrator and assistant principal Todd Demmons and assistant athletic director Rob Olsen that he was resigning.

“Resigning a position is almost always tough to do,” Kane said. “You feel attached to your players and you appreciate most people you work with and for. I was really hoping this would be the last stop of my coaching career unless I had a college opportunity, but unfortunately, it just didn’t work out that way.”

Kane wouldn’t give specific reasons for stepping down. He said parental issues and player commitment were sources of frustration.

“There were certainly a couple of main factors in my resignation, but I don’t want to discuss them much publicly,” Kane said. “I’ll keep most of that to myself, but will continue to be discouraged by the changes I do see in high school sports.”

Demmons said he received a letter of resignation from Kane on Tuesday night. He said the team’s assistant coaches would continue coaching the summer program this month, and that the job opening will be posted soon.

Mt. Blue went 9-9 last season and lost to Gardiner in the Class A North quarterfinals. The Cougars were 11-7 the previous year and were beaten by Edward Little in the first round.

Kane, a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, replaced Tom Philbrick at Mt. Blue in 2014 after Philbrick had coached five seasons. Issues with parents and the administration led to his resignation. The two previous coaches at Mt. Blue had also cited problems with parents and administration as being factors in their decision to leave.

At the time of his hire, Kane said he was interested in returning to his alma mater and having the chance to coach at the Class A level. He has also coached the Rangeley boys in Class D, the Dirigo boys and girls in Class C, and the Spruce Mountain girls in Class B. He had won state titles with both the Rangeley boys and Dirigo girls.

Coaching at Mt. Blue also provided Kane the opportunity to coach his daughters. Caitlin Kane was a senior last year and will play at Maine Maritime Academy next year. Chelsea will be a senior next school year.

After missing many of his daughters’ games while coaching at Spruce Mountain, coaching at Mt. Blue and having his son, Connor, assisting on the bench made it a family affair.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to coach the kids I had the past two years and to coach at Mt. Blue High School,” Kane said. “It was also a pleasure to have had the chance to coach my daughters, which was certainly nice to do after coaching for so many years.”

Kane said his future in coaching is uncertain.

“I’m not sure,” said Kane, who was hired this spring as manager of Oakdale Country Club in Mexico. “My oldest daughter asked me the other night if I could come to all of her college games. That made me take an even harder look at committing all of the time that I do for others. I’ve done that for a lot of kids for a lot of years. Commitment now, along with parental support, is so significantly different. I don’t really want to get done for good doing something I really love, but I’ll have to wait and see.”

Mt. Blue graduated an abundance of talent from last winter. Seniors Emilee Eustis, Eryn Doiron, MacKenzie Harris, Olivia Ryan and Caitlin Kane graduated. leaving the Cougars with a very young and inexperienced squad.

Kane said assistant coaches Rebecca Fletcher and Matt Clark will continue working with the team to finish out the summer program, saying he and his coaching staff felt obligated to finish this season with the players. The Cougars have a few games left, in addition to tournaments in Madison and Boothbay.

Prior to coaching at Mt. Blue, Kane went 55-4 and lost just one regular season game with Spruce Mountain, a run that included a 45-game regular-season win streak and his 500th career win.

Kane’s high school coaching career is perhaps best defined by his time with the Dirigo High School girls’ team, where he coached for 13 years through 2009.

Kane helped turn Dirigo into one of the state’s most successful programs. The Cougars went 263-17 overall during his stay and set a state record with 11 straight regional titles and added six state championships. He coached the boys’ team at the same time in his last four years at Dirigo, going 74-10.

He left Dirigo to become an assistant with the University of Maine women’s program in 2009 under then-head coach Cindy Blodgett.

kmills@sunjournal.com

In the Crease: To my daughters — I love you, but I will not make excuses for you