Frank Donald says his only real hobby is coaching basketball.

He hopes to share that passion as the new girls’ basketball coach at Livermore Falls High School. Donald, the Wilton Recreation Department director, has been hired to replace Ken Jones, who resigned after last season.

“I’m as psyched as I can be,” said Donald. “I think the community is pretty hungry to get behind this team, and I’m bouncing off the walls to get started. I’ve been looking for this for some time.”

Jones had coached the Andies for four years. His club reached the Western C quarterfinals in Augusta in 2002 after an 8-10 regular season.

The Andies haven’t had a winning season since going 11-7 in 1999, though, and have struggled to compete at times against a strong Mountain Valley Conference field.

Donald was supposed to be presented to the school board earlier in the month but details regarding Friday night games had to be ironed out. Donald is a Seventh Day Adventist. Therefore, he can’t coach Friday nights or day games on Saturday’s.

“I’ve not seen a problem in the past,” said Donald, who has coached at the AAU level and been involved with the Mt. Abram and Mt. Blue programs. “It’s cost me a few jobs in the past, and I understand that, but that can be frustrating.”

JV coach John Trask will return and handle the team on nights that Donald won’t be able to coach. It may even be possible that Livermore Falls can alter its schedule at times to avoid games that fall into that window.

“The real hard work is in practice,” he said. “Once you get the system in place, all the pieces fall together.”

Donald has spent nine years coaching at the AAU level, working with players from ages 12 to 16. He was also the JV coach at Mt. Abram for three years and coached at the Mt. Blue Middle School last year. He also coached at the Strong Middle School at one time. He has knowledge of the MVC and the Livermore program. He met with parents on Monday and meets with players Friday.

“One of the things that’s going to help is that there are five girls on this team that played for me in the past with AAU,” said Donald. “So it’s a matter of the other kids getting up to speed.”

The Andies won five games last year but have a good young nucleus of players. Much of the squad returns, giving Donald a group with potential to build with.

Donald and Trask will use the summer program to get things running smoothly. Practice begins next week with the first game soon to follow. He’s planning as many as 19 games this season, well above the number the program has done in the past.

“They didn’t seem shell shocked,” said Donald of the parents reaction to the increased summer schedule. “In fact, they seemed excited.”

Donald hopes to build some continuity in the local program from high school down to the elementary levels.

He hopes to build an uptempo style, built on strong man-to-man defense.

In the process, he hopes to make basketball a hobby for his playes as well.

“The strength that I bring to the program is I’ve shown that I can get kids to play hard for me and like it,” said Donald. “I’ve got a love for the game, and I’ve been able to instill that in the kids.”