JAY – With the clock ticking toward the start of the 2002-03 high school basketball season, Jay High School finally found itself a new boys’ varsity coach.

Mike Child, who has had coaching stints at Lewiston and Buckfield high schools, received approval from the Jay school board last night.

The season officially tips off with the first day of practice next Monday. Child introduced himself to his new team on yesterday.

“I’m very enthused and the kids are very enthused,” he said. “I think they’re excited about the way I like to play.”

Child, 49, contacted Jay AD Kenric Charles three weeks ago to express interest in the job and interview for it last week.

“I’m going to love coaching in the MVC,” he said. “There are some great coaches there. I’ve coached in Class A, and that was exciting, too, but I’m happy to be back coaching the boys, especially at Jay.”

“Everyone says he knows his x’s and o’s,” Charles said.

Child coached for several years at the youth level in the Lewiston-Auburn area, then had a two-year stint as freshman boys’ coach at Oak Hill. He then moved to Lewiston, where he coaches the JV girls for six seasons before taking over as interim varsity coach in 1999 when Mike McGraw resigned just before the start of the season due to health reasons.

Under Child, the Blue Devils went 17-3 and earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Class A tournament, but they lost in the semifinals to Morse.

Child coached the varsity girls at Buckfield last season, finishing with a 7-11 record. The Bucks made the post-season as the 12th seed and lost to Gould in the preliminaries.

“I felt bad about leaving (Buckfield) 14 days before the season started, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity of a lifetime,” he said.

Child replaces Steve Hamilton, who resigned from the post after two years in protest of Jay’s on-going teacher contract dispute. The Tigers went 19-4 and won the Class C championship in 2002. Last season, they finished 12-8 and lost in the Western Class C quarterfinals. With nine players from that team expected back, the Tigers should be one of the leading contenders in Class C.