Tony DiBiase, a longtime Maine high school basketball coach, will take over the Scarborough High varsity boys’ basketball program after being approved for hire by the town’s school board.
DiBiase has coached for 33 seasons, the last two at Gray-New Gloucester. With a young team, the Patriots were 3-15 last season. In DiBiase’s first year, the team went 11-9, losing in the Western Class B semifinals.
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“I enjoyed my time at Gray,” he said. “I’m most proud of the fact the kids played hard in every game.”
This will be DiBiase’s seventh head basketball coaching position in the state. He previously coached at Machias, Noble, Gorham, Portland, South Portland and Gray-New Gloucester. DiBiase won the Class B state title at Gorham (1982), and Class A titles at Portland (1986) and South Portland (1992).
“I think it’s an exciting job with a lot of potential,” said DiBiase of his new position. DiBiase also is the head baseball coach at Portland High.
“The administration seems to be very supportive. The facilities are great. The school has championship athletes in many sports. The community is looking to do well in all sports,” he said.
DiBiase will replace Joe Johnson, who coached for four seasons but wasn’t rehired. Scarborough had a 10-8 regular- season record last winter.
“I’ve looked at the history of Scarborough basketball, and it’s been a competitive program but it hasn’t had the big success,” said DiBiase. “It will be interesting to see if we can do something about that.”
DiBiase’s teams are known for their uptempo style, featuring strong guard play.
“That’s the way I think basketball should be played,” he said. “I believe it’s a player’s game and not a coach’s game.”
DiBiase returned to coaching high school basketball for the 2010-11 season at Gray-New Gloucester after an absence of three seasons.
He stayed active in the game in the interim as an assistant coach for the men’s team at St. Joseph’s College.
DiBiase had his longest stint at South Portland, where he coached for 17 seasons. The Red Riots qualified for the tournament 15 times. DiBiase has 406 wins as a coach.
Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:
tchard@pressherald.com
Twitter: TomChardPPH
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