BRUNSWICK – After serving eight years as the athletic director at Brunswick High, Gene Keene is stepping down to work closer to home.

Keene was named the new athletic administrator Thursday at St. Dominic in Auburn.

The campus of the small Catholic school is located about a mile from Keene’s home in Auburn.

“The reason for the change, to be perfectly honest, is kind of a quality-of-life thing.” Keene said. “I sat down one day and I figured out I spent 280 hours every year in my truck driving back and forth to Brunswick. That’s seven 40-hour work weeks, and I’ve been doing that for eight years. At my point in my life, being close to home and being with my wife are important to me.”

Previously, Keene, 58, served as the athletic director for one year at Maranacook in Readfield.

Keene also taught mathematics, and coached football and softball at Edward Little, his high school alma mater in Auburn.

“St. Dom’s opened up and it’s close to home, so I thought I’d take a peek at it,” Keene said. “It seems like a setting and a culture that will allow me to continue to do a job that I still love doing with a chance to do it a little bit closer to home.”

Keene will replace Lee Hixon, who served as the St. Dominic athletic administrator for 12 years.

“(We are) very fortunate to have found such a high quality replacement for Lee Hixon,” said St. Dom’s Principal Donald Fournier in a press release. “Mr. Keene brings years of experience to the position.”

While at Brunswick, Keene was named the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference’s athletic administrator of the year and received the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association’s special achievement award.

“I’m indebted to Brunswick for allowing me to have the experience to develop my skills,” Keene said. “They were extremely supportive. I can’t think of one negative thing to say about Brunswick in the way they’ve supported me.”

Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

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