PORTLAND — Portland High hired veteran baseball coach Tony DiBiase to fill the vacancy created when Mike McCullum was named athletic director last July.

DiBiase, 56, stepped down as South Portland High baseball coach after 14 seasons last spring. Besides baseball, DiBiase also has a long resume as a head basketball coach. He was hired last May as Gray-New Gloucester boys’ basketball coach and served 17 years as South Portland basketball coach until his contract wasn’t renewed in June 2007.

McCullum wasn’t prevented from coaching baseball because of his athletic director’s position but decided doing both would have been time consuming and a strain on his family.

“It would have been too much doing both,” said McCullum, who coached baseball the last two years. “I don’t know if my wife would have stuck around.”

McCullum said there were eight applicants for the varsity baseball position.

“We interviewed five and narrowed it to three. Tony stood out at the end in his interviews,” McCullum said. “We’re happy to have Tony aboard. His resume speaks for itself.”

DiBiase, a Westbrook native and University of Maine baseball standout in the mid-1970s, played in the Portland Twilight League and was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. He was a football, basketball and baseball standout at Westbrook High.

DiBiase was an assistant football coach this fall at Portland. Coaching three sports is nothing new for DiBiase. He said he’s been doing it for 20 years. DiBiase coached football at Memorial Middle School in South Portland while he was the varsity basketball and baseball coach at South Portland.

“I enjoy coaching and the challenge of coaching multiple sports,” said DiBiase, who teaches physical education at South Portland High.

“When the situation arose this past fall with the Portland baseball opening, I talked it over with my family. I’m happy to be selected.

“Portland is a very good baseball job. I enjoyed coaching at Portland the first time when I was the basketball coach and I have enjoyed it this fall as an assistant football coach.

“Portland is a baseball city and I expect to be competitive in any sport I coach. We will have some young but talented players.”

With the graduation of his son, Jon, from South Portland last spring, DiBiase had planned to step down as the Red Riots’ coach. Jon DiBiase was a first baseman, a quarterback in football and a point guard in basketball.

“I figured it was going to be my last year at South Portland,” said DiBiase. “My son’s class was a group of players I had been working with and following since Little League.

“I thought it was a good time to get away. The program is strong with a good group of players returning.”

DiBiase’s teams at South Portland won two Telegram League titles and qualified for the playoffs in 12 out of his 14 seasons.

 

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at: tchard@pressherald.com

 

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