Tom Maines was bored, tired of sitting on the sidelines, and too young at age 65 to retire. So he applied for a job.
The Scarborough school board approved his appointment as its high school girls’ basketball coach at its monthly meeting Thursday night.
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Maines succeeds Jim Seavey, who moved to the University of Southern Maine to assist women’s basketball coach Gary Fifield.
“We’re always surprised at the quality of candidates we get,” said Scarborough Athletic Director Mike Legage.
“I was thrilled when I saw Tom Maines was interested. There’s no denying he’s a great basketball mind. We got the right coach.”
Rita Maines joins her husband on the Scarborough bench. A former head coach at Brunswick High, she will be an assistant.
Nearly 30 years ago, Maines-coached teams held center stage in high school basketball with their unrelenting pressure defenses and ability to score quickly and often off the turnovers they created.
To maintain an exhausting pace, Maines used two platoons: five players coming into the game every four minutes to substitute for the five on the court.
Maines last coached the Madison High boys in the 2003-04 season. He never has coached girls.
“I enjoy teaching both genders,” said Maines, who has a masters degree in education.
He saw the basketball court as an extension of the classroom. He gets frequent requests to teach at basketball clinics.
In fact, the returning Red Storm players already have listened to him and been introduced to his style, which can be intense but rewarding.
Two years ago, Maines was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
“I had a meeting of all our winter coaches,” said Legage, “and to see Tom Maines with Norm Gagne (more than 500 coaching wins in hockey) and Ron Kelly (indoor track) who’s in his 39th year and see the camaraderie was exciting.
“They have a craft. I was looking at the sub-varsity coaches. Who wouldn’t want to coach under these coaches?”
Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at: ssolloway@pressherald.com
Twitter: SteveSolloway
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