BRUNSWICK

For eight seasons, Jeff Ramich walked the sidelines at Lisbon High School, a fan of the Greyhounds, as well as the school’s co-curricular director.

After stints at Gray-New Gloucester and Leavitt, the Lisbon native is back, named the new athletic administrator of Brunswick High School on Wednesday during a school board meeting.

Ramich replaces Gene Keene, who resigned to take over as the athletic director at St. Dom’s in Auburn after eight years as the leader of the Dragons.

“It is going to be a smooth transition,” said the confident Ramich from his new office just off the BHS gymnasium on Thursday.

His first order of business? “I can’t get cell phone reception back here,” said the 1989 University of Maine graduate and husband to Sam.

On Thursday, Ramich went outside where boys lacrosse coach Don Glover was running his summer junior high school lacrosse camp. Glover stopped the session, taking the time to introduce the new AD to the future of BHS athletics.

Inside his office, the phone rang several times as coaches called to welcome the new boss. Football coach Dan Cooper stopped in, offering a heartfelt congratulation. It was a busy first morning.

In the coming weeks, Ramich will move his belongings from Leavitt to BHS, and he will get to know several of his BHS coaches with fall practices a mere three weeks away.

“I know most of the coaches here, which is a plus for me, and I think my biggest attribute is my ability to form relationships with kids,” said Ramich. “I want to get to know these guys and girls as fast as I can. My rapport with them is the thing I do best.”

His start

A 1984 graduate of Lisbon High School, Ramich earned a degree at UMaine in physical education, and health and coaching. Since then, he has attained a masters degree in education leadership from the University of Southern Maine.

In 2000, Ramich returned home, becoming the co-curricular director at Lisbon, a position he held until 2009 when he moved to Sugg Middle School as the interim principal.

But, being a principal was not for the father of Kyrstin, 20, and Cam, a senior at Lisbon this year, so in 2010 he headed south to Gray-New Gloucester, becoming a co-curricular director again. One year later, Ramich was off to Leavitt, replacing Doug Conn.

“Leaving Lisbon was the one of the most difficult decisions that I had to make,” said Ramich. “I am not a curriculum guy. My hat’s off to those principals. They deal with everything. But, it just wasn’t for me.”

Like the Greyhounds before, the Hornets saw success, especially on the football field.

“There was great success at Leavitt, which really brings a community together,” said Ramich, who said it was difficult to leave the Turner school. “It was tremendously tough to leave Leavitt. The administration over there is great and was very supportive, even helped cover games. The support was outstanding. I will miss those guys, the teachers and coaches that are so hard-working.”

Ramich feels his style is similar to Keene’s and Mt. Ararat AD Todd Sampson.

“Gene, Todd (Sampson) and I are cut from the same cloth,” said Ramich. “We are here for the kids, the coaches, the parents, and we’re going to be out and about. Every day outside is a parent-teacher conference. I will see the parents all the time, which is great, and my door will always be open.”

Ramich feels with advances in technology that being an AD is different from when he ran things at Lisbon.

“Yes, you are still going to pay your bills, do the schedules, do the inventory, supervise games. But, it is a lot like a collegiate sports information director,” said Ramich. “I want to promote the kids and the coaches. I will use Twitter and Facebook. I don’t want anything for myself, making sure I am in the background.

I want to get my kids into a college, get them a scholarship. Whether it’s a Fitzpatrick Award winner or an award one of my coaches receive, I want to help promote them.

“I am big on sportsmanship awards. There is nothing better than winning a state championship and being recognized at halftime with a sportsmanship banner as well. That just says something.”

A bonus for Ramich is the drive from his Lisbon home to Brunswick.

“Gray-New Gloucester, Leavitt was 40 minutes, and this morning my commute was 20 minutes, which was great,” said Ramich. “It is a brand new school with great facilities. And the coaches here are great.

“Being from Lisbon, I know this area very well. It has always been one of those nice areas, a place I wanted to be a part of. I almost applied when Gene did after (former BHS AD) Rick Crawford got done. But, I had only been an AD for four years, and I knew I wasn’t ready to be a Class A athletic director.”

As for his immediate goals? “I want to continue the success that they have here and provide resources for my coaches. I know we have some of the best coaches in this building right now. I just want to support them and help them with professional development.”

Ramich is not about changing things right away.

“Like at Leavitt, I am not going to come in here and put my fist down and say ‘this is the way that Jeff Ramich does things.’ I want to see how things go, and if I see areas that need to improve, I will help get us to that point.”

Ramich said cuts in the budget, an ongoing theme throughout high school athletics, is an area participation numbers can easily solve.

“You have to maintain and sustain your participation numbers. We won’t have a program in the books if the numbers are not there. You just can’t justify that. For instance, we are starting a girls volleyball club this year, and we will have a girls freshman basketball team once again,” added Ramich. “Athletics are an extension of the classroom, and there are a lot of students who come here for athletics, the arts and drama. That is why they are here. If public education is free, then athletics should be free as well.”

The downside of being an AD, according to Ramich, is when he needs to keep an athlete from playing a sport due to academic difficulties.

“It’s a whole quarter here at Brunswick, which is a season, and it is always difficult,” said Ramich. “My job is to promote athletics, and I don’t want to tell a kid that they can’t do it. I never want to have that discussion.”

Ramich says he is ready for the challenges of leading a Class A school, with an enrollment of 900 students, much larger than the schools he has served in the past.

“I’vegonefromaCschool,toB schools, and now an A school. There are freshman teams, which is a big difference. There were only three at Leavitt, two at Gray-New Gloucester and just one at Lisbon,” said Ramich, who will administer lacrosse for the first time in his career. “At Leavitt, we had skiing, where here, we have lacrosse. That is different for me, but I have superb coaches in place that lead those programs.

“It means the world to me to be in this position. Again, it comes down to the kids and being here for them. You will see me in black and orange. I came in here today, my first day, looking for a Brunswick hat. I will be their biggest supporter. I will support them and promote them.”

As for the rivalries in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, Ramich has it all in perspective.

“It is almost collegiate like, with these games being so intense, the rivalries with Mt. Ararat and Lewiston. I can understand the intensity, but we have to also remember that it is a game. It is about sportsmanship.”