There has been a big turnover throughout the past couple of months at Wiscasset, with the spring sports season featuring four first-year coaches taking over for the Wolverines.
“The process of hiring seven new coaches between eight sports this spring has been relatively smooth,” said Stubbert. “We were fortunate to have very good applicants apply for those coaching positions and ultimately hire some very good coaches.”
There are steep challenges for these new leaders — Gregg Wood (baseball), Gordon Campbell (softball), Josiah Winchenbach (track) and Jesse Hinman (girls tennis).
“Numbers are down a little bit, especially in softball and baseball,” said Stubbert. “This year’s middle school softball team has 18 players, which will certainly help the varsity numbers in a few years. We also have a middle school baseball team this year where we did not have a team last year and the half year before that. We need to keep these young student athletes involved as best as we can in order to preserve our varsity teams for the future.”
Campbell has coached at Wiscasset, running the middle school softball program over the past four years.
“I am familiar with many of this year’s players,” said Campbell, who works at Bath Iron Works. “I want to see consistency. The players need to show up every day in order to improve. I know this team will improve as far as fundamentals go.”
“We have been pretty fortunate so far, as we were outside some early and have 20 kids on the team,” said Winchenbach who takes over for longtime track coach Warren Cossette. “Warren and I had a good relationship when I coached the middle school track team. I did that for six years. We would often bump ideas off of each other.”
Winchenbach sees potential with his team, with the 20 athletes coming out the most for the Wolverines in several seasons.
“We had some kids who qualified for states last year, and we have some of them back,” said Winchenbach.
Ayanna Main was a solid contributor last year for Wiscasset, finishing fourth in the triple jump and fifth in the high jump at the State Class C meet. Also, freshman Matt Chapman is an athlete Winchenbach expects to do well in hurdles, and for the first time in a long time, Wiscasset will field a 4×100 relay team in both the boys and girls meets.
“I have asked the athletes to sign up for at least three events,” said Winchenbach, who is a 9-1-1 dispatcher for Wiscasset. “In track, you need to have the flexibility to put kids in the right spots. So, having the ability to participate in several events is key to success. Plus it benefits the kids.”
Baseball, tennis
Chris Hammond is the lone returner among the spring coaches for Wiscasset. He leads the boys tennis team, which finished 5-7 last season before dropping a 5-0 decision to Hall-Dale in the postseason.
Longtime girls tennis coach Sue Shorey returned last season, leading the Wolverines back to the playoffs after a 5-7 regular season.
Hinman takes over a squad looking to get past the quarterfinals.
And, in baseball, Wood has a team coming off a tough 5-11 season that ended in the Western D quarterfinals against Searsport, a 3-0 loss.
But, in 2014 Wiscasset made a run, advancing to the State Class D championship before suffering a tough 5-4 eight inning loss to Bangor Christian.
“I have seen dedication and enthusiasm from the new coaches here at Wiscasset,” said Stubbert. ”For example, Gregg Wood has spent countless hours working on improving the condition of our baseball field. He has been down there with some players turning up the infield dirt, building a new pitchers mound and improving the area around home plate. It takes dedication like that to help build a program.”
Wiscasset baseball and softball kick off the 2016 season with home games against Boothbay on April 22. Track is in action April 26 with a tri-meet against Boothbay and Madison, while the tennis teams open April 25 against Winthrop — the boys at home and the girls on the road.
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