RICHMOND — The last time the Richmond girls soccer team had a new head coach, George H.W. Bush was the President of the United States. The popular TV show “Miami Vice” had its final season. And “Batman” — the Michael Keaton version — was the hottest movie at the box office.

But the Bobcats entered a new era on Monday, hitting the pitch with Randy Hinkley as their new head coach.

Hinkley takes over the program from Troy Kendrick, who retired in the spring. Kendrick, who first ran the program in 1989, is the winningest girls soccer coach in Maine high school history. In his 34 seasons on the sideline, Kendrick led Richmond to 414 victories, 17 regional championships and 11 Class D state championships. He had only one losing season during his tenure, while producing a 61-22 playoff record.

Hinkley, 42, is well aware of the shoes he’s filling. He grew up in Richmond, and has served as the district’s middle school girls soccer coach for the past three seasons.

“I take (filling the position) with great pride,” Hinkley said. “Richmond was blessed to have him all those years. He’s the winningest coach in Maine in girls soccer. When I first applied and got the position, somebody said to me, ‘It’s big shoes to fill.’ Luckily, there’s great mentors here, and one of those mentors said, ‘Don’t look at it as shoes to fill, think of it as a new pair of shoes.’ Clearly, I can’t fill those shoes. I can’t reach his winning success in one season.

Richmond’s Eden Balduf dribbles through cones during a drill at a preseason soccer practice Tuesday in Richmond. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“It’s an honor to do it,” Hinkley continued. “I just have to get these girls ready as best I can and try to bring home a championship.”

Last season, Richmond finished 8-6-0, falling 1-0 to Buckfield in the Class D South semifinals. Hinkley has a leg up on his familiarity with the team. The Bobcats enter the season with 13 on the roster, with four seniors and no juniors. Most of the team has played for Hinkley at the middle school level.

“I’m pretty excited,” Hinkley said. “We have a young squad, obviously. There’s a lot of talent on this team. There’s a lot of speed and a lot of hunger. They have a lot of pride in the school and they want to win.

“The freshmen and sophomores, I’ve already coached and they know what I expect of them,” Hinkley continued. “They’re very respectful of that.”

Hinkley is also excited to get to work with the team’s seniors, the last group with ties to Kendrick.

“They were blessed to have Troy coach them through the years,” Hinkley said. “They have a lot of talent. I look forward into digging into their talent a little bit and helping them help the younger ones. They’re excited, and it’s been good so far.”

“(Hinkley) is definitely experienced in this sport, especially with the young kids,” senior captain Emma Valley said. “He’ll be able to teach them how to be at the (varsity) level, because we have eighth graders on the team. It’ll be harder for them to play at a varsity level. For him to be so educated on the sport is really going to help.”

Valley, along with fellow senior captain Breonna Dufresne, has been happy with the acclimation with Hinkley to start the season.

“He knows the game, he knows what we need to be doing, working on the small things. I think it’s going to go (well),” Dufresne said.

Richmond’s Breonna Dufresne takes a corner kick during practice Tuesday in Richmond. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“Everybody has been working all summer, we’ve been putting a lot of work in,” Dufresne added. “We’re just ready to get the season going, we just have to get through the preseason. It’s the hardest time, but it helps us the most.”

Valley added the seniors are doing their part to help the the younger players up to speed on the high school game as well.

“I actually kind of thought we’d have a rough (preseason), because we’re so young, but by the looks of it, it looks like we’re pretty good,” Valley said. “We have a lot of chemistry, because we’ve all known each other since we were young. It’s looking pretty good for us.”

While the Bobcats are a young team, Hinkley’s immediate expectation is for the team to put in a full effort on the pitch.