BATH

Todd Flaherty is back in the game. Literally.

Flaherty, who decided not to reapply for his Morse High School boys basketball position this spring, has landed at Saint Dominic Academy in Auburn.

Flaherty, head of the Shipbuilders’ program over the last five winters, has been hired to steer the Saints, who play out of the Mountain Valley Conference.

His teams went 27-61 at Morse, with a high-water mark of 14-4 in 2008-09. Former Brunswick High boys coach Sam Hayes of Bath has been hired to take over at Morse.

“I’d like to think the program is in better shape now then when I started,” allowed Flaherty. “And, I know Sam will do a nice job with it. I coached some great kids and made some wonderful memories.

“Recently, we struggled to win, but the kids were great throughout. This year’s returning players are battlehardened, and with coach Hayes’ guidance will enjoy a successful season. The program is full of good people from top to bottom with some basketball talent, which always helps.”

“I thought it was a great opportunity at Morse,” added the Phippsburg resident. “At Morse we had the whole program and it will be different at St. Dom’s. But, it was a positive experience and a lot of fun, a lot of good people.”

Morse was Flaherty’s first varsity gig and he said the knowledge gained was immeasurable.

“Absolutely! Looking back on it, you think you know enough when you get started and you don’t. I’m a much better coach now than I was five years ago. It’s just a process that you go through. Learning by making mistakes, by going to coaching clinics. Using mentors. Stealing from other coaches … rethinking things that you do.

“It’s funny, when you start you think you know a lot, but it doesn’t take long to find out that you know very little. I am twice the coach now as I was when we won 14 games and went into the tournament as a number-three seed four years ago. My intention is to be twice the coach five years from now as I am today. I am fortunate to have several great mentors with my old coach Tom Maines being at the top of the list.”

Starts looking around

Flaherty said that the decision to not reapply was “easy to make” but that he still wanted to keep his hands in the game. It didn’t take long for him to start looking around southern Maine.

“It was almost immediate … I started thinking about coaching again. Maybe not head coaching, but getting involved somewhere, and I had a couple of opportunities to assist. I started looking at jobs that were opening up on servingschools.com

“I basically said I’d drive an hour, that would be the outside. That’s a lot of schools and St. Dom’s was the mostanxious to speak with me. They really wanted me there and the interview process was excellent.”

“I skimmed through their 52 page parent/player guide, which really lays a solid foundation for coaches to work from. The interview itself was outstanding. The committee was comprised of varsity coaches, the athletic director (Lee Hixon) and one returning player.”

Flaherty said what sealed the deal for both parties was a 45-minute practice session viewed by the hiring committee.

“They put me through the paces on the court and evidently they liked what they saw. Lee Hixon called me a couple of days later and informed me that I was the committee’s choice and I accepted the job immediately.”

It’s still early and mid-summer time, but Flaherty and some team members have been playing games. On one humid evening, six of his Saints took on Gray-New Gloucester.

The heat wore down the Saints, who hustled from end line to end line for their new coach.

“I haven’t seen all the kids, but they’ve been great. They’ve been open to suggestions. It’s a little bit awkward because I got started so late. We haven’t had a lot of practices, so you really can’t criticize something you haven’t taught or coached. But, we’ve been working on trying to figure each other out, and I think it’s gone pretty well.”

Along the way, Flaherty said he’s trying to understand the school’s dynamics with regard to the middle school and how many of those students actually go on to St. Dom’s.

“I’m trying to figure out my role in the middle school, and I don’t have a clear vision of that. I really don’t know the flow of the middle school kids to the high school. What percentage of the kids continue on?”

He’s also touched base with Hixon. “He kind of laid everything out,” said the 48-yearold. “It’s pretty standard. They subscribe to a ‘Play Like a Champion’ program. Notre Dame promotes it for catholic schools, sort of like ‘Sports Done Right.’ I have to become an expert on that … it’s mostly good, common sense.”

After competing in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference as a Class A and B program, Flaherty now shifts his sights to the MVC, which goes from Boothbay, to Bethel, to Rumford and many parts in between.

“Looking at all the flags on the gym wall, there’s going to be a lot of driving,” said Flaherty with a chuckle. “The hour-drive to the school, to me, is the least of my worries!”