BIDDEFORD — There is a new man at the helm of the Biddeford softball team this season, but he’s not new to the city or the players. Ray Magnant is taking over for the departed Leon Paquin, and for the players, it’s more “hello again” than just “hello.”

“I’ve been coaching all these girls since they’ve been nine years old, so to come back and coach them in their high school careers, I was very excited,” said Magnant, who comes to Biddeford after coaching Massabesic for the past three years.

Magnant coached all of his new players as a Biddeford little league coach, as well as coaching some of them in junior league during the summer. So coach and players got to skip any awkward greetings when Magnant came on.

“I’ve had him before as my coach, so it’s good that I have somebody I already know, so it’s more relatable,” said senior Abbie Paquette. “I think it just creates a better connection. Like he knows more than just me on the team, he knows a lot more people, so he can relate to people and he can compare skills better. So I think it makes a better bond with someone that you know than someone that you don’t.”

Magnant said he is “very excited” to take over the program and said “it’s a dream come true for me.”

“I’ve been waiting to coach at Biddeford for a while now. I went to Massabesic to go get experience, because I knew Leon was pretty close to being done.

“I know he was talking about being done. He’s been coaching for a while, and he was talking about ”˜this might be the year’ a couple years ago. I thought he had a couple more years, and it kind of caught me by surprise that he was stepping down. I was also excited, too; this is my group of girls I’ve been coaching for a long time. I figured I had a good shot at getting the job.”

Paquin stepped down last summer after eight years as Biddeford’s coach. Magnant said he doesn’t think much will be different for the players, but he admits he is more aggressive ”“ sometimes “too aggressive” ”“ than Paquin was.

“They know it. But I’ve taught them since little league to be aggressive, so I think that’s going to be huge for us. They know we’re going to be running all the time, doesn’t matter if we get thrown out time after time, we’re still going to be way aggressive,” said Magnant, who believes his team can succeed in being aggressive. “And I think I bring a lot of energy, and they know that, and I think it’s going to feed off to them. But that’s about it. For the most part, it is softball.”

“He brings a really good positive coaching experience. He’s not always down on us or yelling at us if we’re going to do something wrong, but he’s going to push us to be the best that we can be. He’s going to try to give us the best positive things that he can,” said Paquette. “I think the dynamics of what we do are different ”¦ but the philosophy is still the same, I think.”

On the field, the Tigers shouldn’t look too different, as the team graduated just three players from a team that went 10-7 and qualified for the playoffs last season. Magnant has a two-headed monster at pitcher coming back, in Paquette and junior Kirsten Lebreux.

Magnant got to see many of his current players in action from the opposing dugout while at Massabesic, and he said he liked what he saw out of the Tigers then.

“These girls are great. They’re hard-working, they never give up, they got a lot of fight. This group is very tight, they all get along,” said Magnant. “Even watching them from the other dugout and playing against them, I’ve always cheered them. I always said in the other dugout, ”˜I hope they do well.’”

There has been a change at the top of Biddeford softball, but really for the new coach and current players, not much has changed.

“The biggest thing is, they got to learn to say ”˜Coach Ray’ again instead of just ”˜Ray,’” said Magnant.

—Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.