Will there be a fall sports season? Will schools play football in the spring? What becomes of athletic scholarships and college recruitment? Press Herald sports journalists talk about the state of high school sports in the age of COVID-19. Panelists include sports editor Don Coulter and sportswriters Steve Craig and Mike Lowe.

On the panel

Don Coulter, sports editor

Don Coulter has worked in the Press Herald newsroom for much of the past two decades. He has twice served as the sports editor, most recently starting in 2014. Before coming to Maine, he was the sports editor of the Alameda Newspaper Group in California for four years.

Steve Craig, sports writer

Steve Craig reports primarily about Maine’s active high school sports scene, working to bring the passion and dedication of athletes, coaches and communities to readers. In some ways his career has come full circle. His first newspaper job was covering Maine high school sports in 1986 working out of a tiny office at the front of a hand-sewn shoe shop in Skowhegan. After 12 years as a sportswriter in Dover, New Hampshire, he wrote two books, had a multi-year stint as the Press Herald’s freelance motorsports columnist and taught fifth grade. In 2012 he was happy to make a working return to Maine as a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. A graduate of Michigan State University and Southern New Hampshire University, Steve can be forgiven for living in Hampton, New Hampshire. He and his wife Deb, two daughters, and numerous dogs and cats have lived there for nearly 25 years and he still hasn’t finished painting their 150-year-old home.

Mike Lowe, sports writer

When Mike Lowe joined the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram’s staff in 1982, he never thought he was setting roots. But he learned to love Maine, its people, its games and, especially, its stories. It’s hard to say what he covers because, well, he covers everything. Over the years he’s been fortunate to witness some of the biggest sports events in Maine and elsewhere, from the Little League World Series to the actual World Series, from an NCAA ice hockey championship for Maine to an AHL championship for the Portland Pirates, from seven Super Bowls for the Patriots to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He’s interviewed stars and personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Seth Wescott, Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker, Paul Kariya, Julia Clukey, Kevin “Killer” Kaminski and Joan Benoit Samuelson. Yet his favorite stories often involve Maine high school sports and the passion they stir. Nothing compares to the bond between a high school and its town. He collects comic books, loves listening to the Red Sox on the radio on a warm summer night or leaning back in his recliner with a good book. He also loves, absolutely loves, chocolate-covered peanuts. A native of New Bedford, Mass., he lives in Saco with his wife Tracie and has three children and two grandchildren.

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