It only seems appropriate that Edythe Dyer should be the field hockey coach at Hampden Academy.
She grew up in Hampden, and the Edythe Dyer Community Library in Hampden is named after her grandmother.
“I’m really excited. I love to coach. It’s my favorite thing,” Dyer said. “This is my favorite time of year. And I’m coaching in my hometown. It’s nostalgic.”
Dyer is replacing Amanda Grove who, according to Dyer, recently gave birth to twins. It’s the third coaching gig in three years for Dyer, who last year was the head coach at Bangor High and spent four seasons as the head coach at Bangor’s John Bapst Memorial High School prior to that.
She said she left Bangor after one season because a “better opportunity came up.”
Under Dyer’s leadership, the Rams posted a 4-9 regular season record and finished 10th among 12 teams in the Class A North Heal point standings. They lost to No. 7 Mt. Blue of Farmington in the first round of the Class A North playoffs, 5-0.
Dyer coached field hockey for Queen City Athletics in Veazie beginning this past winter, working with girls of all different ages.
Before that she was at John Bapst, where in 2019 her Crusaders went 7-6-1. It was the team’s first winning season in five years.
She will inherit a Bronco program that begins its 11th season in Class A North and has yet to post a winning record in the division, going 38-94-8 during regular season play in that time.
Hampden was previously in Class B.
Hampden Academy was a respectable 6-8 a year ago after going a combined 3-25 in the previous two seasons.
Dyer only has 18 players, so Hampden won’t have a junior varsity team.
And since she didn’t land the job until recently, she didn’t have the benefit of coaching their summer program.
She said she is coaching a “great group of girls” and called Grove a “great coach” who built a nice program for her to work with.
“I want to make some amazing humans. That’s what we do as coaches, try to make sure we are contributing to the girls’ lives,” Dyer said.
She said there are a lot of positives.
“The facilities are unparalleled and the school is beautiful. They have really invested a lot of time and money into athletics and academics,” said Dyer, who hopes to build up the feeder program in order to get more girls involved in field hockey.
The 42-year-old Dyer played field hockey and basketball at John Bapst for three years before transferring to St. George’s School in Middletown, Rhode Island, for her senior year.
She attended Northeastern University in Boston and graduated with a degree in sociology.
She spent 19 years as a real estate agent in Boston and was also the CEO of her own firm before returning to Maine and working as a real estate agent for ERA Dawson.
She now works in real estate for Sotheby’s.
The Broncos will open the season against Mt. Blue of Farmington on Thursday. Sept. 1, at 5 p.m. in Hampden.
