Brewer boys basketball head coach Ben Goodwin is stepping down from his position after helping the Witches win their first Class A state championship.
Goodwin, a park ranger for the state of Maine, decided to step away to spend time with his family and watch his daughter, Ainsley, and son, Ryder, play in their sports next year.
Ainsley will be a freshman at Brewer next year and Goodwin has coached her travel basketball team the last two years. Ryder will attend American International College to play Division II men’s lacrosse.
“The big part of it is my daughter is getting to high school next year and I want some time to be a dad and watch her play,” Goodwin said. “Ryder is going to college and I hope I can watch him play some lacrosse. I just thought it was my time in my life to step back and enjoy some more family time.”
Goodwin coached Brewer for four years until 2013, when he stepped down the first time. He was rehired in 2016 and held the position until today.
Goodwin told his team on Wednesday that he would not be returning. He said the conversation was hard but that the players understood.
“We really preach family in the program we have,” Goodwin said. “I am also building relationships with the younger guys coming in the program so it was hard. I feel like we are a family and I explained that. I told them I don’t think I had the time to put in that they deserve. They understood because we have some great young men and they understood the decision I had to make.”
Brewer has not hired a replacement and will go through the interview process.
“The position will get posted like all other openings in Brewer School Department and we intend to have a new coach announced before May so he or she can build a staff and plan for summer workouts,” Brewer Athletic Director David Utterback said.
Goodwin said that the ending of his career was a great one.
“If I looked back seven years ago and wrote the script on how basketball was going to go when I took over Brewer — winning the gold ball with my son and the kids I’ve coached since third and fourth grade, to be able to experience that with them, ups and downs, wins and losses and capping it off with a gold ball — I don’t think you could ask for a better run,” Goodwin said. “I am lucky and it’s not a bad way to go out.”
Utterback had nothing but positive things to say about Goodwin.
“Over the last five years in particular, he really has built Brewer into the premier boys basketball program in the north, and arguably the state,” Utterback said. “He made Brewer a destination for players in the area as we had seven different middle schools represented on the 14-player roster this year. He delivered Brewer its first gold ball, and he will be missed on the sideline greatly.”
In the past three seasons Brewer has notched a 52-6 record. Last season, the Witches were A North regional runners-up and finished this season with a win over Falmouth for the Class A state title.
