It is rare to have a coach leave one sport to coach another that is played in the same season.
But that is what Jay Kemble will be doing this fall at Bangor High School.
He was the first-year head coach of the Bangor field hockey team last fall but will be coaching the girls soccer team this fall instead. He has also been the Bangor girls basketball coach for the past four years and will be back on the bench with them again this winter.
Kemble had prior experience with coaching youth soccer, but had never coached field hockey before at any level prior to assuming his head coach position.
Still, Kemble led the Rams to an 8-6 regular season record in field hockey last fall, the best record posted by a Bangor team since the 2009-10 squad went 9-5.
The expectations will be much higher for the girls soccer team.
Former coach Andrew Varisco, who didn’t have his contract renewed, posted a 35-9-6 regular season record in his four seasons.
Bangor went 9-1-4 during the regular season last fall and was the second seed in the Class A North playoffs before beating No. 7 Oxford Hills of South Paris 2-0 in the quarterfinals and losing to No. 3 Camden Hills of Rockport 3-1 in the semifinals.
Bangor was the top seed two years ago and reached the A North final, where it lost to Brunswick 2-1 in overtime.
Varisco had replaced Joe Johnson, who produced two state Class A championships and five A North regional titles in his 11 seasons.
The 59-year-old Kemble has coached the Bangor girls during their three-week workout
program earlier this summer and said it has been very productive.
“It has been a great summer,” Kemble said. “This is a time period when you really get to know your student-athletes. We’ve had 40 to 50 young ladies show up for workouts and I’ve been able to get an understanding of who they are, what skills they bring with them and who brings some leadership.”
Rather than play other teams, Kemble had them scrimmage against each other.
“I wanted to see them compete against each other,” Kemble said. “You get to see more kids in game situations than you would if you played another team.”
He said he has talent and good depth in all four classes and has a solid corps of upper class leaders who have helped the younger players.
“They are a mature, older group of girls who want to be successful,” he said.
Kemble said he is grateful to UMaine women’s soccer coach Scott Atherley for allowing him to attend Atherley’s spring practices, where Kemble said he learned a lot about speed and physicality and understanding the importance of spacing and taking away the other team’s time and space on the ball.
During the current hands-off period for the next two weeks when he can’t work with his team, he intends to attend college practices at UMaine and Bangor’s Husson University to get “more ideas.”
The first practice for fall sports teams is Aug. 14, although Aroostook County teams have already started because of the potato harvest break that interrupts their season.
Kemble expects his team to be competitive.
“I have really tenacious competitors who have a desire to get better every single day,” Kemble said. “I’ve got some kids who are physical and others who can really run.”
He said he can’t wait to get started.
“I’m so excited. We have great kids and our administration is really supportive,” Kemble said.
