Patrick Quinn has been hired as the new Wiscasset High School girls’ basketball coach. His first look at the team will be at their opening season practice on Nov. 22. Quinn has coached JV basketball at Oak Hill for one year, and two years JV and three years freshman ball at Gardiner High School.
He ran cross country at the University of Maine Farmington and graduated in 2003. He has been assistant cross country coach at Gardiner, but took this year off to spend time with his one-year-old son, Axel.
Quinn is a 1999 graduate of Noble High School and 2003 graduate of UMaine Farmington. He sings in a local cover band, The Business. He has run in two Boston Marathons, in 2003 and 2006.
The Wiscasset girls’ coaching position is Quinn’s first varsity job. “I’m ready to go. We’re going to do three things every day – work on skills, conditioning, and strategy and tactics. We need to be fit and be prepared,” Quinn said.
Although Quinn has not met his players yet, he attended soccer games to get a “feel for the girls’ athleticism.” He has also done extensive research on the conference to prepare for the 2010-11 season.
“I’ve got a plan, but until I know the strength and weaknesses of the players, I won’t know what skills to work on. I know where we want to go. Once I know their strengths and weaknesses then I can come up with a strategy of where we need to go.”
“I am an avid follower of all levels of basketball. There is no game that requires such a wide range of skills in such a short span of time, constantly transitioning from offense to defense.
“There are hundreds of ways to be good at basketball. Nobody can do everything and everybody can do something. A good coach will define specifically what a team needs from each of its players and try to find out what each player needs from their team,” Quinn said.
“It will be a challenge competing against schools with larger enrollment and more recent success, but we will work hard and improve,” Quinn said.
Wiscasset has seen a lot of turnover in the girls’ basketball program over the past couple of years. Quinn will be the fourth Lady Redskin coach in the past five years.
“I’m open-minded. I’m from the area and don’t plan on moving. If I’m a good fit for the program, I’ll stay,” Quinn responded when asked if he was planning on staying awhile and building up the program.
“I can’t wait,” Quinn said of the start of the season.
