Spotlight: Coach Darryl Townsend

Eight time Coach of the Year says coaching may not be for much longer

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 9:30pm

Ron Hawkes

Oceanside Coach Darryl Townsend, the 2015 KVAC Class B North Coach of the Year. (Photo by Ron Hawkes)

The many expressions of Coach Townsend. (Photo by Ron Hawkes)

Oceanside Coach Darryl Townsend, the 2015 KVAC Class B North Coach of the Year. (Photo by Ron Hawkes)

The many expressions of Coach Townsend. (Photo by Ron Hawkes)

THOMASTON — There are talented coaches in the area, and there are many who coach for all the right reasons. Coaching is not about trying to live through the life of a teenager, be it your child or someone else’s. Coach Darryl Townsend coaches for the right reasons. His heart is in the right place and he treats his players like he does his children.

Coaching is about teaching life lessons, it is about showing athletes they can do anything they want if they are willing to work at it. A talented coach will help make a child responsible for his or her own actions, to respect the game, and respect the players, opponents, officials and the fans. A good coach will teach how to lose so that an athlete can learn how to win. Then, they will teach the game itself.

Oceanside Girls Varsity Soccer Coach Darryl Townsend meets all the aforementioned criteria. He was named the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference North Class B Coach of the Year, an award he has won eight times in a coaching career that spans 20 years.

Townsend was born in Rockland at the Knox Hospital and attended Georges Valley High School, Class of 1985. He attended the University of Maine at Farmington, graduating in 1989 with a degree in community health and secondary science.

In high school, he played soccer, basketball and baseball. In college, he played soccer. Townsend joined the Marines and shipped out to the Gulf War right out of college.

As a coach he is know as a players coach, his players love him, but he holds them accountable. He also is known as a coach that yells a lot and he is loud during a game. Townsend may use his voice to yell, but he yells the good just as loud as the bad and his players understand he wants nothing but the best for them.

Recently, we asked him about his thoughts on coaching, and life.

PBP: What is your best memory of your high school years in sports and your college years in sports?

DT: In high school it was playing soccer for Coach Sam Pendleton. He was my teacher, coach, mentor and Number One Fan. In college in my sophomore season, 1986, the UMF men's soccer team made it to the NCAA Nationals in Texas. That 1986 team is in the UMF Hall of Fame. We are the only Maine soccer team to make it to the Nationals.

PBP: What was the most important piece of information that you learned in the service?

DT: I was a United States Marine Sargeant when I got out of the service. I served for six years until I was injured in the war. What I learned in the service was that life, living, it is precious. Freedom is not free. You must be willing to sacrifice everything for that freedom.

PBP: What does winning KVAC Class B Coach of the Year mean to you? How many times, including Georges Valley, have you won such an award?

DT: It means everything. This year at the meeting, after we discussed Coach of the Year, the ballots were collected and I was the only one who did not vote for me. I have won this award eight times, six with Georges Valley and now twice with Oceanside. It is great to think that my peers feel that way about my coaching. On a side note, I have to mention my other coaches. I don’t do all of this myself. So it is not my award, it is our award. We are one team, one coaching staff and we do everything together.

PBP: What is your high school varsity coaching record year to date?

DT: With the games at Georges Valley, Oceanside and as the varsity boys coach for one game, I am 249-60-37. That is an 11-3-2 average record each season over the 21.5 years of coaching. The girls knew it would have been my 250th win had we beat Hermon and they were upset they didn’t do that for me. They had a cake and after the game they were hiding behind the trucks eating it.

PBP: How long have you been coaching and have you coached any other varsity sports?

DT: I have been coaching for 21.5 years. I started in 1994 as the assistant varsity coach for the boys. I picked up the girls head coaching job half way through the 1994 season when they let the other coach go. At the end of the season, Coach Pendleton asked if I was going to continue and I said ‘no, I don’t want to coach girls.’ I didn't want anything to do with coaching girls. Coach Pendleton said ‘you are ready, you can do this.’ So it’s been 21.5 years of doing what I did not want to do. Coach Pendleton made me understand that I could do it. The kids needed me to do it.

PBP: You have had talented teams, coachable teams, unselfish teams. If you had to pick the best team you ever coached for any reason, what year would that be?

DT: I don’t think I can pick just one because every team has a different makeup. If I had to pick it would come down to three teams, 1997, 2009 and 2015. Those three teams were similar in that they were not great soccer players, but they did things the way they were taught and they played as a unit, not as individuals. 1997 was the fourth year of varsity girls soccer. We went 12-0-2 and the only game we lost was the state championship to Madawaska 1-0. We had been playing soccer for four years. That was pretty special. 2009 and 2015 were also teams of overachievers who were not great soccer players but special players who did things that were not expected of them.

PBP: Can you pick the best player that you have ever coached?

DT: That is a tough one because I have had some talented players. Summer Stuart, what a tough, strong player she was. Michelle Hilliard was one of the best players I have ever had. She was the only true goal scorer I have had. We have had a lot of players who could score goals, but Hilliard was a true goal scorer. Elena Bertocci, Meghan Schooley, then you have to think about Jessie Veilleux and Jill Bradbury. No one ever worked any harder than those two. And of course, the twins, Jillian, and Kelsey Brooks. It is hard just to pick one or two, but those are the players who stick out in a program that has had some special players.

PBP: Why do you coach? What motivates you year after year?

DT: Leading, teaching, motivating and helping kids become successful K-12 because that is what I do. I coach all the kids, every one of them I put my time in. It’s the challenge, too. If you look at that record and stuff I am afraid to stop. What are those kids going to do now if I get done? Who is going to take care of them? My coaches, family and players motivate me all the time.

PBP: As a coach, what do you see as the important things to teach high school girls.

DT: The world is a tough, demanding and difficult place today. You need to be prepared for all of those things and more. When I coach, I am all of those things. I want them to be prepared for more than just the game. Emotion, passion and hard work are all great things to have as a young lady. It’s OK to play like a girl; in fact, I encourage it. For them to learn all those things from me is awesome. This is a time in their lives it is supposed to be special; it is a journey for them. I am not going to sugarcoat it, we play to win the game, every game, but all the other stuff is way more important.

PBP: If former players were asked what it is about you as a coach that made them play the way they did what would they say?

DT: That our respect for each other is so high. They have such respect for me. Why I still do not know, they do not want to let me down. They see how much time you put into them, how much you care; that is important to them. I care a lot about the girls I coach and they know that, so it means a lot to them. The girls’ response to that is, they want to be successful so bad so as not to let me down. However, they do not ever let me down because our journey together has been incredible, life-long memories.

PBP: How many more years do you see yourself coaching? Is this a life-long way of life for you.

DT: Not many I think, but I would like a new coaching challenge in some way. Be it move up a class, down a class, a new location. It is season to season for me at this point. I want to watch my boys play before it is too late. This year, the Oceanside Athletic Director Molly Bishop moved some things around so that I could go and watch Sammy play. However, I want to watch Drew in college, and not miss any more of Sam’s games so I just do not think it will be much longer.

PBP: What have you won over the years for coaching awards, COY, Sportsmanship, championships, etc.

DT: My teams, coaches and I have been lucky. We have eight conference Coach of the Year, 2009 Western Maine Coach of the Year, State Champions 2009, Regional Champions 1997 and 2009. We have competed in two state championships, four regional championships and have been the conference champions 11 times and I have been inducted into the Midcoast Sports Hall of Fame.

PBP: Two questions: Who is the biggest influence in your coaching and why? Who have/do you look up to more than anyone else.

DT: Other than my wife and family for 21.5 years, it would be Coach Pendleton, my teacher, coach, mentor, peer, supporter, sounding board and more. I am the luckiest guy around to have been involved with such a great man. I thanked him once, told him I hope I do not let him down, ever, and I hoped I would be as good as he was and he said, ‘If I did my job well, you’ll be much better than me.’ However, I do not think that is possible. Sharing all these great soccer moments with Coach Pendleton is just incredible, as my dad is not here. Also my wife for saving me. Also, my players for dealing with and believing in me. Coach Pendleton and my wife, Heidi, they saved my life!

PBP: What do you like to do when you are not coaching or working? What are your hobbies?

DT: I do not have many hobbies other than my family. I enjoy watching and coaching my kids, fishing with the kids, spending time on the lake training to find those few precious moments and hanging out with my wife. I also enjoy working out every day doing my cross fit.

Coach Townsend has heard his share of criticism in his years as a coach. He believes that the kids should play to win every day, not just the game, but in life. Teaching the kids to win, to be successful.

“You can only go at it a certain way and I adjust my coaching to my kids, but the result we are after never changes,” said Townsend. “I cannot go about it halfhearted, I just can’t do that. Yes, we play to win, but not just the game. It is about winning in life. If you cannot do the best you can do then why do it?”

A crucial lesson that coach teaches the kids is that there are many things you cannot control, in life and the game, the sun, wind, field, opponent, officials. However, you can always control two things, your attitude and effort.

Coaching a varsity sport is not just the season, it is a year-round job that demands much time away from families.

“It is a full-time job if you want to be good at it,” said Townsend. “If it were easy everyone would be doing it, but it is not easy it is very, very difficult to be successful all the time.”

While Coach Townsend says it may not be much longer before he is done coaching, when you talk to him about soccer and even more about his players, he is all smiles. He may need a change, coaches most always do.

This is a coach whose players respect him. They believe in him and they want to play for him because they want to be as good as they can be. Don’t the Marines say that?

Two of Townsend’s players recently talked about the coach and what he means to them.

Kelsey Brooks: He has had so many life experiences and his motivational speeches are inspirational. He can yell at us as much as he wants because at the end of the day he apologizes, tells us how much he loves us. He picks us up when we are down. A lot of us cry, but at the end of the day he says he is sorry that he just wants the best for us. He teaches us so much more than soccer. I have been around him watching my older sisters play for him and have always gone to his camps and couldn’t wait to play for him.

Jillian Brooks: He is inspirational to many people. Our season was 11-0 and he would push us so hard, he would not let us give up. People ask why he yells so much if the team is doing so well. It is just that he does not want us to drop off. He is always there for us no matter what. If we need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to talk to he is always there for us. At the end of the day, we all know he just wants what is best for us because he cares about all of us.

Pretty high praise for a coach from his players. Not many are more involved in the raising of a community as Coach Darryl Townsend.