ROCKPORT — The Camden Hills boys basketball team will have a familiar face at the helm of the program this winter with a coach who has served there for the last few years and is a former player. 

Jon Moro has been hired to replace Jeff Hart, who stepped down after 37 years to become the school’s athletic director. 

Moro has served as the coach of the freshman boys basketball team the last four seasons and graduated from the high school, then known as Camden-Rockport High School, in 1999. He was a member of the 1999 Windjammer boys basketball state championship team. 

“I plan on continuing many of the same concepts that Coach Hart has maintained over the years, but there are also things that I will approach differently,” Moro said of his vision and goals for the team. “There's always a break-in period with a new coach, but having been in the system for a few years, I'm hopeful the transition will be smooth. I think the goal of any coach is to maximize your team's potential, and I think if we can do that, this particular team will be tough to play against. It's a hard working group of guys.”

Hart, in the past, also coached junior varsity softball, junior varsity baseball and varsity baseball, in addition to teaching physical education. He has also, and continues to, lead the school’s annual junior trip to Washington D.C.

Hart was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame (2009), Midcoast Sports Hall of Fame (2010) and Maine Basketball Hall of Fame (2018).

Hart accumulated more than 500 victories as a head basketball coach and has been recognized by the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference for his accomplishments as a baseball and basketball coach.

Moro described being selected by Hart to be Hart’s replacement as “very humbling and quite an honor.” 

“It's an interesting progression to go from ‘playing for’ Coach Hart, 20 years ago, to being a Coach in his program, and then to be hired to take his place,” Moro said. “It's special, and I'm lucky to consider Jeff a mentor. He has a lot of wisdom, and not just about the game of basketball.”

Moro recalls the days his father took him to Windjammer basketball games and fondly remembers watching Hart’s legacy, and the program’s legacy, unfold over the last two decades. 

“I feel a sense of responsibility to carry on what it means to be a Windjammer,” Moro said of his decision to pursue the position. “I consider myself to be invested in the players we have now, and accept this position on behalf of all the players that have come before.”

Reach George Harvey at: sports@penbaypilot.com.