Sinclair thrilled to take over Orono High girls basketball program
May 28—Derek Sinclair has been coaching basketball at various levels in Orono for a long time and he is finally realizing his dream of coaching the Orono High School girls basketball team.
"I am super excited for this opportunity. This has been a goal of mine," said the 37-year-old Sinclair. "I have been working with kids at the youth level and at the high school level for the last decade and I'm ready for this."
Sinclair, son of longtime Orono High football coach Bob Sinclair, has spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach for the Orono girls, working under Maine Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Donato, who stepped down in April after four seasons, as well as Nick Winchester.
Sinclair also headed the JV team.
Donato's Orono teams went 16-52 in four seasons after Winchester's Red Riot squads posted a 10-27 record in his two campaigns. Winchester moved on to Hampden Academy and has guided the Bronco girls to three straight Class A North titles.
Sinclair also served as an assistant for the Orono High boys team under Ben Goodwin.
Sinclair said he considers himself fortunate to have worked under some great coaches and has received many thoughts, ideas and suggestions from them that he will include in his coaching notebook.
"He will establish a good, solid foundation at the younger levels. Having coached under John and Nick, it will be a seamless transition," Orono High School Athletic Director Mike Archer said.
The Orono AD said Sinclair was one of seven applicants for the job.
"Derek has paid his dues. The girls think highly of him and will play hard for him," Archer said.
Sinclair said it is of the utmost importance to establish a travel basketball program for Orono youngsters so they can compete against top-notch opponents in their age groups.
"That will be a huge building block," Sinclair said.
He is coaching a team of fifth- and sixth-graders in Adam Mahaney's Maine Sting basketball program and they will be playing in a national tournament in Boston this summer. There are a few Orono players on the team, he said, along with players from other eastern Maine communities.
Sinclair stressed that since Orono is one of the smallest schools in Class B, and the Orono middle school team plays mostly schools that are feeder teams for Class C high school teams, he must establish strong youth programs, including travel teams.
"He is Maroon and White through and through," Archer said. "He is a very proud Orono resident.
"He has been very involved in the youth and travel basketball programs on the girls side and that was very attractive to our [school] board," Archer said. "He will get our program jumpstarted.
Sinclair was an all-conference point guard at Orono High where he also played baseball. He briefly attended Husson University in Bangor.
He wants his players to be involved in the community, and is particularly focused on working with younger basketball players to give them something to aspire to. Next season's Orono team is senior-laden, and should have impressive depth.
Two of the things Sinclair will stress are balanced scoring and a defensive mindset that will dictate the tempo of the game.
"It's time to go to work," Sinclair said.
Sinclair, the director of production operations at Creative Visual Imaging in Bangor, will continue to serve as an assistant football coach this fall under his dad.
