Longtime Erskine Academy boys soccer coach Phil Hubbard is leaving his post at the school for a new venture at Temple Academy.
Hubbard recently agreed to become the new assistant principal at Temple. He will begin in that position in late August, when he will also begin serving as the Bereans’ new soccer coach.
“This was purely a job-related move that affected Erskine on the soccer side,” said Hubbard, who works as a youth minister in Palermo, where he lives. “(Temple) approached me about being the assistant principal and overseeing some athletic stuff. It’s still a little bit open-ended right now. It was one of those things that just opened up. I wasn’t pursuing anything new or even looking for anything.”
Hubbard won 115 games in 13 seasons at Erskine, including an appearance in the Class B state championship game in 2015. He was named the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel Coach of the Year that fall.
Former Winslow High School boys soccer coach Carrie Larrabee s the next Erskine boys soccer coach, school athletic director Chuck Karter said.
“Just like anything else, we didn’t want to see him go, but we wanted him to do what was best for him and his family and for him to be able to grow,” Karter said. “We’re all disappointed, but we all realized this is what Phil needs to do, and we support him 100 percent.”
Hubbard’s daughter, Kayla Hubbard, will be a senior at Erskine next fall. Julianna Hubbard will be a freshman at Temple.
Hubbard inherits a Temple soccer team that qualified for the Class D South playoffs last season for the first time.
“I have some great memories at Erskine, and they always treated me really well,” Hubbard said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s a talented group of kids, and they’re in good hands with both the system and the program.
“Temple brings on a new avenue. It will be a unique challenge, dealing with lower (enrollment) numbers to work with. There’s some curveballs there, but it will be a challenge to work to develop some things along the process.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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