Dayne Savage knows he has big shoes to fill, but he said he is ready for the challenge.
Savage, who has been the Hampden Academy freshman boys basketball coach and varsity assistant under the legendary Russ Bartlett for the past three seasons, will replace Bartlett as the Broncos’ head coach.
Bartlett retired at the end of last season after 23 years as the Broncos boss, guiding them to 343 wins and four state championships. He is one of the state’s 50 winningest coaches.
Savage, a former first team Big East Conference basketball player at Caribou High School, was one of six applicants for the job according to Hampden Academy Athletic Director Jon McAllian.
“I’ve been there the last three years with him and having that experience being around him is a big help,” said the 29-year-old Savage. “On top of that, part of what interested me in Hampden is the winning culture, and I fully intend to continue that.”
He said he and the players are excited to get started.
“In a transition like this, it could be nerve-wracking for the kids but I think they’re pretty fired up because they are comfortable with me and know what I expect,” Savage said.
His full-time job is also helpful in establishing a relationship with his players. He owns Savage Cuts, a barbershop on State Street in Bangor.
“A lot of the kids also come to me for haircuts, and it kind of trickles down the line. It’s a good avenue to get close to the kids,” Savage said.
He credits his father, Shawn Savage, with playing a major role in his coaching career.
“He was a real good athlete out of Lawrence High School, and he was always my coach growing up. A lot of my coaching stuff comes from him. He has played a big part,” said Savage, who played one year of basketball at Thomas College in Waterville and was chosen to the Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches and Writers Association’s All-Rookie team for the 2015-16 season.
McAllian said he likes how Savage “brings the energy” to the court.
“He’s a gym rat. He lives and breathes basketball,” McAllian said. “He is always studying the game. He coaches pretty near year-round with the AAU Lumberjacks program.”
The Maine Lumberjacks are a Bangor-area AAU program for boys and girls from grades four through twelve.
Savage, who has been affiliated with the Lumberjacks for nine years, said he is more of the program’s coordinator now because he knows most of the players and is able to put teams together. He doesn’t coach as much any more.
He runs the program with Jon Glazier.
McAllian noted that because Savage is young, he has the energy to put “all he can into the varsity program and also do things in the offseason like working with our grade school kids and developing a longevity of success in the program.”
He will also coach the Broncos’ summer league team.
McAllian doesn’t anticipate Savage having a problem taking over from a coaching icon like Bartlett.
“Dayne is a confident guy, and I know he will take the things he learned from Russ over with him. But, at the same time, he is going to make the program his own with some of his own twists on the philosophies,” said McAllian.
Savage said his team will play “extremely hard,” which has been a trademark of the Hampden Academy program under Bartlett.
“We will play a little more up-tempo, a little faster than in the past,” said Savage. “We have a lot of good young guys. It will be a two or three-year building process, but I expect us to have success even as soon as next year.
Savage, who played AAU ball for the Maine Mac and former longtime high school coach Carl Parker, will inherit a team that went 9-9 in Class A North and, as the seventh seed, lost to No. 2 seed Edward Little High of Auburn in the tournament quarterfinals.
He will lose four seniors off that team. There were also four juniors, a sophomore and three freshmen on the roster.
