Cliff Urquhart coached the Southern Aroostook High School girls basketball team to six consecutive Class D North championships and five state titles, including three in a row from 2022-2024.
His teams earned 15 tournament berths in his 17 seasons on the bench.
But Urquhart, who is also the athletic director and physical education and health teacher at the school, is hanging up his whistle to become the athletic director and assistant principal at Fort Fairfield High School.
He will replace Tim Watt, who is retiring. Urquhart’s first day at Fort Fairfield will be July 1.
“This is an opportunity to take a full-time administration job. I can get out of the classroom and focus my full attention on helping kids in a different way,” said the 41-year-old Eastport native. “I’m going to miss coaching incredibly, but, with that being said, if you ask any varsity basketball coach, they will tell you it isn’t exactly good for your mental health.”
The former three-sport athlete at Shead High School and Husson University baseball player said coaching basketball has become almost a year-round role. High school coaches often run the summer basketball programs as he did.
“There’s a lot of stress. You’re thinking about basketball 24/7. It takes up a lot of energy,” said Urquhart, who compiled a record of 260-79 at Southern Aroostook.
He hasn’t ruled out an eventual return to coaching.
“When you do something for that long, it becomes kind of a part of you,” Urquhart said. “Stepping away won’t be easy.
He said he is looking forward to his new job at Fort Fairfield, which is “rich in tradition in athletics in baseball, basketball, soccer and all the sports they provide. It’s really a sports town. People are proud and passionate about sports.”
He said his time at Southern Aroostook, in Dyer Brook, has been special.
“I have had an amazing bunch of student-athletes who love the sport and are passionate about it,” said Urquhart. “I’m very fortunate to have coached as many fine young kids as I did.”
Three memories stick out for him.
There was the 53-49 win over Wisdom of St. Agatha in the Class D North title game in which the steal of an inbounds pass by Emmalee Landry led to a game-winning layup by Ally Shields off a pass from older sister Cami.
“That was a game for the ages, coming down to the wire like that,” said Urquhart, whose team went on to win the state championship.
The following year, his team rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat Valley High of Bingham 60-42 in the state championship contest.
And he also said the win over Class B Presque Isle in the COVID-19 Aroostook County pod championship game in 2020-21 season is one he will never forget.
There were no basketball tournaments that season due to COVID-19 so teams played games against opponents in their geographic region.
“That was one of the most rewarding wins even though it won’t get the [same] recognition as a gold ball,” said Urquhart, a five-time Maine Association of Basketball Coaches’ Class D Coach of the Year. “Presque Isle was undefeated and beat us by 30ish points during the regular season.”
Southern Aroostook went 15-1 that COVID season.
His fifth-seeded Warriors reached the Class D North quarterfinals this past season where they were beaten by eventual state champion Penobscot Valley of Howland at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
He admitted it is going to be “different” coming to the tournament as a spectator next season but also said “we lost early in the tournament this year, but I still spent the majority of the week down there and I had a blast. But I would have rather still be playing.”
