Sam Morin, a 2013 Oak Hill graduate, has been hired as head coach of the Lewiston girls basketball team. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Sam Morin grew up in the next town over and went to a different high school, but he knows Lewiston.

The 2013 Oak Hill graduate has been hired to coach the Lewiston girls basketball team, one of a few recent Blue Devils coaching hires, along with new volleyball coach Jennifer Curlee.

Morin was born in Lewiston and moved to Sabattus when he was 3 years old. But just about everything in his life has been in Lewiston — from doctors offices to jobs — and his parents and much of his family are Lewiston High School alumni.

A lot of the sports he played also were in Lewiston.

“We played Little League at South Lewiston, then at Elliott Ave.,” Morin said. “We played basketball at Lewiston Rec for as long as we possibly could. My parents were involved with the Rec (department). We were doing two whole leagues. I reffed for a long time. Jason Fuller and I go way, way back. I’ve known him for a long time.”

Fuller, Lewiston’s athletic director, helped out the rec department’s basketball program when he was Lewiston’s boys varsity basketball coach.

“He was a little kid when I was coaching, so seeing him get to this point has been a good journey for him,” Fuller said. “He’s done all the right things along the way, and I’m excited for him to take that next step as a varsity coach.”

Morin has a diverse basketball background, from playing at Oak Hill to working with Dick Meader and Jim Bessey at the University of Maine at Farmington as a student assistant for the men’s basketball team.

After graduating from UMF in 2017, Morin tried officiating for a year but then decided to turn his focus to coaching. He started by working with the freshmen boys team at Falmouth High School for three seasons. He shifted to girls basketball when he became the head coach of Bonny Eagle’s eighth-grade team during the 2021-22 season. For the past two seasons, Morin was the junior varsity coach at Freeport.

“He has a passion for the game and really wants to develop as a coach,” Fuller said. “So he’s always working on his understanding of the game, knowledge, talking with other coaches, going to clinics and things like that. I think those are qualities that you want in a young coach who’s up and coming.”

Morin, a teacher at Oak Hill, said he found his niche in coaching girls basketball early in his tenure at Bonny Eagle.

“I worked well with David and Jamie,” Morin said, referring to Falmouth coaches David Halligan Jr. and Jamie Hilton, “to work with the freshmen, develop their game, and do my best to win games. But then when I went to the girls side of things, it was connecting them a lot more on a personal level, not always being so intense and a lot of Xs and Os, like making sure your shooting form is good, making sure you have a stance.”

Morin was hired to be Lewiston’s coach in the middle of June, right before the Blue Devils’ summer program, which included matchups with several KVAC opponents.

“So, a lot of this summer was a lot of trial and error,” Morin said. “Like, ‘Try this out.’ If it didn’t work out, try something new. The defense worked here great — let’s try to develop that. My biggest thing this summer for me, was, one, getting to know their names and getting to know them personally.”

He replaces Josh Morin (no relation) who stepped in last year to lead the Lewiston girls for his daughter Koral’s senior season.

“I was telling Jason, like, after he asked me to take the job, I think for the girls, it’s an easy transition from Coach Morin to Coach Morin,” Sam Morin said.

Fuller is excited to see Morin lead the Blue Devils in a new direction after they lost five seniors to graduation, including Natalie Beaudoin, who will play at the University of Vermont, and Koral Morin, who, according to the University of Southern Maine women’s basketball teams social media, has committed to play for the Huskies.

The Blue Devils (10-10) lost to Cheverus in the Class AA North semifinals this past season after defeating rival Edward Little 54-46 in the quarterfinals. 

Sam Morin will be the third varsity head coach for Lewiston’s upperclassmen.

“Honestly, they’ve been, you know, through a few coaches in their career,” Fuller said. “Yeah, it’s been a lot for them. You know, I think they’re getting to know him. It’s a process. It’s not going to happen overnight. You know, he’s got to put his own imprint and get his own relationship with the kids. I think the kids really related well with Josh Morin last year. So, the change has been a little hard for them at times. But I think, over time, it’s going to work out really well.”

NEW VOLLEYBALL COACH

Curlee was hired recently to take over for Nikki Pelletier, who has led the Lewiston volleyball program since it was started in 2021.

“She’s a young coach who’s had a lot of experience around the game of volleyball,” Fuller said of Curlee. “She coached a long time in Texas before coming here. She came to the state of Maine and she’s done a lot of coaching at the club level. A tremendous passion for the game of volleyball, around it all the time. Eager to learn new things, watching games all the time. I think it’s a good time for her to step in.”

Curlee has previously coached the Maine Juniors’ Lewiston 16U team.

Fuller expressed his gratitude to Pelletier for being the coach for the program’s first three years. He’s looking forward to seeing where the team can go under Curlee’s leadership.

“There’s still some growth to be had in the program,” Fuller said. “I’m excited that we have the program. It’s established at this point. We have some parents that are really supportive of the program. We’ve got the booster club up and running. So I think we’ve done all the necessary steps, and now it’s time to take that step to be more competitive.”

Fuller added he has made a hire for the school’s next golf coach — to replace Tom LeBlond, who retired — but it won’t be official until Monday’s school board meeting.