Sports

Coach with local ties retires after 25 years leading Brunswick boys basketball team

By Ernie Clark, Bangor Daily News Staff

Todd Hanson, who guided the Brunswick High School boys basketball team to more than 300 victories and a state championship during his quarter-century as the Dragons’ head coach, has stepped down.

“After 25 years spanning four decades, my cup is full,” Hanson said in a tweet announcing his decision. “I have decided it is time for me to pass the torch as the head coach of the Brunswick Dragons.”

Hanson

The 53-year-old Dover-Foxcroft native, also a math teacher at the school, became Brunswick’s head coach in 1996 after stints as an assistant coach at Thomas College and his alma mater, Waterville Senior High School. He turned what had been a struggling program into a consistent winner.

The Dragons qualified for postseason play 19 of the last 21 seasons before COVID-19 prompted the cancellation of the 2021 high school tournament.

Hanson concluded his coaching career at Brunswick with a 314-172 record, good for a .646 winning percentage.

He was just 7 years old when his father, Skip Hanson, coached Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft to the 1975 Class B state championship. When Todd Hanson’s Brunswick team captured the 2002 Class A state crown, they became the first father-son duo in the state to both coach schoolboy basketball teams to state championships.

That Brunswick title team was led by Bangor Daily News All-Maine first-teamers Ralph Mims and Dan Hammond.

Hanson also guided Brunswick to a second Eastern Maine Class A championship in 2004.

“Following in my father’s footsteps and wearing a whistle was a childhood dream,” Hanson said.

Hanson’s older son, Thomas, is a first-year teacher-coach at Alvirne High School in Hudson, New Hampshire, where he heads up the school’s freshman football and freshman basketball teams.

“I just felt the timing was right,” Hanson said. “My dad was my current age when I landed the Brunswick job. I know how much I valued his support and presence at my games, and advice afterwards. I want to be able to give [Thomas] that same kind of support and presence that I received.”

Hanson not only coached a team to a state title, he also played on a Class A state championship team as a senior at Waterville in 1985. He began his varsity basketball career at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford.

Hanson went on to play in 85 games over four years at the University of Maine.

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