![]() ![]() "He was a guy who was firm, demanding, but also very supportive. "There's no question that if I had not played for him, I would not be doing what I'm doing at all," Russell said. Pete Toner (1999) is the Gettysburg College men's lacrosse coach.īill Russell, the associate head football coach at Norwich University, was a captain of Rafferty's 1998 team, along with Pat Myers and Toner. Jamie Cook, who graduated from Kennebunk in 1994, is the director of track and field/cross country at the Naval Academy Nick Myers (1997) and his brother, Pat (1999), are head men's lacrosse coaches at Ohio State and Lafayette, respectively. Several of Rafferty's former players are now college coaches in a variety of sports. "He meant so much to the school and community and all the families and kids that played football." "A lot was just the way he treated the kids," Dill said. The fourth lasted one season.įor the past 44 years, Rafferty has been the right fit for Kennebunk, Dill said. From 1970-78, Kennebunk had four head coaches. Last fall, we were pretty competitive, and he did what he always does and I didn't see that he didn't have the same enthusiasm."ĭill noted that the Kennebunk football program lacked continuity prior to Rafferty. "He still coaches the same way he has for 44 years. "I thought he still might go a few more years," Dill said. That's pretty much how you sum it up."īrian Dill joined Rafferty's staff in 1979 as the freshman football coach and coached with Rafferty nearly every season since. "All he's done for kids, and not just kids, but the adults who have played for him. ![]() "He's the one coach who every day would ask how you were doing and genuinely mean it. "He's just a great man who cares about kids and everybody else," Schwartzman said. Last fall, Kennebunk finished 6-4, losing in the Class B South final to Portland. Kennebunk won a state championship in 1991 and advanced to the state title games in 1999, 20.Īfter moving from Class A to B in 2013, the Rams had the best run of Rafferty's career, going 71-25, including 11-1 seasons in 20 and a 10-1 season in 2018. He finishes with a career record of 217-184. A year later, he became the varsity coach of a then-downtrodden program. Rafferty, a native of Woburn, Massachusetts, took a teaching and coaching job at Kennebunk in 1978. It's an opportunity for someone to paint their own picture." Rafferty agreed, noting, "The program is moving forward with a new stadium. We'll have a new coach, and he felt like it was the best thing for the kids and the program," Schwartzman said. Kennebunk Athletic Director Joe Schwartzman said Rafferty felt moving into a new facility created a good opportunity for change. Kennebunk is in the final stages of finishing a major field improvement project that will include an artificial turf football field, new bleachers and new lights. ![]() "Now, I'm just doing it August to November and in a small window of 2:30 to 5 in the afternoon, where before it was 7:15 to 5-5:30, day in and day out and it was all the time, not just football season." "The best coaches, those that have the biggest impacts, are doing it day-to-day," Rafferty said. Rafferty, who will turn 68 on Wednesday, was a physical education teacher in Kennebunk for four decades. ![]()
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