Telegraph file photo by TOM KING Frank Girginis has made the coaching move from Campbell boys hoop to heading up the Alvirne girls program.

HUDSON – A couple of weeks ago, Frank Girginis posted a message on social media.

“I’m back home,” he said.

What that meant is the now former Campbell High School boys basketball coach is returning to coach at his alma mater, Alvirne High School.

But not the boys team. Girginis, who had coached middle school girls hoop in Hudson for years (and still does soccer there, been there 14 years), is now the Broncos head girls hoop coach. He replaces Chris Cheetham, who coached for the last three years.

“Actually the senior at Alvirne, a few of them anyway, were on my championship team in my last year at HMS, which was 2016,” Girginis said. “So there’s a lot of familiarity with those players. I’ve been coaching soccer here even after I left for basketball and even a good portion of them played for me in soccer. So I know the girls very, very well.”

An Alvirne hoop job would have been the only position Girginis would have given up the Campbell job he’s had the last two seasons, guiding the Cougars to the tourney both years.

“I loved coaching at Campbell,” he said. “It was awesome. I was jacked up and ready to go, and it’s just like, man, there’s only one job that could have pulled me away from there. It just so happened to open.”

He chatted briefly with Alvirne athletic director Karen Bonney, and then things got more serious.

“I didn’t want to leave Campbell, but how can you go wrong?” Girginis said. “I mean I work in the district, I live in the town, that’s my high school, I know the girls. It’s just a perfect storm.”

The Broncos have struggled the last few years; last year they started out with a couple of big wins but then went into a tailspin. Girginis heard through the grapevine the position became open.

Girginis is confident the has a nucleus to build from, as the older Broncos he feels, based on their middle school sports success, “all have championship DNA in them, whether they won for soccer, for volleyball in middle school, whether they won in basketball. They can do it. You know, it’s high school.”

Girginis reached out to a few of the Campbell players – he couldn’t have an in contact meeting thanks to the pandemic. “I really had high hopes this year,” he said. “I’m going to miss those boys. It’s definitely a different game.

“You’ve just got to turn the page and re-focus.”

Girginis graduated Alvirne in 1994. What’s significant about that year? That’s when the Broncos won their one and only state (then Class L) girls basketball championship.

“I was at that game with a lot of my friends,” Girginis said. “A lot of the players on that team are still such good friends of mine.”

Just tuck that away for future reference.

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Most Merrimack High School athletic teams have returned to action this week after the athletic program was basically shut down last week due to a few positive tests at the school.

The big question is, when will football return? The team was placed in quarantine, which caused the cancellation of last week’s game at Nashua North. Also, this Friday’s game at Salem has been cancelled.

The answer? Could be as soon as Saturday, according to Merrimack athletic director Mike Soucy.

“It’s looking like Saturday for their return,” Soucy said in a text, “which should give them just enough time to be ready for (next) Friday against (Nashua) South.”

That game, if played, will be in Nashua at Stellos Stadium on Oct. 16.

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Still on football, Nashua High School North quarterback Curtis Harris-Lopez received his seventh offer from a college, the latest from Dartmouth College.

So add Dartmouth to the list that also includes the University of New Hampshire, Holy Cross, Merrimack College,Fordham, Central Connecticut State, and Sacred Heart.

Right now, it appears Harris-Lopez will wait until after the season, perhaps as long as all way to the early signing period for Division I on Dec. 16.

,before making a decision.

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The Division I, II, III and IV state team golf tournaments are next week, but not anywhere close by for the majority of the locals.

Division II, in which Hollis Brookline is a serious contender, is in Keene, Division III (Campbell the only local entry) is at Derryfield Country Club in Manchester, and Division IV (no locals) is at Kingswood Country Club.

What about Division I you say? Well, it is going to be at the Mount Washington Resort Golf Club. Word was Division I athletic directors sent a letter to the NHIAA to see if it could be moved somewhere more centrally located to cut down on travel during the pandemic – something schools have done with their scheduling groupings for most sports.

Evidently the plea went on deaf ears, according to one local coach. Usually officials want the Division team tournaments at courses not played in the particular division, so there’s no home course advantage.

Well, guaranteed that’s the case at Mount Washington, right?

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