Hollis Brookline girls hoop coach Heidi Moore, shown during a preseason scrimmage, got her first win as the team's new mentor this past Thursday night. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS — Sports can serve a variety of purposes for those who get involved. For some, a way to stay active. For others, an income stream. Mayne just a social activity. But for Hollis-Brookline’s new varsity basketball coaches, it serves a different purpose: a way to bond with family and community.

This past offseason, Hollis-Brookline athletic director Brian Bumpus was tasked with hiring new coaches for the boys and girls varsity basketball programs. Long-time girls coach Bob Murphy decided to retire and the boys are looking for a fresh start after parting ways with coach Marty Edwards after back-to-back one-win seasons.

For both positions, Bumpus turned to coaches who have spent some time around the Hollis-Brookline community. Girls junior varsity coach Heidi Moore was promoted to take over the girls teams; and Mascenic’s boy varsity coach, Ryan Kelley, was hired to coach the boys.

While there is only one year of varsity experience between the two coaches, both have been coaching at various levels between middle school to junior varsity, as well as AAU teams. Moore played at Nashua High School under long-time coach John Fagula and went on to play at Rivier University. She has been coaching ever since graduating. Before spending two years as the JV coach at HB, Moore was coaching the girls team at the middle school while also coaching with the BDS AAU program.

“Heidi is super motivating and knows her basketball,” Bumpus said. “She has plenty of experience and we look forward to her leading our girls team.”

Kelley also played locally at Alvirne High School and got into coaching while a sophomore at the University of Maine. Before taking the job at Mascenic last year, he had coached Alvirne’s girls junior varsity team for a couple seasons as was s Campbell’s junior varsity team before that. He also has experience working in the AAU world as he is a coach for PSG Elite out of Massachusetts.

“Ryan brings a lot of experience with him,” Bumpus said. “With him being a community member, he knows the history of the program and he really wants to build the program back up to where it used to be.”

KELLEY BRINGS FAMILIARITY TO HB COMMUNITY

Kelley has lived in Brookline for the past 20 years and his three oldest kids graduated from HBHS while his youngest, Dylan, is currently a freshman. All of them are basketball players like their dad. His two daughters played on the girls team and his oldest son on the boys team.

Kelley began coaching his oldest daughter, who is 22, when she was in third grade. He became acquainted with the HB basketball programs once his kids got older and attended varsity games whenever he could, regardless if his kids were playing. He witnessed the peak of both programs when the boys and girls teams won state championships in 2018. He hopes to bring the boys to that same level.

“I’m a bit old-school in the sense I still believe in the value of high school sports,” Kelley said. “I want to pass on those life-skills, such as commitment and battling through challenges, that my kids got from playing sports.”

For Kelley, the decision to leave Mascenic for HB was simple. He wanted to be just a little closer to home and build the Cavaliers back to one of the top programs in Division II, plus the chance to be on the sideline when his youngest son begins his high school career.

“I loved being at Mascenic,” Kelley said. “I wasn’t planning on leaving after one year. This was basically the only job that I would have left for. Being back in my own community and getting the chance to watch my son play was the perfect situation for me.”

The opportunity to coach Hollis Brookline was too good for former Mascenic coach Ryan Kelley to pass up. (Courtesy photo)

MOORE REALIZES VARSITY DREAM

Moore’s love of basketball was passed down from her own father Bryan. He coached her when she was young and was always supportive throughout her playing days and into her coaching career. He also helped her coach AAU before he passed away in 2016.

“My dad was always my go-to person,” Moore said. “He was really amazing. For years and years he kept saying, ‘You should show everybody what you have. You should be a varsity coach.’ I wish he could see now that I finally got that opportunity.”

Moore and her father also bonded by watching their favorite basketball team: the University of Connecticut women. His favorite player was Breanna Stewart. Just before he had fallen ill, Moore had bought tickets for them to go watch Stewart and the Huskies play.

Though they couldn’t make it to a game, one of Moore’s high school teammates had a connection to Stewart. The teammate got Moore and Stewart connected and for a few weeks the two sides tried to set up a call while Stewart was preparing for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Then one day Moore’s phone buzzed while she was at her dad’s bedside.

“I got a text from her in the morning,” she said. “She said ‘I’m sorry we haven’t been able to connect. I hear your dad is coming to the end. I’d love to reach out.’ I said he is in coma, ‘but you can call and I’ll put the phone up to him.'”

Then the future WNBA star called, Moore spoke to her for a minute, put the phone on speaker, and put it up to her dad’s ear.

“His whole head moved. He lifted a finger to motion a number one,” Moore said. “Like he was saying she was his number one. She spoke for a few minutes. I believe he was trying to hold on for her. We had several conversations where I told him she was going to call and he kept saying I was full of it. It was amazing when she finally called.”

Within an hour after Stewart got off the phone, Moore’s father passed away. To this day, she keeps his memory alive at every game she coaches. She had a heart with his name added to her AAU team’s warm-up jerseys, along with any other gear she owned. Moore also keeps a picture of him on her whiteboard during games.

LONG-TERM COACHES

It’s impossible to tell the future, but both coaches have made it clear not only in their words, but also in their actions that they want to be at HB as long as possible.

Kelley, who hopes to coach at HB for the rest of his career, sits on the board for the Hollis Brookline Basketball Club, a group of volunteers who support youth basketball in the HB community. Moore recently took a job as a special education teacher at the high school, seeing a great opportunity to be closer to her players.

While both coaches might consider this season as a rebuilding season due to their rosters mostly composed of underclassmen, both have set a high bar: making the playoffs.

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