New Alvirne boys basketball coach Mitchell Roy shows some emotion during a recent game. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HUDSON – Imagine you are a state champion high school boys basketball coach. The world should be your oyster, right?

But, a few months later, you’re in a new region, no full time job, and needing a place to live. That comfort level is gone.

That’s how much new Alvirne High School boys basketball coach Mitchell Roy wanted to advance his coaching career. He had followed his four-year plan at Profile High School in Bethlehem, guiding the Patriots to the Division IV title last March in Year Four.

When Roy won the title at Profile, he knew he wanted to move on. He interviewed for a job at a Division II school and one at Division III, but those didn’t work out. But at Alvirne last June, the opportunity arose. But remember, he had just rebuilt a Division IV program that had not been successful in nearly two decades, and then won a championship. He thought he’d have his choice of jobs, but they were all drying up before his eyes.

“That length of waiting around, and not knowing if I was going to be coaching somewhere, was extremely humbling,” he said. “We just went 27-0 and won a state championship, and I couldn’t get a job.

“So I promised myself if I get (the Alvirne job), I’m going to give even more than I did before.”

It’s really in his DNA. Roy’s mother, Sarah Roy, has been a successful coach at North Country Union High School in Newport, Vermont. And now her son is likely the youngest head coach at age 26 by a good margin, while in his fifth year as a head coach.

“It’s such a great opportunity be able to coach and lead young people and have an impact, I’m never taking this for granted again,” he said. “You don’t know how many years you’re going to be able to do it.”

Ahh, but there were a couple of, well, pretty important details he needed to work out even after getting the Alvirne job.

“I had to find a real job,” he said, “and a place to live.”

He found the apartment first, and then got hired as a teacher at Campbell. He found a kindred spirit in Campbell principal Jacob Hess, who had been at White Mountaints Regional. “He’s a north guy,” Roy said with a chuckle, “and he gave me an opportunity, and for that I’m very grateful. It works out with my schedule, and I also get to work with a whole other group of kids and impact more kids, which is really unique.

“So it’s cool. It’s really cool.”

Ironically, Roy had a plan four years ago, and this time he more or less had to implement one on the fly. But his comfort level is growing

“It’s been really nice to get to know a lot of new people and it’s been a challenge for myself to adapt,” Roy said. “Obviously the competition on a night-to-night basis is much better. But I’ve been prepared for this. I knew I wanted to do something like this for awhile.”

And it’s not the first time the Vermont native has made a big move. He was a grad assistant at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., and was going to stay on staff but COVID changed everything, as there was a doubt there’d be a season four years ago. He saw the job at Profile opened up and he went to high school at Pittsburg-Canaan.

“I was as far north in New Hampshire as you can, and now I’m as far south as you can (be),” Roy said. “And Profile was a nice stop in between.”

He hasn’t noticed too much of a difference between the Alvirne and Profile atmoshpheres.

“It’s been a lot more similar personality wise than I’d ever expected,” Roy said. “But the kids have been great, the community’s been great about really supporting me and supporting the kids.

“And they’ve put a lot of time into it. All these kids gave up pretty much their whole winter (holiday) break to go to Maine and stay over and play there. Probably two-thirds of the parents came up and stayed a couple of nights, always asking me if we needed anything for food or drinks, things like that.

“It’s very small-town vibe even though it’s a bigger school, because of how close the kids are and how supportive the parents have been.”

THE PROFILE YEARS

His first year at Profile the Patriots, in the shortened 2021 COVID season, went 1-9 as he started two eighth graders and free freshmen.

“I really fell in love with the process of coaching those kids,” he said. “So I promised myself and those kids if you guys give me everything I’ll give you four years.”

And it worked, culminating with Profile’s 53-48 win over Littleton in the Division IV title game.

“It was the most satisfying experience of my entire life,” he said. “I’m trying to take a lot of those experiences and applay them here. But it’s tough because (at Alvirne) the core is seniors, so we’re trying to do it at an expedited speed and taking our lumps early.”

The job at Profile was just about getting head coaching experience. He saw there were two young players (Josh Robie, Alex Leslie) who had “great potential, and we built the whole thing around those guys.” And by their senior year, Profile wasn’t your average Division IV team, as the Patriots had holiday tournament wins over Windham and Coe-Brown.

“I knew from those experiences, kind of convinced myself that you can do this at a bigger school, too,” Roy said. “I always prepared for every team like it was going to be a good team even though some weren’t going to be competitive with us.”

But Roy doesn’t want to be misunderstood, there was enough compeition in Division IV to prepare him for what he might experience. He learned not to take any team lightly.

“This hasn’t been like ‘Oh no, I have to prepare for every game,'” Roy said. “I’m used to that. There’s a lot more talent depth-wise in Division I obviously, they’re pulling kids off the bench that are capbable scorers, that’s still a learning process for me.”

But Roy knows there are similarities, as he has Bronco junior Garrett Hall and senior Sammy DeWitt to build his offense around – similar to his time at Profile.

LEARNING THE DIVISION

Roy didn’t waste any time. Before he was hired, Alvirne had been signed up to play in the summer league at Nashua North. Fine for him, it was a 10 team league and games were at 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 p.m. and he would go see every single game every Tuesday and Thursday. And on Wednesdays he go see the games at the league at Manchester Memorial.

“I’m trying to study what everyone’s doing, who the teams are,” he said.

Any summer tournament, anything in the southern region that was basketball related, he was at. Now that he’s in season, he watches three games of each team the Broncos would be playing. Defense is their key, and Alvirne has held two teams in the 30s – Pinkerton and Portsmouth – and most others also to their lowest totals of the season.

“That has a lot to do with our preparation and how focus the kids are on the game plan,” Roy said. “I’ll say this, those kids, it’s a senior heavy group, and they listen to everything I say.”

The other thing is the teams aren’t as far away from each other as they are in Division IV, so he’s able to make the rounds easier.

What did Roy learn about himself as a coach and coaching in general?

“It’s all about the connection you can make with your players,” Roy said. “Players are only going to play hard for a coach they have a good relationship with.”

Roy first started at Profile and tried to be very strict. He was young, in his early 20s, so he didn’t want to be too loose. But he adjusted, saying that the biggest thing is to be able to boost a player’s confidence.

There were some administrative changes at Profile he didn’t agree with, so he knew it was time to go. “There were two or three kids that it was really hard to leave,” he said. “But if you wait around, there’s going to be two or three more kids that are really hard to leave.”

What stood out about Alvirne?

“An opportunity to win right away,” he said. “There aren’t many jobs that are like that.”

Of course, after this year, Hall will be the top returner and Roy will have to go through “a little bit of a rebuild. We have a few juniors we have to figure out what they’re doing in the future. And that’s OK, I’m always about doing what’s best for each kid. As adults, we all are doing what’s best for us.”

So it will be time then to focus on the program, while Roy began his career at Alvirne with the immediate present as his focus.

“It’s going to be about needing to invest in the youth programs, which isn’t something I’ve started to do yet because it’s been an absolute whirlwind,” he said. “I haven’t had time to invest in the youth programs and get to know the youth coaches and umbrella down my philosophies. It’s going to be quite a process.”

The sub varsity and middle school teams are struggling to start, “and they’re big worries in my mind, but right now we have a team that has a chance to really compete, I have to decide what I can put my time into now and it’s that. But going forward, I’m going to really make sure and invest some serious time in the youth program, see what we can do for some camps in the summer, try to have an impact and try to build something that can last long term. … It’ll be something new.”

Roy said it was more important to coach at a school that had a good program, good kids, whether it was Division I or not. “And Alvirne had that,” he said. “It’s a unique situaiton. At the end of the day, I still think we’re in the mix.”

And he feels his players are popular with the student body, and Roy thinks that’s whyt the crowds at the Steckovicz Gym have been intense. He made it a point to be at a lot of the football games, and he thinks it’s a reason why the student body has been so big.

As a coach, Roy’s philosophy has been to put as much time as possible into his team. He has been known to open the gym early in the morning, and his players have responded.

“I think if you go in and make the gym available to be open in the morning before school,” he said. “If you’re willing to do that, they’re going to be willing to do a lot more for you. No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. I try to coach with that philosophy.”

For awhile last spring, it seemed no one cared how much Mitchell Roy knew.

They do now, especially at Alvirne High School. He has a championship ring, but more important, a team to coach, an aparment to live in, a day job – and a bright future.