New Bishop Guertin coaches this coming year are Jason Malcolm (golf), Matt Erb (girls volleyball) and Dan Warshafsky wrestling). (Photo courtesy of Bishop Guertin)

Ready for some down time?

That’s what’s coming up for the local high schools, as classes have been dismissed for the summer, school office hours are reduced, and coaches and athletic directors wrap things up, head out on vacation, etc.

July is the only month out of the school year where there are no NHIAA contests. It’s also the month in which the new athletic director contracts take hold. Ths coming Tuesday, July 1 is the day. Locally, Alvirne AD Karen Bonney’s incredible 40-plus years at the school will be officially over and Justin Hufft will take over as the new AD. Also, although it’s a non local school, local athletic official Mike Soucy will become the new athletic director at Pelham High School. He leaves his post as the Nashua North athletics coordinator.

NEW COACHES

Speaking of Alvirne, there’s a new boys basketball coach taking over, and it’s a familiar name: Sam Bonney-Lyles. Bonney-Liles last coached at Alvirne as the boys varsity tennis coach a few years ago, and is a former Alvirne standout of a decade ago. He leaves his position as Plymouth State University assistant coach.

“He really impressed in the interview, I thought he did a really good job laying out his plan,” Hufft said. “We’re really fortunate to land a really good young coach. Having someone with the Alvirne ties is important. I think he’s got a great future.”

Ironically, had Bonney not retired, Bonney-Liles wouldn’t have been able to coach at Alvirne due to the family rule. But now it’s all systems go.

Bishop Guertin recently announced some new coaches. Girls volleyball coach Kyle Clement had to step down for family reasons after guiding the Cards to the Division I semifinals last fall and nearly pulling off an upset of eventual five time champion Bedford, taking the Bulldogs to five sets last November.

Paul Rousseau is hanging up the golf spikes and wrestling gear, so two other coaches are hired as well. The new girls volleyball coach is Matthew Erb, moving up from the JV position. He’s been active coaching in club volleyball and was also once the JV coach at Goffstown and remains active as a player as well.

Jason Malcolm is the new varsity golf coach; most recently he served as the director of Mens and Womens golf at Merrimack College (2017-2024). He guided the Warriors’ women’s team to to the NE10 title in 2019 and berth in the NCAA regionals.

Finally, Dan Warshafsky, a former Chelmsford High assistant and head coach at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua takes over the BG wrestling program. He’s also been an official and had a stellar high school career and wrestled at Division I Sacred Heart.

“To say we are pleased with these three coaches taking over their respective programs would be an understatement,” BG athletic director Ryan Brown said in a recent school release. “The search process brought forward many strong candidates for each role, but Matt, Jason and Dan truly stood out.”

Meanwhile, Milford has a couple of known changes. Surprisingly, boys soccer coach Anson Thibault, after guiding the Spartans to their first ever Division II boys soccer championship last fall, has stepped down due to family reasons. Milford has hired Tyler VanAvery, who has coached at Londonderry High, club soccer, and a couple of years on the staff at Southern NH University.

Also, Leo Gershgorin is not returning after one year as Milford boys hoop coach. He is moving on to be an assistant at Colby Sawyer, and taking over is former Milford standout Ryan Emerson, a Spartan 1,000-point scorer who went on to play at Bates College in the mid 1990s. For the last two seasons, Emerson has been the Milford Middle School head coach.

As of earlier this month the Spartans were seeking a field hockey head coach as Heather Bilodeau is moving to Texas.

NORTH GOLF TOURNAMENT

North’s junior Class President, Evan Linscott, a three-sport athlete (soccer, basketball, tennis) is putting together a golf tournament in August to help raise money for Titan Class of 2027. The Nashua North Class of 2027 Fundraiser Tournament will be held on August 12 with an 8:30 a.m.shotgun start .

What’s unique about this tourney? It’s run by the kids, for the kids, as one parent said, as they’re working to get sponsors, prizes, etc. There’s an internet flyer you can scan or visit https://forms.gle/yQCaPmuZ2Ak3vjts5 for all the information.

FALL DATES

Football teams will report for practice locally on Friday, August 15, while most all other sports will begin practices early that following week (Aug. 18 or 19).

While football gets a full three weeks with the openers Sept. 5-6, soccer and field hockey open up Aug. 28-29 and some golf teams that week as well. It’ll be here before you know it.