The high school coaching carousel has been extremely busy with Eagle-Tribune area teams of late.
North Andover High athletic director Steve Nugent has been extremely busy, hiring four new coaches within the last two months, including two this past week — Ben Murphy (boys hockey) and Don Viselli (girls basketball).
Mike Soucy was recently named the third athletic director in as many years at Pelham High. One of Pelham’s former players and former assistant coaches Jason Riley has been named the new football coach.
Finally, in Salem, Jessica Robinson has been named the new girls basketball coach.
Former UMaine star takes over Knights
After Scott Greene stepped down as North Andover hockey coach, Nugent was overwhelmed by the number of top-end candidates who applied.
“We had over 20 applicants. We had several college coaches, most of them are assistant coaches but a lot of them have high level playing experience and coaching experience,” said Nugent.
The choice was Murphy, 43, who was part of the 1994 North Andover Pee Wee Division Youth Hockey National Championship team, which was coached by his father Fran, a star Nort Andover High athlete himself.
Murphy attended Cushing Academy before playing for four years at the University of Maine (15 goals, 33 assists). A center, he was part of the 2002 and ‘04 Black Bears who lost in the NCAA Championship games before playing one year professionally with the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League.
“His resume is off the charts,” said Nugent. “People are referring to him as arguably one of the top hockey players from this area.”
After his playing days, Murphy immediately got into coaching. He spent a year as an assistant on the Thunder staff, before a graduate assistant year at Castleton College in Vermont. After that he was an assistant at Bentley (10 years), St. Lawrence (3 years), back to Bentley for a year, and then each of the past two seasons as an assistant for the RPI and Providence College women’s programs.
“It’s a dream come true for me to have an opportunity to give back to the community that helped raise me and the programs that I grew up watching and playing under,” said Murphy. “This is just special and something I wanted to be a part of.”
In five years, Greene had a record of 30-43-8, including a 5-15-2 mark and a first round tournament win over Concord-Carlisle this past winter.
“We’re going to play fast, exciting up-tempo hockey and help the kids develop their game,” said Murphy.
Speaking of up-tempo
Viselli is taking over the North Andover girls hoops program from Jess Deveny, who held the position for seven seasons, including reaching the Division 1 quarterfinals in ‘23.
The new coach said his style of coaching is moving the ball up the court fast-faster-fastest.
“I like to play up-tempo basketball. I don’t want the shot clock to be an issue,” he said, while noting that 36 girls have signed up for the summer league program.
“I want our kids to play with confidence, whether they have the ball or if they are on defense. I want to play up-tempo because I think kids have more fun playing that way and the game is more enjoyable to watch.”
Viselli grew up in Groveland and played hockey at Whittier Tech. He spent the past 25 years coaching basketball at the youth and AAU level and the past three years as an assistant for the Derryfield School (Manchester, N.H.) varsity girls team.
His two daughters, Ashley and Coley, were two of the all-time greats in Pentucket Regional High School history, before going on to play at St. Anselm and Post University, respectively.
“I’m looking forward to getting the North Andover girls program to compete for MVC championships and have a strong showing in a very strong league,” he said. “The competition in the MVC is next to none in terms of public schools in Massachusetts. We have our work cut out for us.”
Robinson a Blue Devil
Jessica Robinson is replacing long time Salem girls coach Ricky Oliver. This past season, he led the team to a 13-8 record, including a first round tournament win.
Robinson played four years at Connetquet High in N.Y., before playing two years at Mass College of Liberal Arts. In 2007, she was named the head coach at Robinson High in Tampa, Fla. She took over a program that hadn’t won a game in three years and five years later, she guided the team to 15-wins and a district title.
From there she spent five years as an assistant at Ana Maria College, before taking over as the head coach at Wilmington High. In five years (2017-’22), she had a record of 56-43, which included guiding the 2020 team to its first league title in eight years and a trip to the Division 2 North Sectionals.
Familiar face returns to Pelham
Jason Riley has been named the fourth Pelham High football coach in the past three years. After six-time state champion Tom Babaian resigned after the 2023 season, John Trisciani was named his replacement, but he abruptly resigned just two days before the Pythons’ season opener. New AD Justin Hufft took over on an interim basis and led the Pythons to a 10-2 record and a trip to the DII state final.
Riley played under Babaian, then played at UMass Lowell. He came back to Pelham as the offensive line coach from 2016-23 and then was an assistant on the Alvirne High staff last fall.
“This is more about having the chance to come back where it all started for me,” said Riley. “What truly drew me to this role was the opportunity to shape a program with so much potential. Pelham has passionate athletes, supportive families, and a community that cares and that can become something special. I’d like to see a true tradition started for the program and that is why I have added five alumni who played at Pelham to my staff.”
Riley currently works as the Director of Public Safety at BILH Mount Auburn Hospital. In 2022, after 20 years, he retired as the Director of Training for the Hillsborough Country Department of Corrections.
Soucy leaves Nashua North for Pythons
Soucy will be taking over as the new Pelham High AD, effective July 1. He previously served as the Merrimack High AD for six years and, after taking a year off, is currently serving as the assistant AD at Nashua North.
“Jumping back in to run my own department is something that excites me,” said Soucy, a Pelham resident who competed on the Central Catholic cross country and track teams, graduating in 1987. “And I grew up here in Pelham so it’s exciting to give back to the community.”
He said his No. 1 goal is improving sportsmanship.
“That must be a vocal point in all school sports today,” he said. “Pelham is a great community, there’s great people there, they’re passionate about their sports and I think sometimes they bad rap. Let’s see if we can change that narrative.”