Fortier, Humphrey take hoop coaching jobs
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Jay Fortier is returning to his original home sideline. Claude Humphrey is moving to a new one.
Both are taking over basketball programs this year, with practice beginning on Nov. 30.
Fortier, one of the area's all-time most successful coaches, will coach the Easthampton girls this year, 14 years after leaving the program.
Humphrey, an assistant under coach Rey Harp at Northampton, takes over the Belchertown boys basketball team.
Fortier returns to Easthampton
Fortier retired as Hampshire Regional girls basketball coach in 2007 with a 150-20 record over seven years with the Red Raiders and an overall career record of 228-32, which includes his time at Easthampton from 1992 to 1996.
He was an assistant coach at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts during the 2007-08 season and then with Putnam for 2008-09.
"I missed it a lot. I didn't think I was going to. I thought I could be an assistant and scale down the hours and fade away into the sunset," Fortier said. "I missed teaching the game. I don't know if we'll be as competitive as we were. But that doesn't matter. I want to get back to teaching the game to kids."
Fortier takes over for Amanda Kemp, who coached seven years at Easthampton, won three straight Franklin South titles and a trip to the 2007 Western Massachusetts Division 2 semifinals.
Fortier was hired because he was "the best coaching candidate we had," said Easthampton athletic director John Opatkiewicz, who had seven people apply for the job. "His resume and qualification were outstanding. Not only that, he encompasses the whole program. He works with the youth leagues and coaches at that level so that it solidifies the program from top to bottom."
Humphrey becomes head coach
The Northampton boys basketball team might be the best in western Massachusetts this year and Humphrey is a big reason why.
"It's a bittersweet for us. He deserves it," Northampton coach Rey Harp said. "He's worked very hard with us for a long time, but he's ready to pick up that program and do his own thing. ... He's been the keystone for our success here. He's been at the heart of our success."
Humphrey has assisted Harp all five of his years at Northampton when he turned the program around from a 2-18 season to back-to-back 19-win years.
"We're very happy," Belchertown athletic director John Skorupski said. "I think I got a top-notch candidate and I was happy to have some to choose from. I had eight applicants and there was a lot of good, solid talent in the coaching ranks and with a lot of experience."
Humphrey said he'll bring the same kind of mix of both discipline and support for his players from the Northampton program.
"That's what we did at Northampton. Rey was great with that," Humphrey said. "They are our kids - they are going to make mistakes. But as long as they know that they are going to be held accountable, they will respect you and buy into what you are doing."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
