Former Hermon girls basketball coach lands assistant job at Colby College
Former Hermon High School girls basketball coach Chris Cameron, who led his Hawks to two Class B North championships in his eight years at the helm, is moving on to the college ranks as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Colby College in Waterville.
He will be joining a Colby College staff led by head coach Chenel Harris-Smith, who has compiled a record of 28-39 during her four seasons. One season was wiped up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mules were 8-14 a year ago.
Cameron, who stepped down after this past season, compiled an overall record of 112-33 at Hermon, excluding the COVID-19 campaign when there were no tournaments.
His Hawks were 99-26 during regular season play and 13-7 in the postseason.
Cameron actually spent two months this spring as an assistant coach at Thomas College, which is also in Waterville, before taking the Colby job.
He said that he and Thomas head coach Jason Coleman are close friends and Coleman encouraged him to “go forward with the process” of taking the Colby job after it came open.
“He gave me his blessing,” Cameron said.
“I am super excited for this opportunity and to coach at the college level as a full-time job,” said the 51-year-old Cameron, who had been an athletic fundraiser. “I’m really happy to join an institution which is elite athletically and academically. NESCAC is a great conference.”
He had been working at the Colby College overnight summer basketball camps, where he met Harris-Smith.
The Glenburn native and former Orono High football and basketball player will take on a variety of roles at Colby including the recruitment of players from Maine and New Hampshire, scheduling game trips and hotels, individual player meetings, and on-court practice sessions.
“Recruiting is one of those things I want to learn more about. It’s such a crucial piece in college athletics,” said Cameron, who played basketball at Bangor’s Husson University after spending two years at Dean Junior College.
The Hawks won a tournament game and reached at least the semifinals in every season except this past year, when they went 9-9 during the regular season and then lost to Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft 51-37 in a preliminary round game.
They were Class B North champs in 2021-22 and in 2019-20.
They lost to Oceanside of Rockland 31-28 in the ’22 state title game and to Wells 34-26 in overtime in the ’20 final.
They lost just two regular season games or fewer, four times.
Cameron called his time at Hermon a positive experience but he decided to step down when his daughter, Allie, graduated.
He said at the time that it was always in the back of his mind to leave once the group of players he had helped coach since pre-kindergarten graduated from Hermon.
Cameron’s daughter is currently playing soccer at Bangor’s Husson University, from where he himself graduated in 1996 with a degree in sports management.