The University of Southern Maine’s women’s basketball success has always been built with Maine players. It only stands to reason that Coach Gary Fifield would want Mainers teaching his players.
The Huskies announced Tuesday that Sam Allen and Rachele Burns – two of the state’s best girls’ basketball players over the last decade – will be assistant coaches for Fifield.
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Allen graduated from Lake Region High in 2006 and played at Colby College. Burns was a standout at Gorham High and played at the University of Maine, her career slowed by four knee surgeries.
“I think if you look at the makeup of our teams over my quarter-century here, I’d say 90 percent or more of the players are in-state kids,” said Fifield. “As you know, Mainers are very parochial; they like to see their Mainers do well. Being able to have local talent who have been successful as athletes, and think they want to get into coaching in our programs as an assistant is very beneficial.”
Allen, who began her college career at Division II Southern New Hampshire before transferring to Colby, was on the staff at the University of Vermont the last two years, serving as the director of basketball operations last season.
Burns graduated from UMaine last spring and served as a student assistant coach to Richard Barron for one year.
“We’re getting people who understand how important basketball is to the people in this state, specifically women’s basketball,” said Fifield, who has a 628-115 career record.
Fifield said he will lean on both for their Division I experiences while also trying to provide a strong coaching foundation for their careers.
Allen and Burns realized they wanted to get into coaching while playing in college.
“As I got toward the end of my career at Colby, I wasn’t sure what direction I was going to go,” said Allen, who was a graduate assistant at Smith College for two years after leaving Colby.
“I started thinking about all the jobs I had over my short life and I enjoyed the ones where I was teaching and having influence over younger people’s lives – coaching, substitute teaching, the various activities I had at sports camps. I enjoy helping people find their way through things. I feel I can have that positive impact at this level.”
Burns always dreamed of playing beyond college, but she had three ACL surgeries on her right knee and one on her left over four years, beginning her junior year in high school. When she got a chance to work as a student assistant under Barron, “that’s when I decided I wanted to help kids,” said Burns, who is a physical education teacher in the Gray-New Gloucester school system.
Both also attended a “So You Want to Be a Coach” program sponsored by the Women’s Basketball Association, Allen in 2011 and Burns in 2014. Only 50 participants are selected nationally.
“It was a pretty eye-opening experience,” said Allen. “Any of my coaching experiences had been through whoever I had as a coach, and that’s not necessarily indicative of what coaching is all about. Going down there and being part of that, and listening to all the panels and discussions of what a real grind coaching is, was very helpful.”
“It’s a great way to figure out if you want to coach or not,” said Burns.
And both do. Burns would like to be a Division I head coach someday. Allen said she knows she wants “to be a head coach at a Division III school.”
And they feel they have the chance to learn under one of the best in Fifield, who has led the Huskies to five Division III Final Four appearances.
Allen and Burns both talked about his collection of binders that contains everything he wants to do this year, and covers his coaching career.
“The chance to learn under him is a major steppingstone for me,” said Allen.
“What better coach to go learn from than him?” asked Burns. “He knows a bunch of people, he knows what he’s doing. He’s a legend around here.”
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