Durgin hired by St. Mary's

Durgin (Handout Photo)

Well the St. Mary's football opener on Sept. 11 against Lynn Classical just got a whole lot more interesting.

Less than three months after stepping down as head football coach at Classical, Matt Durgin accepted the head coaching position crosstown at St. Mary's Tuesday.

“I am probably just as surprised as anyone that this happened at this point,” Durgin said. “I was certainly not looking for another job so soon. When (Athletic Director) Jeff (Newhall) spoke to me, my first reaction was I wouldn’t do it, but he convinced me to think it over.”

Durgin, who stepped down to take time away from coaching and spend more time with his daughters, evidently had a change of heart before accepting the position.

“This is a perfect situation for me,” Durgin said. “I have one daughter (Molly) in the eighth grade at St. Mary’s and another (Mattie) who will be in the seventh grade next year. The football coach really needs to spend a lot of time at the school in the offseason. I can do that, and watch my daughters’ games and practices at the same time. I feel extremely fortunate to have that opportunity and I know I would have regretted not taking advantage of it.”

Follow the jump to check out the full press release from St. Mary's, along with a bio on Durgin.

St. Mary’s names Matt Durgin football coach

LYNN – When Jeff Smith resigned unexpectedly as St. Mary’s football coach a few weeks ago, Athletic Director Jeff Newhall figured he would have to scramble to find a quality replacement, considering that practice starts in less than two months.

Before he started looking around for a new coach, Newhall had a discussion with Head of School Dr. Raymond A. Bastarache, who asked the same question that he had been thinking about: “Is there any way we could get Matt Durgin?”

It was a longshot to be sure, with Durgin having resigned the Classical job in mid-April, saying that he wanted to take a break from coaching to spend more time watching his daughters’ games in the various sports they play. But, it couldn’t hurt to ask.

Durgin declined at first, but he agreed to give it some thought and talk it over with his wife, Belinda, and their daughters. While he had left the door open to coach again, he had no intention of coming back so soon. In fact, he had already turned down an assistant’s job at another school.

Proving that longshots occasionally come in, St. Mary’s announced Tuesday that it has hired Matt Durgin as its new football coach.

“I am probably just as surprised as anyone that this happened at this point,” Durgin said. “I was certainly not looking for another job so soon. When Jeff spoke to me, my first reaction was I wouldn’t do it, but he convinced me to think it over.”

The more he thought about it, the more Durgin realized that if he were ever going to get back into coaching, there could not be a better fit for him than St. Mary’s.

“This is a perfect situation for me,” he said. “I have one daughter (Molly) in the eighth grade at St. Mary’s and another (Mattie) who will be in the seventh grade next year. The football coach really needs to spend a lot of time at the school in the off-season. I can do that, and watch my daughters’ games and practices at the same time. I feel extremely fortunate to have that opportunity and I know I would have regretted not taking advantage of it.”

His daughters are far from his only family connection to the school: Durgin’s sister, Michele, is dean of discipline and junior high administrator; his sister, Marcy, is an English teacher; his uncle, Walter, is a volunteer at the school; Newhall is his cousin.

“I already have so many connections to the school, so I feel very comfortable coming here to coach,” Durgin said. “When I spoke with Jeff, Dr. Bastarache and (Principal) Mr. (Carl) DiMaiti, I was sure this is the right move for me and my family.”

For his part, Newhall feels doubly blessed: He avoided what would have been a rushed search process and he got an outstanding coach. Durgin’s career record in 10 years at Lynn Classical and one at Malden Catholic is 77-41, a .652 winning percentage. His Classical teams went 10-1 in 1999 and 2000, the only losses coming to powerhouse Gloucester. After a 1-10 season in 1997, his first year, Durgin had nine straight winning seasons at Classical. He was 5-6 in his only year at MC in 2004.

“Matt is an outstanding football coach,” Newhall said. “His teams are excellent fundamentally and well disciplined. Most importantly, he has helped countless players get into college. He is the total package.”

“We are thrilled to have gotten a coach the caliber of Matt Durgin,” said Bastarache, a former deputy superintendent in the Lynn Public Schools. “I saw firsthand what a positive influence he had in the lives of his players at Classical and we know he will have the same impact at St. Mary’s.”

“We’re fortunate that Matt has so many connections to the school; otherwise, I don’t think we would have been able to get him,” DiMaiti added. “Michele and Marcy do a terrific job, and our athletic program has never been in better hands than with Jeff leading it. Matt is an excellent addition to St. Mary’s.”

Durgin – who will have as his defensive coordinator Derek Dana, a former Classical football assistant and the St. Mary’s baseball coach – will make his St. Mary’s debut when the Spartans open their 2008 season on Sept. 11 at the new Manning Field. The opponent? Lynn Classical.

The Durgin File

• Graduated Lynn Classical in 1984
• Played football at Hartnell (Calif.) Junior College in 1985-86
• Played at the University of Rhode Island from 1986-88
• Works as a assistant attendance and discipline officer in Lynn Public Schools

Assistant coaching career

URI – 1989
MCI Prep – 1990
Lynn Classical – 1991-94
Bishop Fenwick – 1995
Lynn English – 1996

Head coach

Lynn Classical – 1997-2003; 2005-07
Malden Catholic – 2004

Career record

1997 – 1-10
1998 – 6-4
1999 – 10-1
2000 – 10-1
2001 – 9-2
2002 – 7-4
2003 – 7-4
2004 – 5-6
2005 – 7-4
2006 – 7-3
2007 – 8-2

Total – 77-41 (.652)