HYANNIS – The veil of mystery has been lifted.
Barnstable High School has hired four-year Sturgis East Storm boys’ varsity basketball head coach Michael Kennedy (Barnstable High Class of 1993) to take the reins and follow in former head coach Chuck Kipnes’ footsteps after Kipnes led the Red Raiders to a 21-21 mark the past two seasons and back-to-back postseason berths. Kipnes resigned following this past season.
Kennedy’s Sturgis East boys finished at 8-10 this past season.
Barnstable High Class of 1993’s Mike Kennedy will take over as new Red Raider boys’ varsity basketball head coach for the 2015-16 season.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
Kennedy, a senior co-captain for the vaunted Red & White basketball program in 1992-93, who played for then head coach Mark Sullivan, played alongside such all-time great Red Raiders as Mickey Fein (BHS Athletic Hall of Fame), Jon Way (BHS Athletic Hall of Fame), the late Kevin Houston and Mike Scioletti.
Kennedy was a two-time varsity letterman for the Red Raider hoop team and was one of the team’s top scorers his senior year. He was also a three-time varsity football letterman for former Barnstable head coach Paul “Spanky” Demanche from 1990-1992 as a tight end and defensive end.
Numerous sources confirmed Tuesday that Barnstable High School athletic director Scott Thomas had hired Kennedy, although no formal, public announcement was made by the school. Thomas had initially moved forward on the hiring of former Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School boys’ head basketball coach John Piemontese after Thomas’ search/selection committee had agreed by consensus to hire Piemontese the week before April school vacation.
Piemontese conceded that he had been interviewed a second time over the phone by Barnstable High principal Patrick Clark after the committee selected him from seven finalists, of which Kennedy was one.
One of the seven finalists – former collegiate basketball coach and basketball author David Faucher – dropped out before being interviewed by the search/selection committee, leaving six who were ultimately interviewed the week prior to April school vacation. The six finalists for the position were Barnstable High’s Alik Taylor and Gibby Guimond, former Red Raider basketball standout Jared Pane, Piemontese, former Nauset head coach and athletic director Keith Arnold and Kennedy.
Neither Clark nor Thomas returned messages left Tuesday.
Not all members of the original search/selection committee were notified that the job was not going to be offered to Piemontese, nor that it was going to go to Kennedy, but that’s not to say anyone was displeased with the former Red Raider’s hiring.
One source said that Kennedy was at the top of the list for the job after six candidates had been interviewed and another said that he seemed the likeliest candidate.
Kennedy will be the 20th man to take the boys’ basketball reins since the program’s inception in the earlier part of the 20th century. Barnstable High Athletic Hall of Famer William P. “Billy” Bangs was the first official varsity boys basketball coach for the Red & White in 1925, but the program had tried to get off the ground during the sport’s infancy as early as 1914. Barnstable High Hall of Famer Gerry McDowell served as head coach during two eras, thus making Kennedy the 20th in school history to take the helm.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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