Former Madison Memorial High School player Adam Rich will be the next Cony girls basketball coach pending school board approval.

Rich, 32, has been Cony’s junior varsity boys coach for the last two seasons while also serving as an assistant to varsity coach T.J. Maines. A guard, he played basketball at Thomas College, where his coaches included Maines. Prior to that, he played at Madison for Maines’ father, New England Basketball Hall-of-Famer Tom Maines, before graduating in 2002.

Rich also coached AAU and summer basketball for Madison’s boys and girls teams.

He will replace Ted Rioux, who resigned for what he said were “philosophical differences” with two games remaining in the 2015-16 season, his third with Cony. Athletic director Paul Vachon served as interim coach for the remainder of the season. The Rams finished 2-16 and did not reach the Class A tournament for the second year in a row.

“It’s a good opportunity. I’m excited for it,” Rich said. “They haven’t had a lot of success in recent years. I think it’s just time for change and I think I can bring that change with a new perspective.”

Coaching the boys teams, Rich said he only got to see one Cony varsity girls game last year. While he already knows most of the players, he said he plans to introduce himself to team members who help out with Vachon’s Capital City Basketball Clinic and hopes to start coaching them at the start of summer basketball next week.

“From what I’ve seen and heard from coach Vachon and some others, the incoming junior class is one with a lot of talent,” he said. “They played a lot of varsity minutes last year, so they’ve got some experience.”

Rich expects that experience will help the Rams improve their record next year. He said reaching the tournament will be a goal, but the focus his first year will be on building for the future.

“It’s going to be a new process for everyone. I’m going to have to get to know them and they’re going to have to get to know me and learn a new system, so that’s going to take some time,” he said. “I want to see them consistently get better this year. That would be a more realistic goal. Making the tournament (the first year) would be a bonus.”

He said getting Cony back to being one of the top programs in Class A “starts with getting people more involved and excited with the program again.” That includes getting the youth recreation and junior high programs involved with Cony basketball and vice-versa.

Rich prefers a fast-paced style of play, similar to what he helped Maines impart to Cony’s boys the last two years. But he added that style will be more tailored toward personnel and how players can best adapt to the faster game.

“I like to play up-tempo and cause a lot of turnovers. Defensive pressure is my main thing because I feel if you play a slow-down game, you take away from the skills your players have,” he said.

Maines described Rich’s move as “a loss for our program, but it’s a win for the girls.”

“He’s going to do a real good job. He develops really great relationships with kids,” Maines said.

Vachon said Rich was selected from a pool of eight candidates for school board approval by a four-member panel of administration and teachers.

“We’re really excited to have him,” Vachon said. “He loves the game. He’s passionate about the game. He’s greatly respected by his peers and he’s shown outstanding leadership ability.”

Rich served as a U.S. Marine and reserve for eight years and was deployed to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2011. He works at an indoor firing range and trophy store in Madison. He is engaged to be married next fall and has two children, ages 2 and nine months. The family lives in Manchester.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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