Gardiner Area High School boys basketball coach Jason Cassidy says he was suspended two games after losing his composure in a locker room after a 62-55 loss at Erskine Academy in South China last Tuesday.

Cassidy missed the team’s victory Friday over Oxford Hills and will sit out a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A game against Hampden on Tuesday night.

“I lost my composure in the locker room after the Erskine game,” Cassidy said in an interview Monday, declining to go into further detail about the incident.

Junior varsity coach Charlie Lawrence coached the team in Cassidy’s place Friday and will do so again Tuesday.

Cassidy said the suspension was the result of discussions with school administrators that took place in the days after the Erskine game. School principal Chad Kempton confirmed that he had been working with Cassidy.

“We met with the parents, the administrators and the players,” said Cassidy, who said he will return to coach the team Thursday at Messalonskee. “We’re going to move on in a positive direction.”

Earlier Monday, Kempton declined comment when asked if Cassidy had been suspended, but said that Cassidy “is the coach of the basketball program, and he’s going to be moving forward.”

Gardiner athletic director Steve Ouellette also declined comment, as did a parent of one of the team’s captains.

Cassidy has coached the Tigers since the 2007-08 season, compiling a 107-82 record and guiding the team to the 2012 Class B state championship game, where it lost to Yarmouth. He’s led Gardiner to three straight playoff berths since missing the tournament in 2013. The Tigers (8-6), who are third in Class A North Heal points, are poised for a return trip to the postseason this winter.


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