Winthrop coach Todd MacArthur, center, and team members focus on Cody Cobb as he shoots a foul shot in the closing moments of a game against Hall-Dale during the Capital City Hoop Classic in December 2023 at the Augusta Civic Center. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

WINTHROP — Where other coaches stood, Todd MacArthur would float.

Whether at the Augusta Civic Center or Mountain Valley Conference gyms, there was never any doubt when the Winthrop boys basketball team was in the building. Not with MacArthur, the Ramblers’ head coach, boisterous, energetic and jumping in support of his team seemingly as high as the kids on the floor.

“My coaching style is an intense, give-you-everything type of coach, and I try to instill that into my players,” said MacArthur. “Sweating, working hard, being in the stance — that’s who I am, and I’m not going to change that. I think it creates an environment where we want to work hard, and I’ve had a lot of kids buy into that.”

It’s hard to conclude otherwise given the success Winthrop had with MacArthur as coach. Now, though, it will be someone else on the Ramblers’ sideline, as MacArthur has stepped down from the position after 14 seasons.

After taking over a program already steeped in basketball tradition in 2011, MacArthur went 196-77 as coach. He led the Ramblers to back-to-back Class C state championships in 2018-19 and 2019-20, as well as the Central Maine Class C/D tournament title in 2020-21 (there wasn’t an MPA-sanctioned postseason because of the pandemic).

MacArthur, 43, has known for a while that stepping away from coaching would be likely once his sons reached high school. With his oldest son, 13-year-old Lincoln, set to be a freshman at Winthrop, that time has come.

“For the last 14 years at Winthrop, I’ve been closer to other people’s sons and coached other people’s sons, and I would like to sit back and enjoy my children coming up through,” MacArthur said. “It’s now time for them to play basketball and for me to sit back, be a dad, and root for my own family.”

MacArthur’s departure is a major shift to the basketball landscape in Class C South, where the Ramblers were a juggernaut for the better part of a decade. From 2014-20, Winthrop went 129-19, appeared in five straight regional finals from 2016-20, and never finished worse than 16-4.

The two Gold Balls punctuated that remarkable run. After the Ramblers suffered regional final losses to Waynflete and Hall-Dale in 2016 and 2018 and a last-second state championship game loss to George Stevens Academy in 2017, tasting the ultimate glory twice was extra sweet.

Winthrop boys basketball coach Todd MacArthur jumps and waves his arms and legs during the Class C South title game against Waynflete on Feb. 20, 2016, at the Augusta Civic Center. Morning Sentinel file photo

“I always talk to them about learning life through basketball, and we learned more life lessons through some of the heartbreaks that we had than anything,” MacArthur said. “When we were celebrating (the 2019 title), we talked about all the past players that were in that locker room, and I know they weren’t the recipients of the Gold Ball, but I felt like they all had a piece of it.”

Even in less-than-ideal times, MacArthur got the most out of his program. Although Winthrop went just 3-15 in his first season, MacArthur credited that group for laying the foundation for success. When the pandemic denied Winthrop’s hopes of a three-peat in 2021, the Ramblers persevered anyway, rallying from 17 points down against Madison in the Central Maine title game to win a glass trophy that’s proudly displayed at the school along with the Gold Balls.

MacArthur told Joel Stoneton, Winthrop’s athletic director, shortly before the state basketball tournament in February that this year’s tourney would be his last. Stoneton called MacArthur’s departure “a huge loss” but said the school plans to have the program’s next coach in place very soon — before April vacation in three weeks.

“He’s simply irreplaceable; his winning record and what he’s done speaks for itself,” Stoneton said. “Basketball aside, the things off the court that he’s done to support young people, that’s something you can’t replicate or replace. … So, it’s difficult, but I completely support him.”

Although he’ll be in the stands for several years, this isn’t necessarily the end of coaching for MacArthur. After Lincoln and his other son, sixth-grader Harper (11), finish playing high school ball, benches in central Maine could have the same pep to them that they’ve had for the past decade.

“I don’t think my days of coaching are over,” MacArthur said. “When my kids graduate, I’ll find a way to get back into it. I just think I want to be a dad for six years, at least, and then we’ll see what the future brings.”