A significant number of high school football teams in Maine will have a new head coach in 2026.

And, based on the hirings so far, the new coaches are getting younger.

Maine has 79 high school football programs. After the 2025 season, 14 varsity coaches resigned, retired or left their jobs. Six programs have hired new coaches.

Among the new hires are three first-time varsity coaches who played for Maine high school teams and are still in their mid-20s.

Ethan Stump, a 25-year-old Gorham High grad, will be the fourth head coach in four seasons at Class A Sanford. He was most recently the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Portland. Stump was the first new coach hired in Maine during the offseason, accepting the job prior to Christmas.

“All I ever wanted to do was be a football coach,” said Stump, who is a physical education teacher in Somersworth, New Hampshire. “It’s been a blast, getting in with the kids, getting the workout program going, and it’s been refreshing getting to know the kids.”

Dylan Rottkov, 27, from South Portland, is taking over at Portland, which has played in four straight state championship games, including the past three in Class A. Rottkov will be the Bulldogs’ fourth head coach in five years, but as he’s quick to point out, only the sixth since the mid-1980s. Coaching Portland High comes with the unique features of using fields and facilities that are city-owned and not on campus. Rottkov is embracing those aspects of the program, he said.

“To be able to be in the city and coaching the city kids is something I enjoy. I have a lot of ties to the city,” said Rottkov, who is also the owner of the Blue Wave Basketball Club.

On Thursday, Issiah Bachelder officially joined the young coach club when his hiring at Cape Elizabeth was announced. Bachelder, 26, quarterbacked Portland to state title games in 2015 and 2016, played professionally in Europe, and last season was coaching the Portland Tide, a youth team of players in middle school.

“I think it’s a new era,” Bachelder said of the young coach hirings. “I’m not sure if it’s just going to be us three guys or more in the future. But being able to connect with the players and maintain rosters and getting the kids already in the building to come out and play, that might be the reason for this trend.”

Bachelder pointed to Westbrook coach Sam Johnson as a friend and mentor. A Westbrook grad, Johnson was hired prior to the 2022 season when he was 28. Last fall, in his fourth season, Johnson led Westbrook to its first football state championship.

The other new coaches that have been announced are Brandon Dorsett at Falmouth, Justin Bisson at Lewiston and Michael O’Leary at Telstar.

Dorsett, 40, was an assistant at Falmouth last season, alongside head coach Spencer Emerson and Rottkov, the defensive coordinator. Dorsett has head coaching experience at Westbrook (2019-21) and Brunswick (2022). Emerson, who led Falmouth to an undefeated Class B championship in his first year in 2024, resigned to take a job as general manager of football operations at the University of New Hampshire.

Lewiston hired Justin Bisson, 46, a 1997 Lewiston grad who had been the school’s interim head coach for the final six games in 2021 and was an assistant at Deering the past three seasons. Bisson said 2026 will be his 28th season coaching football at some level.

O’Leary, who also coaches softball at Telstar, replaces Tim O’Connor, who retired after the 2025 season. O’Connor was instrumental in bringing football back to Telstar 20 years ago after it was discontinued in the 1980s.

BY THE NUMBERS

The turnover rates in Class A and among eight-man programs are both over 30%.

Five of the 14 Class A programs (35.8%) will have new head coaches. Bangor and Massabesic are still open.

Seven of the 23 eight-man teams (30.4%) will welcome new coaches. Bachelder at Cape Elizabeth and O’Leary at Telstar are the only announced hires. Defending large-school champion Camden Hills, Mt. Ararat, Waterville, Gray-New Gloucester and St. John Valley are in the hiring process.

The other two changes are at Falmouth and Class C Old Town, where David Gross spent one season.

The number of openings seems larger than most seasons, said Matt Perkins, the head coach at Windham High who is also president of the Maine Football Coaches Association.

“I don’t remember it being that large. Boy, five in Class A. It feels like a lot,” Perkins said.

According to records compiled by Andrew Hart, the force behind the popular Maine High School Football website and Facebook page, 14 coaching changes is only slightly more than the post-COVID norm.

In the previous four offseasons, there have been an average of 11.75 changes, Hart said. There were 13 teams with new coaches in both 2022 and 2023, 10 in 2024, and 11 last season.

One difference might be who left. Emerson was one of the brightest coaching talents in the state. Portland’s Nick Cliche resigned after leading the Bulldogs back to the Class A championship game. In Bangor, Dave Morris had been the coach for eight seasons, returned the Rams to respectability and reached the A North final in 2025.

The eight-man ranks lost four coaches who were synonymous with their schools’ participation in small-sided football. Frank True had been Mt. Ararat’s coach and O’Connor was Telstar’s coach since eight-man started in Maine in 2019. Chris Christie at Camden Hills and Waterville’s Isaac LeBlanc also resigned. Both were hired prior to the 2020 season, when tackle football was banned because of COVID regulations.

WHY ARE COACHES LEAVING?

There is no single answer why so many coaches have decided to resign or retire. None of the coaches interviewed for this story pointed at parents as a cause.

“The parents were so supportive. The community is strong,” said Christie, who is 59. Christie wanted to devote full energy toward a company he owns called the Character Institute, which is close to launching an online educational program for high school students.

True, 58, said he isn’t getting away from football. Rather, he wanted to be able to help coach younger players, specifically his two grandsons.

For LeBlanc, 38, it was a difficult, personal decision to leave Waterville’s program.

“I was mentally gassed, and I knew it was time to make that transition for me,” LeBlanc said. “The community, the players, the coaching staff, everything has been great here. It was just kind of a fork in the road moment and I knew it was time to make that transition for me.”

HARD WORK AHEAD FOR NEW HIRES

As Perkins and others pointed out, coaching football is a demanding job that has become a nearly year-round commitment. There are winter weight-lifting sessions that run through the spring, then summer workouts. Then comes two weeks off before two-a-day practice sessions start in mid-August, and then, hopefully, a deep run into playoff football in November.

“You can never plan too early. As a coach, there’s never an offseason,” said Dorsett, adding that he’s learned much since his first head coaching gig, including that “you plan in advance and then you need to have a counter plan.”

Before becoming the coach at Camden Hills, Christie coached skiing and golf teams to championships at the school.

“What’s different from coaching golf and skiing is football just never ends,” Christie said. “You get a little time off in January, then it starts right up in February with clinics. March, we’re moving into the playbook, and as soon as you get to June, it’s four times a week conditioning, camps, and then it’s August and the season starts. Two weeks ago, I was still collecting equipment from athletes. It’s not all day, but it’s still occupying brain space.”

The new head coaches like Rottkov are excited for that challenge. They’re already in the weight room for after-school sessions, working on building player-coach bonds. Rottkov will have logistical issues unique to Portland because his fields and locker room facilities are city-owned sites located several blocks from the high school.

Instead of griping that his players have to walk several blocks from the high school to the Portland Expo for fitness training, Rottkov sees it as a benefit, a first step toward embracing the notion that a large part of football’s value is that it teaches young people to overcome adversity.

“The way I see it, I have 45 kids tough enough to walk in snow to go lift for two hours,” Rottkov said.