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After 32 years as the boys hockey coach at Greely High School and five state championships, Barry Mothes is calling it a career.

Mothes, 62, confirmed his departure Thursday afternoon. He informed his team during a meeting after school Wednesday.

“One of the bigger reasons was just feeling a need at this time of my life that I need a bit more flexibility in my personal life and with my family life,” said Mothes, who lives with his wife, Anne Tommaso, in Portland. “I’ve been very lucky to have had as long a tenure (as I’ve had), with so many great players and families.”

Greely athletic director David Shapiro called Mothes an “institution unto himself.” Mothes took over as coach of the Rangers in January 1995. He led them to their first Class B title in 2009 and then back-to-back championships in 2012-13 and 2019-20.

“I’d call it the end of an era,” Shapiro said. “I don’t know that he has a peer in terms of his longevity as a high school hockey coach here in the state of Maine.”

Shapiro said the news was a surprise.

“I hoped he had another 32 (years) left in him,” he said.

Charlie Moore, who graduated in 2024 and currently plays at Colby College, said it was “crazy” to hear the news.

“Day in and day out, Coach Mothes was always positive,” said Moore, whose older brothers, Andy and Ryan, also played for the Rangers. “He made it a joy to come to the rink, and to not only become better hockey players, but he also talked a lot about how to be a good person.”

Mothes said he was leaning toward retirement during the season, but took time after the season to make sure he was set with his decision.

“I have been considering it, here and there,” he said. “You don’t do anything forever, and I’m not getting any younger. … I’m just feeling like I need the space and the time to be able to be available for some important people in my life.”

Mothes, who played at Manchester Central High School in New Hampshire and for the junior varsity team at Babson College, hadn’t coached before taking over the Greely program. But his first team finished 12-7 and made the Western Class B quarterfinals with 14 to 15 position players and a freshman goalie, and a standard of competitiveness was set.

“That built a lot of character that started to turn into more success,” he said.

The Rangers became a perennial contender, and eventually a champion, winning five Class B championships in a span of 12 years.

“With Maine high school hockey and the limited amount of players, it’s kind of hard to build a team,” said Andy Moore, a 2020 graduate and now a junior forward at Northeastern. “But he was just so good at working with what he had. I’m sure over those 32 seasons that he was the head coach, that game plan changed from year to year. … (But) he got guys to buy into their roles.”

Along the way, Mothes coached some of the best hockey players that have come through the state. The Hart brothers — Kevin, Brian and Ted — led the first three Greely championship teams before going on to college and pro careers, and the Moore brothers captained the Rangers, with Andy and Ryan leading the team to the 2019 and 2020 crowns.

“Those players were exceptional,” Mothes said. “They just made an enormous impact on our team and our program, being very loyal and committed and proud to play for Greely.”

Commitment was a consistent theme from Mothes, who stressed the significance of being part of the Greely community.

“He pounded home the importance of playing for your school, and the town that you grew up in, for your friends and family, that it doesn’t really get much better than that,” Charlie Moore said. “He pounded that home, every day.”

Ryan Moore, a 2022 graduate now playing at Colby, said Mothes was a significant reason he and his brothers played for the high school team instead of going the prep school route. He called it “the best decision I ever made.”

“He created an environment of success. He put so much into Greely hockey and cared so much about our experience,” he said. “We had such a good culture there, everyone cared so much. We were such a tight-knit group. Even though it was public high school hockey, we were absolutely committed.”

Coaching the champions and the players that won them, Mothes said, were only some of the moments that made coaching a hockey team special.

“There are just so many unbelievable, meaningful, exciting games that would take place in the old West B and now South B. It would take me an hour or more to list them all,” he said. “Just some unbelievable games against Cape Elizabeth and York and Kennebunk and Camden Hills.

“Playing in some really great Christmas tournament games 10 or 15 years ago … (and) team trips to play in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and trips to Vermont to play there. All sorts of things like that. They were just really great experiences, really great memories.”