Sports
Friday, November 16, 2012
Milt Robinson didn?t go into the 2012 football season thinking it would be his last as the head coach at Hollis Brookline High School.
The thought didn?t cross his mind until midseason, and it only did because of a car ride home that turned into much more.
?It had nothing to do with the season, or the team, it was all personal,? Robinson said. ?I realized I was missing all of my daughter?s field hockey games. What really tipped it was, I was riding back from my son?s mitey mite football game and he asked me from the back ?why do you coach other kids and not coach me??
?At that point, I thought about it and I?m never going to coach him if I don?t coach him in Pop Warner. I don?t feel that I could give what they need from a head coach here and run over and do Pop Warner. They?re getting to the age where they?re playing sports, and I?m very sports-oriented, and I want to be involved in their sports lives.?
Robinson leaves the Cavaliers after his 10th season as the head coach ? the only one in the program?s history ? having guided the program from a club team in its first year to back-to-back playoff appearances in Division III. He had hoped the Cavs might have been able to make it three postseasons in a row this year, but graduation and injuries derailed them.
The Cavs finished 3-7 overall this year, but won two of their final three games, including a 49-28 win over Goffstown, which will play in Saturday?s division championship game against Portsmouth.
?This season, we didn?t have the season we wanted to have because of injuries and things didn?t fall right for us,? Robinson said. ?This team compared to teams in the past, this is a much closer team. We beat a playoff team, as banged up as we were, we still had an amazing game against Goffstown. That and the Alvirne game, those were things that turned it around.?
HB first fielded a football team in 2003, thanks to a group of parents who wanted to see the school pick up the sport. The group raised the money needed to start the program, and Robinson, who works at the school, found himself in the right place at the right time.
?I had enough experience that I could take on the job,? he said. ?It wasn?t easy at the beginning. I?d come home and say ?what did I get myself into?? Half the kids didn?t know how to hold a football, or what a football was.?
During the first offseason, Robinson took the Cavs to a camp put together by Londonderry and Pinkerton, and he was able to see firsthand how much work he still needed to do.
?It was an eye-opener,? he said. ?We had nobody who could throw the ball at that point. We finally found a baseball player who could throw a ball.?
After spending a year as a club team, and another playing a junior varsity schedule, HB went played a varsity schedule in Division IV, and finished the year 1-8. The following year, the Cavs were more competitive, but ended up 2-6.
HB had its first winning season in 2009, its second year in Division III, going 5-4 overall, and the following season, the Cavs made the playoffs for the first time, falling to Souhegan in the semifinals.
Last year turned out to be HB?s best under Robinson. For the first time, the Cavs pulled out wins against Souhegan, Milford and Portsmouth and were in contention to host a playoff game in the final week of the regular season. HB ended up falling at Bedford, 21-20, in the semifinals and finished the season 7-3.
?Last year, beating teams we?d never beaten before was real exciting for the program,? Robinson said. ?Right before the last week of the season, we got hit with injuries. We still lost to Bedford by one.?
While Robinson hopes one of his assistants will end up replacing him, he?s looking forward to helping whoever follows him and thinks the program will continue to improve.
?Our young players have a lot of talent and I foresee this being a very competitive program next year and the year after, and (down the road) because of the Junior Cavs,? Robinson said. ?That?s why it was a hard decision because I knew we would be good in the future. Whoever comes in here, I want this program (to be successful), I still see it as my baby. Every success they have, I feel I?ll be a part of, so whoever takes over, if they ever need any help from me, I?ll be there.
?I didn?t leave because I thought the team was going to stink, or because people were forcing me out. There was nothing of that nature. It was a decision that I made myself, and it was kind of a selfish one. Not just be with my family, but be at their sporting events.?
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