SOUTH DEERFIELD— Frontier Regional School athletic director Glenn Sullivan has confirmed that the school has hired Gill resident Dave Hastings to be the girls basketball coach.
“When you have the opportunity to hire a coach with the experience and wealth of knowledge as someone like Dave, it’s hard to say no,” Sullivan said.
Hastings takes over for Dave Machon, whose Redhawks lost to Bourne in the MIAA Round of 16 last season. “Dave brought it to a new level, big shoes to fill,” said Sullivan.
The 61-year-old Gill resident has risen through the coaching ranks from AAU to high school to coaching under Ryan Cain at Keene State University. “He was my right-hand man for seven years, four of them we reached the NCAAs,” Cain told the Recorder in 2024.
When Cain accepted the head coaching job at Johns Hopkins University in 2023, Hastings was named the acting head coach by athletic director Marty Testo. Under his leadership the Owls were 26-4, won the Little East championship and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA D-III tournament.
Alas, Hastings does not have a bachelor’s degree and consequently could not be named the permanent head coach. After graduating high school he enlisted in the Army and was a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division. He was honorably discharged, got into police work and in 1994 became Gill’s chief of police.
Hastings acknowledged that despite his coaching background, this will be his first experience coaching a girls hoops team.
“Not since I coached my daughter on an AAU Suburban team. That was a while ago, but raising two daughters and knowing the challenges that come up in a young woman’s life will help me adjust,” he said. “First I’d like to meet everyone, parents and players, and put names to faces.”
Sullivan said several candidates applied for the coaching vacancy.
“Quite a few with varsity experience. We interviewed for two days,” he said.
The three-person hiring committee was composed of vice principal Scott Dredge, field hockey coach Melissa “Missy” Mahar, and Sullivan.
Hastings said this feels like returning to where it all began. “Before Gill we lived on Hillside Road in Deerfield for ten years and I coached with Ed Galenski, Dave Blanchette, Brian Ravish, Dave Dove, Dan Carmody, Karl Koenigsbaurer, Gary Sanderson, Charlie Ramon… My stepdad Charlie Baronas was president of the Polish Club. I know how intense this town is about sports.”
As per MIAA rules, the first practice can’t be until the first Monday after Thanksgiving — Dec. 1 — and the first game is Dec. 11 at home against Northampton. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.
Hastings is aware that Goodnow Gymnasium is named for the late Vi Goodnow, who coached her girls teams to 633 wins.
“Vi was second to none. The Frontier athletics legacy goes back decades,” he said.
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