ORANGE — Within the halls of Mahar Regional High School, a very important meeting occurred on Thursday when a group of football players encountered their new coach for the upcoming season.
Kyle Newton met with 28 potential players in the introductory meeting along with Athletic Director Kyle Magoffin. With nine extra players slated to join the team, the initial numbers look good for the first time varsity coach.
“I could not be more excited,” Newton said. “I’ve been around this program since I was seven years old. I used to walk through the woods when my uncle was a janitor here in charge of the field. I would help him line the field. I went to every football game that was home. Both my brothers played for Jim (Woodward). Then I played here. Then I was an assistant. But I think once you are head coach, you can actually do a lot stuff you can’t do as an assistant. You can bring your own culture, bring your own attitude.”
As far as an offense, Newton will bring his version of the Wing-T offense to the Woodward Complex.
“It’s more modern,” Newton said. “We’ll be in shotgun probably 30 or 40 percent of the time. We are going to do a lot of stuff.”
Newton graduated from Mahar in 2004 where he played football for the Senators. He began his coaching career as an assistant for Joe Gamache at Franklin Tech in 2008.
“We are excited to have coach Newton back at Mahar,” Magoffin said. “Kyle has such a history with Mahar football… from starting off as a ball boy to Coach Woodward, to playing for Mahar and winning a Super Bowl, to being an assistant coach for over 10 years. He has put in his dues and his hard work has paid off for him to be a head coach.”
Newton then moved on to coach middle school football with Chris Bailey at Mahar for two years before becoming an assistant for the varsity program until 2022. During his time with the Senators, Newton coached the defense. He then took a year off from coaching after accepting a new job.
“I wasn’t sure if I could still do it,” Newton said. “It was nice having all the free time. But I did miss it.”
From there, he got a call from the crosstown rival to return to coaching. Athol coach Josh Talbot called Newton about coaching defense for the Bears.
“It took a while before I said yes,” Newton said. “He (Talbot) convinced me. I went there for two years.”
During his time as an assistant, Newton was a sponge for information from the coaches he worked with through the years. From Gamache at the beginning to Talbot most recently.
“I took something from them,” Newton said. “Each one of them to where I am now. I am going to take ideas from all of them and hopefully make something good here.”
The plentiful attendance at the introductory meeting was a welcome sight for Newton.
“My goal for this year was to get 30,” Newton said. “I think we ended last year with 25, 30 for my first year would be good. If we get 35 plus, I’d be stoked.”
Having a junior varsity program is important to the first year head coach. With a roster that could approach 40 players, having a junior varsity team would be feasible.
“I am sick of not having JVs around here,” Newton said. “Development for the younger kids is important. There’s no pop warner around here right now. It’s their only time through middle school. It’s their only time to see the field. I don’t want to play freshman if I don’t have to.”
Mahar went 2-8 last season and went 0-6 in the Intercounty North league. The Senators haven’t beaten Athol since 2022.
“I want to build the program to where all the kids in school and all the community wants to be a part of,” Newton said. “I want to build what Jim (Woodward) had back in the day. He built that, but it takes a lot of years to do that. First year is just changing the attitude and changing the culture. Build the excitement back up.”