Abbott selected “Coach of the Year” by his peers in the MABC

Wells High School Girls Varsity Basketball Coach Don Abbott has been named Coach of the Year in the Class B South Division by the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches (MABC). This becomes the third time that he has received this award, the first being in 2014 and then again in 2020. Abbot has coached the WHS Girls Varsity Basketball team for the past 16 years, a team that in 2020, won the Class B State Championship.

“What a great honor for Coach Abbott to be named Coach of the Year for a third time,” stated Wells-Ogunquit CSD Athletics Director Pat Moody in an email. “He has built our girls basketball program into one of the most competitive and most respected programs in the state. Congratulations should also go to his entire staff for being an integral part of the success.”

Each year the MABC allows high school basketball coaches from around Maine to select a couple of their senior team members to participate in the annual Maine McDonald’s High School Senior All-Star Basketball Games held this past March 12th. It is at this event that Coach of the Year is awarded. Participating in this year’s games were two of Abbott’s players, Grace Boucher and Grace Ramsdell who Abbott has coached for the past four seasons.

“It’s more of a reflection of our program and the type of kids that we have,” said Abbott about Coach of the Year. “When you get something like that from your peers it speaks to the quality of the kids that you have in the program more so than coaching (with) X’s and O’s and strategy. It’s more about how your team carries themselves, the way they compete, and that kind of thing.”

Abbot and his team have also been recognized for their work off of the court by raising a current total of $300,000 for breast cancer awareness, and care at York Hospital by way of the team’s annual Shootin’ for a Cure” program.

Abbott has also taught 5th-grade for 23 years at Wells Junior High School where, in 2021, he was selected to become the school’s assistant principal.

“Donnie Abbott has been a tremendous asset to the Wells-Ogunquit school community,” wrote WOCSD Superintendent James Daly who added, “He has served our district in many different capacities and has excelled in all of them. He is (an) outstanding educator that truly cares about all students. We are very fortunate to have him working with our students, athletes, teachers, and staff.”

Coach Don Abbott