As athletics continue to grow and become a larger part of campus life, 海角乱伦 welcomes a slate of coaches to help guide its teams and student athletes.
Great Bay has new coaches for baseball, golf, men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball, and women鈥檚 volleyball.
鈥淥ver the last few years, we have won first-time conference titles in volleyball, golf, and men鈥檚 basketball, and we鈥檝e had multiple individual conference champions in track and field,鈥� said Brian Scott, Director of Athletics and Student Engagement. 鈥淥ur program is growing, and we are able to do more. We have seen record attendance at basketball games, and the same is true other sports.鈥�
The Herons compete in the Yankee Small College Conference, fielding teams in men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball, women鈥檚 volleyball, golf, baseball, and track and field.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited how our program has grown, and we鈥檙e excited about where we鈥檙e headed,鈥� said Scott, who previously coached the women鈥檚 basketball team and left that position to focus on his responsibilities as Director of Athletics and Student Engagement. 鈥淎s we become more competitive, the demands on the coaching staff increase. The coaches we have hired will play a big role in our continued development, and we are pleased to welcome them to Great Bay.鈥�
The roster of coaches includes Jeff Pluta, baseball and golf; Anthony Loving, women鈥檚 volleyball; Martin Campbell, women鈥檚 basketball; Dawson Dickson, men鈥檚 basketball.
A search continues for a track and field coach, Scott said.
Men鈥檚 basketball
For Dickson, becoming the head coach of the men鈥檚 basketball team means coming home. Most recently, he was head coach at Minnesota North College-Vermilion, a National Junior College Athletic Association program in Ely, Minn. He has also been an assistant coach at Southern New Hampshire University (2021-23), Keene State College (2019-2021), and New Hampshire Technical Institute (2018-19).
The men鈥檚 team is coming off its first conference championship under former Head Coach Alex Burt, who left Great Bay for a head coaching position at DIII Lesley University in Massachusetts.
鈥淚 want to continue the success this program has had under Coach Burt, compete for conference and national championships, and help mold boys into men with life skills that set them up for future success after college and basketball,鈥� Dickson said.
He pledged to support the student-athletes 鈥渢o finish their associate degrees and to send them to four-year programs to get their bachelor鈥檚 degrees and continue playing basketball at higher levels.鈥�
Dickson grew up in Manchester, and his parents live nearby in Wells, Maine.
鈥淕reat Bay is appealing to me to come back home and lead a men鈥檚 basketball program in my home state, work for a great athletic director in Brian Scott and be closer to friends and family,鈥� he said.
Women鈥檚 basketball
Campbell comes to the women鈥檚 basketball program with experience in the Yankee Small College Conference as a player. He was on the men鈥檚 basketball team at the University of Maine at Augusta in Maine.
鈥淕reat Bay entered the conference just as I graduated, so I never had the chance to play against them. But I am thrilled to be coaching there now,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 am very excited to be back in the conference. I have been coaching for a while and I have always said that one day I want to get back into the conference.鈥�
Campbell has previous women鈥檚 basketball coaching experience at Plymouth State University, Berwick Academy, and Nute High School in Milton. He also works at MapleStone School in Acton, Maine, as an educator.
Campbell鈥檚 goals are to build a winning program and culture while also instilling a sense of camaraderie among the student-athletes. He played on teams that won a conference championship and on teams that didn鈥檛 do nearly as well. He enjoyed both experiences, but his lasting memories came during the non-championship seasons.
鈥淚 want to win. I want to build a winning program, but my goal is to create the best possible experience for the athlete,鈥� said Campbell, who inherits a team that won one game last year. 鈥淭en years from now, I want them to be able to say that they had fun, they had a positive experience鈥攁nd that we were able to build a winning program.鈥�
Women鈥檚 volleyball
Loving has personal connections to Great Bay and the women鈥檚 volleyball program. His two older boys went to Great Bay and then onto the University of New Hampshire, and his daughter is currently enrolled at Great Bay鈥攁nd plays on the volleyball team.
He appreciates the opportunity to coach at Great Bay from the perspective of both a parent and a coach.
鈥淕reat Bay appeals to me because it is a great way to get college credits and partner with four-year colleges to make the most of your tuition money,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he appeal of coaching the volleyball team is being able to build up a program that last year didn’t win any games and played several girls who had never played volleyball before. My goal in the short term is to create a team that can compete in this conference. My mid- long-term goal is to recruit and create a team of 10 to 12 highly competitive players from local schools who can push each other for the starting positions.鈥�
Loving coached two years of middle school volleyball in Epping and was an assistant on the high school varsity team.聽He recently completed first season as head coach for a 16U regional girls club team at Granite State Volleyball Club.
鈥淭he opportunity gives me the chance to create a program that is successful enough to create a desire among student athletes to come to Great Bay and play on a winning team,鈥� he said.
Baseball and golf
Pluta joined Great Bay last fall and assembled a baseball team for an abbreviated schedule of games. He is recruiting players to fill out the roster to compete in a 35- to 40-game schedule.
Before joining Great Bay, he was the hitting coach at NCAA Division III Plattsburg State University in New York, head coach at Smith Academy in Hatfield, Mass., and he spent 10 years coaching at the high-school level in Massachusetts.
鈥淕reat Bay has been great,鈥� said Pluta, who has also taught at Dover High School. 鈥淭he support from Brian Scott and the school couldn鈥檛 be better, and we are looking to make a name for ourselves and take a big jump this year.鈥�
Pluta, who will also coach the golf team, said he was drawn to the opportunity to 鈥渂uild something from the ground up. I am entrepreneurial by nature having started and grown two businesses,聽so I like the idea of advancement through culture creation. My goal for the program during this past year was to have enough players to play a few games, develop good habits for the program, and recruit a team for the 2025-26 season.鈥�