Scott Thayer is going out on top.
Thayer, who has been the Pioneer Valley Regional School boys basketball coach since 2016, led the Panthers to an unbeaten season last winter, winning the Western Mass. Class D and MIAA Division 5 state titles along the way.
Earlier this week, Thayer informed Pioneer that he would be stepping down as Panthers’ coach, closing out his coaching career in a way most dream of but few are able to do.
“It was a hard decision,” said Thayer, a lifelong Northfield resident who attended Pioneer before graduating from Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1985. “My grandfather was a founding father at this school so there’s a little bit of personal, emotional elements to it.”
Though most coaches dream of going out after winning a state title, Thayer said it wasn’t the main reason for his resignation.
“In my opinion, our administration puts such an emphasis on policies and procedures that it has paralyzed our environment and inhibited our student retention,” Thayer said. “We’ve been dropping kids but we’re winning in sports so it can’t be that. It can’t be the community because they’re always out there supporting us. That’s basically what it came down to with my decision. I still have tons of juice in the tank.”
Thayer closes out his tenure with Pioneer with a 142-50 overall record. He won three Western Mass. championships with the Panthers to go along with the state title this past year.
Pioneer head coach Scott Thayer gives instruction from the sideline during his Panthers’ WMass Division IV boys’ basketball semifinal win over Drury in 2018 at the Curry Hicks Cage at UMass. Credit: Recorder Staff/Dan Little
Thayer got his head coaching started at Greenfield High School in 1998, where he led the Green Wave to 192 wins over an 18-year span. With 334 wins between his time at Greenfield and Pioneer, he trails only Marty Sanderson (353) and Gary Mullins (345) for most boys basketball wins in Franklin County history.
“I’m so blessed to have gone on this basketball odyssey and all of it along the way,” Thayer said. “Winning and losing aside, it’s the memories, the experiences and the relationships I’ve built over the years that will last a lifetime and it all came through basketball. I’m still connected to those people in a positive way and now has been a good time to reflect on all of it. It’s crazy and makes me speechless it all happened.”
Not only did Thayer get to go out with a state championship, he got to win it alongside his son, Brayden, and his classmates who Thayer coached from the time they were in recreational basketball.
Thayer, who was an assistant coach for Perry Messer during the undefeated state champion Pioneer teams in the ’90s, got to do the same thing himself this winter.
“It’s the build up and the journey that matters,” Thayer said. “The adversity, sacrifices and joys all go into it. It’s crazy thinking about all of it. Going to Greenfield, I had a great time there. Then I had the opportunity to come back and do it the same way we did it before here at Pioneer and not only win a state title but do it in the same fashion by going undefeated. To do that with my son and the kids he grew up with and the kids I saw grow up here at the house, it really is a fairy tale.”
Pioneer players celebrate with fans after their 49-28 win over Hopedale for the MIAA Div. 5 state championship in March at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Credit: PHOTO BY DAN LITTLE
Thayer thanked the fans and community for always having the team’s back, and coming out to support them home and away.
“The kids on the team last year heard all my stories about how the community was when we first went undefeated at Pioneer,” Thayer said. “They got to see that this year. The gym was filled up and sometimes we had more fans on the road than the home team. That got the guys pumped up to come out and play. It made them focused. The kids put in the work to achieve that.”
Pioneer head coach Scott Thayer celebrates with fans after their 49-28 win over Hopedale for the MIAA Div. 5 state championship in March at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Credit: PHOTO BY DAN LITTLE
With his daughter Riley now playing field hockey at Lasell University in Newton and Brayden playing at Northfield Mount Hermon for a postgraduate year in the winter, Thayer said he’s looking forward to being able to be a fan at their games this school year.
“It’s a hard decision to make but once I made it I felt like I could focus on the things I have to without having basketball constantly in the back of my mind,” Thayer said.
And if you think Thayer will be far away from the Franklin County basketball scene, think again.
“I’ll be watching,” Thayer said. “I’m interested to see how the new league plays out. I’m going to miss it for sure. We always tried to coach the best we could.”
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