ORONO — Football practice at the University of Maine on Tuesday morning was over for everyone but running backs and quarterbacks, who had one more drill to complete. Each took turns running through the blaster, a gauntlet of plastic arms built with the sole goal of knocking the football from a ball carrier’s clutches.
Sean Green, Maine’s offensive coordinator for all of two weeks, oversaw the drill.
“A little ball security for the boys after practice,” Green said.
After the Black Bears fumbled four times and lost three of them in 17-14 loss to Bryant on Saturday, working on ball security is the big thing on Green’s to-do list this week. If Maine’s offense is going to improve over the final four games of the season, scoring opportunities need to finish in the end zone, not in the hands of the defense.
Green was promoted to interim offensive coordinator two weeks ago, when head coach Jordan Stevens fired Mikahael Waters, who held the job since 2024. Green, who joined Stevens’ staff this season as running backs coach, was thrust into a position he’s strived for.
Green left high school coaching for this kind of opportunity, and opportunity works on its own time table.
It was just two seasons ago Green was leading the Portland football team to the Class A state title. It was only five years ago his Cape Elizabeth team raised the Class C Gold Ball on a chilly Saturday night at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Last season, Green coached quarterbacks at the University of New England.
There were no nerves when he called his first play Saturday, Green said. It was a handoff to Rashawn Marshall out of a shotgun formation and went for 3 yards. The Black Bears kicked a field goal on that drive, run entirely as a no-huddle operation.
Green didn’t throw out the playbook. At this point in the season you can’t. You make tweaks. You try to find the concepts that can lead to successful drives.
“The biggest thing is trying to figure out what our players do well. It’s players, not plays. It’s putting our players in the best position to succeed, and that’s not just skill positions. That’s with the offensive line as well,” Green said. “You can’t rebuild this thing.”
In that regard, Maine’s first game with Green running the offense was a moderate success. The Black Bears gained a season-high 352 yards, including a season-best 234 through the air. Junior Caden Drezek started at quarterback and played the entire game after sophomore Eddie Buehler started the first six games, and the pair split time in the Oct. 3 loss to Sacred Heart, Waters’ final game as offensive coordinator.
Those turnovers, though, are a scar on the box score. They’re what kept the Black Bears from turning yards into points. Maine has scored more than 16 points just once this season, in the season-opening 21-18 win at Towson. All 21 of those points came in a white-hot eight and a half minute flourish in the second quarter.
Tuesday, Green was noncommittal when asked if Drezek was his starter. Both he and Buehler would continue to get looks in practice, along with freshman Michael McMaugh. The starter will be determined by whatever is best for the team, Green said.
“We can’t beat ourselves. We had a number of drops, a number of fumbles, and some penalties in some untimely places that eventually led to our demise,” Green said. “We moved the ball well at times. We just need to sustain drives.”
“Just” is the load-bearing word there. It won’t matter who the starting quarterback is if the Black Bears continue to fumble. Moving the ball is one thing. Finishing drives is another. Fumbles are the loose brick that make this entire Jenga tower tumble.
Coaching college football has been a goal of Green’s for a long time. He could have stayed at Cape Elizabeth or Portland and enjoyed success for years. This challenge is what called to him. Now he has it. Does Green see this opportunity as a tryout to have the interim label removed from his job title?
If he does, he’s not saying.
“I’m just concerned about today,” he said.
Over Green’s shoulder, the Black Bears completed their blaster drill. When your team is 1-6, the focus is on fundamentals. Ball security is the path to job security.