Demanche Takes Over Reins As First Football & Baseball Coach

Read Principal Keavy's blog concerning the hiring...

The recently opened Pope John Paul II High School in Hyannis wasted no time in building a strong foundation for its athletic program by announcing the hiring of Paul “Spanky” Demanche as its football head coach and baseball head coach. JPII Athletic Director Al Catelli stated that it was ‘first and goal’ for the new school’s athletic program. “This hiring is not just about Mr. Demanche becoming Pope John Paul II High School’s first football and baseball coach but also helps the school take a significant step towards the goal of establishing a first-class athletic program.”

“I’m excited to be asked to become a part of building a quality athletic program at Pope John Paul II and am eager to begin,” Mr. Demanche stated. “This is a terrific opportunity for student-athletes all across Cape Cod and it will take place in an outstanding environment. I believe that it’s a ‘can’t miss’ opportunity.”

In addition to Demanche’s outstanding coaching resume, JPII Principal Mr. Christopher Keavy is most impressed with his ability “to mold student-athletes into quality young adults. Coach Demanche teaches hard work, accountability, and organization and is committed to producing student-athletes of character, compassion, and conscience. He is a perfect fit for our school – on and off the playing fields.”

Mr. Catelli added that the public should look for “additional announcements concerning the hiring of other top-quality coaches and the expansion of our interscholastic athletic program in the coming weeks and months.”

Just last month, the school was part of a group that contributed to erecting lights at McKeon Park behind the school that will mean night baseball for the JPII Lions and for the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The school recently petitioned for membership into the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA). The request has been preliminarily accepted and membership will become official in March.

In addition to his coaching duties, Coach Demanche will run clinics and camps for both boys and girls. Mr. Catelli said that baseball, softball, and football are expected to be included.

Mr. Demanche is a 1981 graduate of the University of Connecticut and a member of Fairhaven High School’s Hall-of-Fame.

He began teaching and coaching at Bishop Stang High School (North Dartmouth, MA) in September 1981.  While there, he was head coach of the baseball team that reached the state finals and was an assistant coach with the football team.

Mr. Demanche moved on to Barnstable High School in September 1984. In 19 seasons as the head football coach he compiled a 115-83-2 record giving him more wins than any other football coach in the school’s history. Included in those wins were two Division I Super Bowl championships in 1995 and 1999. He was the Shriner’s Massachusetts All-Star Football Game head coach in 1994 and 2006 and the Boston Globe’s Division I football coach-of-the-year in 1995.

Additionally, he was assistant girls’ track coach for a squad that won the Division I state championship in 2002.  He was also head girls’ softball coach for three years.

Mr. Demanche will continue to teach at Barnstable High School while coaching at Pope John Paul II High School.

Mr. Demanche lives in Centerville with his wife Catherine, a teacher in the Dennis-Yarmouth School System, and their two children Riley, 7, and Haley, 3.  They are communicants of Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville where Mrs. Demanche is a teacher in the parish religious education program.

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