Spruce Mountain High School is on the hunt for its next director of athletics.

Lee Hixon, who has held the Assistant Principal/Athletic Director’s job since 2013, is stepping down when his contract expires in June after two years at the RSU 73 high school.

“We started the whole process back in November,” Hixon said Thursday. “The school board took action earlier this month. “

Change has swept through the athletic program at Spruce Mountain during Hixon’s tenure, not the least of which was the school’s shift from the Mountain Valley Conference to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. Most of the schools in the MVC are Class C schools, while the KVAC offers more Class B competition. The Phoenix teams are Class B teams.

“Some teams may have to sacrifice the first year,” Hixon told the Sun Journal in December 2013, referring to the chance that the teams may not do as well as they have been in the MVC during the first year or so.

“We will show what we have to offer and what KVAC would gain with SMHS,” Hixon said.

The change has proven at least a viable sidestep if not a full step up for most of the school’s athletic teams. Highlighting the successes is the school’s girls’ basketball team, which left the MVC on a 45-game conference win streak. So far in KVAC competition, the Phoenix have still yet to lose, posting a 13-0 record to date.

Change also occurred in the coaching ranks, where no fewer than 10 coaches have been hired since Hixon’s hiring in 2013.

“Lee has been an extremely good addition to our school for the two years he’s been here,” Spruce Mountain principal Thomas Plourde said. “He’s done an exceptional job in maintaining fairness and improving sports and co-curricular activities at Spruce Mountain. We’re going to miss him.”

After 30 years in education, Hixon said Spruce Mountain was his last stop.

“I’m all done with school,” he said. “I’m leaving to be a music director at a church in Florida. They’ve been generous with their offer and, after all these years in the cold winters, my family and I decided it was time to move on.”

Prior to becoming an administrator at Spruce Mountain, Hixon was a teacher, coach, dean of students and eventually AD at St. Dominic Academy in Auburn. He won a state title with the Saints’ boys’ soccer team in 2001 as the head coach.

Before that, he worked at Auburn Middle School for 13 years.

“My last day with Sprucve Mountain will be June 12,” Hixon said, “After that, we’re headed south.”

Much planning has gone into Hixon’s departure, though he will remain on the sidelines while administrators decide on his replacement.

“My agreement with (Plourde) is that I will stay out of the way completely and won’t even talk about (the position),” Hixon said.

“If they hire someone before I am done, I will help whoever it is get settled and show them around if they need it, though,” he added. “I’m going to bust my butt to the last whistle of the season.”

The job opening has already been posted to the school department’s website, and the search for Hixon’s replacement is active.

“We have a process set up,” Plourde said. “The person hired will start on July 1.”

Hixon said he’ll miss the job and many of the people he’s met along the way. But certainly not the weather.

“The other morning I was on my way in and it was negative-16 degrees,” Hixon said. “I called my brother in Florida and it was 71, an 87-degree difference. That sounded much better to me.”