'He spread football all around Cape Cod': Spanky Demanche gets another hall call
Paul “Spanky” Demanche, athletic director and head coach for Harwich High School’s newly formed football team, the Roughriders, explains the next day to his team during practice in August 2010. Rachael S. O’Hara/Cape Cod Times.
Former Barnstable High football head coach Paul 'Spanky' Demanche made history during his 19 years with the program.
He led Barnstable to its first MIAA Super Bowl in 1995, and then did it again four years later. No coach has brought the Red Hawks back to that stage since Demanche left the program after the 2007 season.
These two historic wins have now helped Demanche earn a place in the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He'll be inducted on April 30.
“It's a tremendous honor and it's certainly not something that I did alone. There's a lot of people involved, which is first and foremost the kids. We had an opportunity to coach some great kids through the years at Barnstable,” Demanche said. “I was inducted into the Fairhaven High School Hall of Fame as a player, and the Barnstable High School Hall of Fame as a coach, and now to get the recognition at the state level, that’s really the icing on the cake.”
In 1995, Demanche achieved something coaches dream of ― a perfect season. Barnstable went unbeaten and and shut out New Bedford, 11-0, in the Super Bowl for the first championship in school history.
“We knew we had a pretty good club in that first group,” Demanche said. “We were in the Old Colony League at the time, and every week you were in for a battle. So we were pretty battle tested, and we felt good about that. Towards the end of the year, we got it rolling pretty good. We had talent and depth. Some of our practices were as good as our games. It was an exciting time and the community rallied around it.”
Gilbert "Gibby Guimond," who is currently still an assistant coach at Barnstable, was on the sidelines with Demanche as an assistant coach for that first championship.
“It certainly started with the players we had and the love of football they had, but Spanky led the charge,” Guimond said. “In addition to being prepared himself, he always had, in a positive way, high expectations of his players. He held them to a high standard at practice, where he was trying to put his team in a position to win a championship at every practice.”
That first championship only raised the bar for the football program. The following season, Demanche loaded up Barnstable's schedule.
“Cape football wasn’t really thought of back then. At the time, nobody on the Cape was crossing the bridge to play. If you're a competitor, you want to play the best. We sold that to the kids that the only way you're going to get better is to play better (competition),” Demanche said.
New schedule, no problem.
In 1999, Barnstable found itself back in the Super Bowl. Trailing 7-6 with less than three minutes remaining against a loaded BC High team, Barnstable took the lead on a Tom Street to Stefan Gomes TD pass and sealed the 20-7 win with a Joe Young pick-six.
“It was a fun experience winning the first one, and then to go back and do it again years later with a completely different group of kids, we were able to ride that wave. We had some great kids,” Demanche said.
Howard Heleen was Barnstable's offensive line coach and defensive coordinator from 1997-2002.
“We had some good teams and had a lot of fun. He was a great man to work for,” Heleen said. “He got the most out of kids. He was very demanding, very thorough, but the kids realized that when he got on them a little bit, it was for the good of the team. They accepted it and worked hard for him. They respected him and it showed. He did a great job."
Where Spanky Demanche's football career started
Being a coach was not always Demanche's plans.
During his time at the University of Connecticut, Demanche started in the field of engineering. He quickly realized that wasn’t the direction he wanted to go, and he wanted to work with kids.
He switched his major to physical education and health and took coaching courses at UConn. His senior year, he got the chance in the spring to coach wide receivers at UConn, and was offered a job to stay on as a grad assistant.
But a different opportunity came Demanche's way.
Jim Lanigan, the head football coach at Fairhaven High where Demanche once played, was taking over at Bishop Stang. He invited Demanche to join him on the staff.
Demanche accepted the offer from Lanigan as an assistant coach, and that was the start to his high school coaching career.
Guimond, not only coached alongside Demanche, but also played for him at Bishop Stang from 1984-1985.
“He had amazing energy and he loves the game as much as anybody I know. His love for the student athlete and his love of the game for football is what led him. It was a joy to learn from him and to work for him,” Guimond said.
After four years at Bishop Stang, Demanche went to a coaching clinic in Providence and met Mark Titus, who at the time was the head coach of Barnstable High football. Titus had a coaching position available, which Demanche filled, also coming to the school as a health teacher.
After spending four years as an assistant at Barnstable, Demanche was offered Greater New Bedford Voke's head-coaching gig.
“Titus pulled me aside and said he was only going to coach one more year and he thought if I stayed, I could become the head coach at Barnstable. So, I took a chance and turned down the job offer at New Bedford,” Demanche said.
That gamble paid off as Demanche served as Barnstable's head coach for the next 19 seasons.
“I loved it. I had a great opportunity, and then eventually I reached a point where we were struggling for success and the AD at the time thought it would be better to switch coaches and I was let go," Demanche said.
After becoming the winningest coach at Barnstable (110 career wins), he started the athletic program at Pope John Paul (now known as St. John Paul II). He spent four years there.
He then went to Harwich, now known as Monomoy, to become the school's athletic director, football coach and teacher. He finished his career as an athletic director at Plymouth North for three years.
"He spread football all around Cape Cod," Guimond said.
Introducing Spanky
So when did Paul become Spanky?
He earned the moniker when he was a freshman trying out for the Fairhaven football team.
“One of the kids on the team said (to everybody else), ‘Hey, me and my old man were watching TV last night, and doesn’t that kid look like Spanky (from the TV show 'Our Gang'). That was 50 years ago and the name kind of latched on. I would have the teachers call me up to the desk to ask me which (assignment) was mine because they knew me by Spanky.”
Demanche has been happily retired for just over two years.
“I keep my hands busy with a couple of different things. My son is a graduate now working, and my daughter just finished her senior year of cheering at Barnstable High School, so I have been watching her the last three years do her thing.”
Although he has hung it up, Demanche does like to reflect on his coaching journey.
“We graduated some really great kids, and they became people of the community that are looked upon. My first ever football captain was Chris Joyce of Joyce Landscaping. He’s got a million dollar business going on right now, and the type of person he became, I like to think football had a part in that.”
Demanche coached Joyce at Barnstable for four years (three as an assistant and one as head coach).
“It was challenging. He was a good coach and he asked a lot of you,” Joyce said. “He pushed you very hard, but always with the idea of winning as a team. He always pressed that we are playing the game of football, but we’re playing together. We have to take care of each other. There was a big emphasis on being a team and making sure that we were working, improving and helping each other.”
Joyce and Demanche have remained friends for over 30 years now.
“We have been friends since I graduated from Barnstable,” Joyce said. “After I left high school, he always checked in and wanted to know how I was doing. He stayed in touch and was very interested in how things were going for me. We always talk from time to time."
Demanche, not only made a impact in people's lives on the field, but off the field as well.
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'He spread football all around Cape Cod': Spanky Demanche gets another hall call
Cape Cod Times
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Former Barnstable High football head coach Paul 'Spanky' Demanche made history during his 19 years with the program.
He led Barnstable to its first MIAA Super Bowl in 1995, and then did it again four years later. No coach has brought the Red Hawks back to that stage since Demanche left the program after the 2007 season.
These two historic wins have now helped Demanche earn a place in the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He'll be inducted on April 30.
“It's a tremendous honor and it's certainly not something that I did alone. There's a lot of people involved, which is first and foremost the kids. We had an opportunity to coach some great kids through the years at Barnstable,” Demanche said. “I was inducted into the Fairhaven High School Hall of Fame as a player, and the Barnstable High School Hall of Fame as a coach, and now to get the recognition at the state level, that’s really the icing on the cake.”
Best of the best:Cape Cod Times high school football all-scholastic teams
In 1995, Demanche achieved something coaches dream of ― a perfect season. Barnstable went unbeaten and and shut out New Bedford, 11-0, in the Super Bowl for the first championship in school history.
“We knew we had a pretty good club in that first group,” Demanche said. “We were in the Old Colony League at the time, and every week you were in for a battle. So we were pretty battle tested, and we felt good about that. Towards the end of the year, we got it rolling pretty good. We had talent and depth. Some of our practices were as good as our games. It was an exciting time and the community rallied around it.”
Gilbert "Gibby Guimond," who is currently still an assistant coach at Barnstable, was on the sidelines with Demanche as an assistant coach for that first championship.
“It certainly started with the players we had and the love of football they had, but Spanky led the charge,” Guimond said. “In addition to being prepared himself, he always had, in a positive way, high expectations of his players. He held them to a high standard at practice, where he was trying to put his team in a position to win a championship at every practice.”
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That first championship only raised the bar for the football program. The following season, Demanche loaded up Barnstable's schedule.
“Cape football wasn’t really thought of back then. At the time, nobody on the Cape was crossing the bridge to play. If you're a competitor, you want to play the best. We sold that to the kids that the only way you're going to get better is to play better (competition),” Demanche said.
New schedule, no problem.
In 1999, Barnstable found itself back in the Super Bowl. Trailing 7-6 with less than three minutes remaining against a loaded BC High team, Barnstable took the lead on a Tom Street to Stefan Gomes TD pass and sealed the 20-7 win with a Joe Young pick-six.
PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999:Barnstable defeats BC High in 1999 Super Bowl
“It was a fun experience winning the first one, and then to go back and do it again years later with a completely different group of kids, we were able to ride that wave. We had some great kids,” Demanche said.
Howard Heleen was Barnstable's offensive line coach and defensive coordinator from 1997-2002.
“We had some good teams and had a lot of fun. He was a great man to work for,” Heleen said. “He got the most out of kids. He was very demanding, very thorough, but the kids realized that when he got on them a little bit, it was for the good of the team. They accepted it and worked hard for him. They respected him and it showed. He did a great job."
Where Spanky Demanche's football career started
Being a coach was not always Demanche's plans.
During his time at the University of Connecticut, Demanche started in the field of engineering. He quickly realized that wasn’t the direction he wanted to go, and he wanted to work with kids.
He switched his major to physical education and health and took coaching courses at UConn. His senior year, he got the chance in the spring to coach wide receivers at UConn, and was offered a job to stay on as a grad assistant.
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But a different opportunity came Demanche's way.
Jim Lanigan, the head football coach at Fairhaven High where Demanche once played, was taking over at Bishop Stang. He invited Demanche to join him on the staff.
Demanche accepted the offer from Lanigan as an assistant coach, and that was the start to his high school coaching career.
Guimond, not only coached alongside Demanche, but also played for him at Bishop Stang from 1984-1985.
“He had amazing energy and he loves the game as much as anybody I know. His love for the student athlete and his love of the game for football is what led him. It was a joy to learn from him and to work for him,” Guimond said.
After four years at Bishop Stang, Demanche went to a coaching clinic in Providence and met Mark Titus, who at the time was the head coach of Barnstable High football. Titus had a coaching position available, which Demanche filled, also coming to the school as a health teacher.
After spending four years as an assistant at Barnstable, Demanche was offered Greater New Bedford Voke's head-coaching gig.
It's crowded at the top:Cape Cod high school girls hockey rankings
“Titus pulled me aside and said he was only going to coach one more year and he thought if I stayed, I could become the head coach at Barnstable. So, I took a chance and turned down the job offer at New Bedford,” Demanche said.
That gamble paid off as Demanche served as Barnstable's head coach for the next 19 seasons.
“I loved it. I had a great opportunity, and then eventually I reached a point where we were struggling for success and the AD at the time thought it would be better to switch coaches and I was let go," Demanche said.
After becoming the winningest coach at Barnstable (110 career wins), he started the athletic program at Pope John Paul (now known as St. John Paul II). He spent four years there.
He then went to Harwich, now known as Monomoy, to become the school's athletic director, football coach and teacher. He finished his career as an athletic director at Plymouth North for three years.
"He spread football all around Cape Cod," Guimond said.
Introducing Spanky
So when did Paul become Spanky?
He earned the moniker when he was a freshman trying out for the Fairhaven football team.
“One of the kids on the team said (to everybody else), ‘Hey, me and my old man were watching TV last night, and doesn’t that kid look like Spanky (from the TV show 'Our Gang'). That was 50 years ago and the name kind of latched on. I would have the teachers call me up to the desk to ask me which (assignment) was mine because they knew me by Spanky.”
Demanche has been happily retired for just over two years.
“I keep my hands busy with a couple of different things. My son is a graduate now working, and my daughter just finished her senior year of cheering at Barnstable High School, so I have been watching her the last three years do her thing.”
Although he has hung it up, Demanche does like to reflect on his coaching journey.
“We graduated some really great kids, and they became people of the community that are looked upon. My first ever football captain was Chris Joyce of Joyce Landscaping. He’s got a million dollar business going on right now, and the type of person he became, I like to think football had a part in that.”
Demanche coached Joyce at Barnstable for four years (three as an assistant and one as head coach).
“It was challenging. He was a good coach and he asked a lot of you,” Joyce said. “He pushed you very hard, but always with the idea of winning as a team. He always pressed that we are playing the game of football, but we’re playing together. We have to take care of each other. There was a big emphasis on being a team and making sure that we were working, improving and helping each other.”
Joyce and Demanche have remained friends for over 30 years now.
“We have been friends since I graduated from Barnstable,” Joyce said. “After I left high school, he always checked in and wanted to know how I was doing. He stayed in touch and was very interested in how things were going for me. We always talk from time to time."
Demanche, not only made a impact in people's lives on the field, but off the field as well.
"Any positive thing I can say about Spanky on the field, that carries into his personal life. He is someone to look up to in our community. He’s a great family guy, and as a person, he has helped me a lot in life.," Guimond said.
