LYNNFIELD — With longtime Lynnfield boys basketball coach Scott Mackenzie stepping down after 15 years prior to the start of the season, the Pioneers are set to begin a new era with a new coach. Late Monday night, it was announced that John Bakopolus, who has been a varsity assistant for the past two seasons, has been hired as the team’s new head coach.
“I’m super excited to become the head coach at Lynnfield,” said Bakopolus, a Saugus native. “Lynnfield is a great community, I’ve been here for about five years now and I couldn’t be happier to remain here and expand my role with the team.”
Having been a Lynnfield varsity assistant coach for the past two years and the Pioneers’ junior varsity coach for two years before that, Bakopolus has a lot of familiarity with the program and the players within it.
“I think I have a really good feel for the program and all the people in it,” said Bakopolus, who was an all-league player at St. Mary’s before moving on to play at Nichols College. “I know every kid and I have a lot of good relationships already established, so it’ll be nice to be able to hopefully hit the ground running.”
As far as his basketball philosophy, Bakopolus says he won’t be straying too far from the successful practices that Mackenzie implemented during his 15-year stint at the helm.
“I learned a lot from Scott over the years and he was very successful with what he did,” said Bakopolus. “There will definitely be some carryover there, but what he did worked so there’s no need to change too much.”
One thing that Bakopolus will have to deal with is taking over a program in a year where everything has been flipped on its head due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the Cape Ann League planning for a 10-game regular season and hopefully a conference tournament at the end of the year, Bakopolus’ first task will be to remain flexible.
“I think the key thing is to just find a way to make this season fun for all the guys,” said Bakopolus. “I think that process definitely would be a lot tougher if I didn’t know any of the guys, so we have a little bit of a head start there. We’re going to have to adjust on the fly all year and make the best of whatever we’re given.”
This year’s Lynnfield team is an experienced bunch with eight seniors returning, led by stars Jack Ford and Blake Peters. With other strong contributors like Luke Martinho, John Astrofsky and Bakari Mitchell in the mix, the Pioneers could be set up for a solid season.
“With eight seniors and hopefully a couple of sophomores in the rotation, I think we’ll have a solid team to start the year,” said Bakopolus. “On day one we’ll get in the gym, set the tone and try to be the best we can be this year.”