Francis Phillips is excited to get going with the Mahar girls basketball team. 

Phillips has served as Mahar’s Dean of Students since 2024, but had also been the Gardner High School girls basketball coach since 2022 and had considerable success rebuilding the Wildcat program. Just this past winter, Phillips led Gardner to a 22-2 record and the Wildcats made it all the way to the MIAA Division 4 Elite Eight. 

Now, Phillips is switching over to the school he works at full time as he will take over as the Mahar girls basketball coach this upcoming winter. 

“I’m excited,” Phillips said. “It’s always nice to work in the same building you coach. It helps build those relationships and get to know the community.”

Phillips managed to build the Gardner program up during his three years there. He took over a team that did not have a senior or junior on the roster, which forced him to play younger players and really prepare for the future. 

That work paid off. After not making the state tournament in his first year running the team, the Wildcats went 17-5 and won a state tournament game in 2024. The success continued this winter, as Gardner won its first league title in 20 years while reaching the state quarterfinals as a No. 10 seed. 

“We had a great season this past year,” Phillips said. “It was an awesome ride. We had a pretty good senior crew who I had been coaching since they were sophomores. We went through all the lumps together but last season made it super rewarding. To see the girls buy into the big picture early on was huge.” 

Phillips is looking to do the same at Mahar, a team that went 9-13 a year ago and reached the Div. 5 Round of 32. Just two years ago, the Sens reached the Round of 16, and Phillips said he is looking forward to working with the group to take a leap forward. 

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” Phillips said. “They’re playing [in the Franklin Tech Girls Summer Basketball League] right now and it’s nice to see them playing together during the summer. We have a good balance of some seniors, some with varsity experience and some seventh and eighth graders as well. It’s cool to see them all work together and I’m excited to see how they continue to grow.”

Along with working in the school, Phillips has a good idea of what he’s inheriting on this Senator squad based on seeing them in person last year. Mahar and Gardner scrimmaged in the preseason last winter, and before the state tournament they did a modified scrimmage to keep both teams sharp going into the playoffs. 

“Scrimmaging Mahar twice, I have a good idea of what we have,” Phillips said. “Being the Dean of Students, it’s a different role where it can help make connections around the school. Being in the building every day and then coaching them will go a long way. They had some really good players last year and I respected how they played us hard. I’m excited to work with them and put my own twist on it.” 

Phillips — who grew up in Pepperell and attending North Middlesex High School — said he is hoping to build up the interest from the youth level early on at Mahar, understanding that a strong youth program is a necessity to having success at the varsity level. 

It was something he did during his time at Gardner, finding different ways to build excitement around the team and boost numbers, and something he’ll continue to do with the Sens. 

“The biggest thing was getting numbers up and building excitement for our girls basketball players in the school and in the community,” Phillips said. “I want to get the youth kids to our games, have them come play a little game at halftime and show them what we hope they can become down the road. I want to be present in the community. At Gardner we’d go to the elementary school to read and build up excitement. At the end of the day, we want to create a fun environment. Winning is nice obviously but you have to make it fun and make it rewarding. Not everyone is going to go on and play college basketball so you have to make it a fun environment to come work in every day.” 

In order to keep the Senator program going in the right direction, Phillips will be expecting a team that puts in an effort every day in the gym. 

“Hard work was the biggest key,” Phillips said. “It’s cliche but getting them to buy into what you’re selling can help you accomplish a lot if they take it serious and show up ready to work every day. The biggest thing for us was teamwork. You need the seniors to help out the sophomores and freshmen to build up the excitement in the program. I don’t think age matters to be a good or bad team. You can be young and win as long as you have a group that works together and buys into their roles. If you do that, you can accomplish some special things.” 

While he wasn’t able to attend as many games last year while coaching at Gardner, Phillips was able to catch some Mahar games and got to experience one of the loudest gyms in Western Mass. 

He’s hoping to build a team that can bring the community out and create a great environment to play in. 

“There’s no reason why we can’t be a team that can get similar or better turnout to the boys,” Phillips said. “You have to put the time in and give the community a reason to come out and watch you. That’s something I hope we accomplish. It’s exciting times coming for this team.”