Anyone who’s worked at or been involved with a boarding school knows that it’s a different beast — even a departure from its day-school private education brethren.
There are long breaks, single gender education and, in most cases, there’s a different culture specific to the school that’s been ingrained over decades of existence.
A familiarity with that environment appears to be what made Orlando Patterson the right for Blue Ridge, stepping in as the schools third coach in four years after Del Smith completed his three-year stint with the Barons.
“He’s got boarding school experience — he’s been a dorm parent and taught full-time,” said Blue Ridge basketball coach and assistant athletic director Bill Ramsey. “That was one of the key things — that he understands how boarding schools work.”
Patterson worked at Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton, Maine as an assistant coach. He’s just a couple of years removed from his playing career at Hobart, a Division III school that competes in the Liberty League and is loaded with top-flight academic, private, liberal arts schools like Vassar and St. Lawrence.
Bridgton runs a postgraduate football program where Patterson worked with running backs. A Boston native, Patterson played linebacker at Hobart after switching from cornerback. In prep school at Tabor Academy, he played running back and defensive back while also playing basketball and running track. Ramsey also indicated that Patterson planned to help with the Blue Ridge track program.
“I got to meet him and I feel like he’s a real good fit,” Ramsey said.
Patterson joins the school’s faculty in August.
