Paul Bubb, the University of Maine’s senior associate athletic director for advancement and finance, said you can expect the university to sponsor more promotions at their games next season and to aggressively seek revenue to compensate for budget cuts totaling $202,873 for next year.

He is against eliminating sports.

“I’m an eternal optimist. I’d like to create opportunities to raise revenues rather than looking at ways to save money,” said Bubb, who has been with the university for six months after spending previous tenures at the University of Cal State-Northridge, Southern Illinois, Drake University (Iowa) and Boise State.

“We want to have between 6,000-8,000 at our [home] football games on a regular basis and an average of 4,000 per game for our men’s and women’s basketball games,” said Bubb. “We need to sell more tickets. There isn’t a lot of growth opportunity for men’s hockey but if we could sell another 200 tickets, that would help.”

The football team averaged 5,000 per game at the 10,000-seat Morse Field; hockey attracted an average of 4,994 to Alfond Arena, which holds 5,641 for hockey; women’s basketball had 1,966 per game and men’s basketball drew 1,614 per contest.

The basketball teams also play at Alfond Arena.

“You’ll see more promotions so we can make the games more of an event,” said Bubb. “We’re going to aggressively seek to sell more season tickets. And we’d like to do more in the way of group sales. We’re going to ask our coaches to get more involved in selling season tickets and in group sales.”

Bubb said because of the cold winters, “you can’t depend on a walk-up crowd” so season ticket and group sales are even more important.

He also would like to sponsor more group functions, like tailgate parties and get-togethers.

“People are looking for things to do socially,” said Bubb.

Bubb indicated that another part of his job will be to educate the public on “how much it costs to run a competitive Division I program” and how important it is to seek and receive financial support at the grass roots level rather than just from the wealthy donors.

“If we can receive $100 to $250 per year from 2,500 to 3,000 people instead of just 1,300 [that can really help],” said Bubb.

He has been impressed by the people in the state and their support for the university’s athletic program.

“They are tremendously proud people and they feel like they have ownership in it. It’s is the state’s program and they are proud of it. They felt this past year’s [NCAA runner-up] hockey team was theirs and it was,” said Bubb. “We want that to continue and we want the people to know what’s going on and how they can become more involved.”

He has observed that the coaches and players “do a tremendous job” in the area of community service.

“One of our jobs is to be active in the local community,” said Bubb who added that the school has a “great group of corporate sponsors.”

The university is in the process of hiring two people who will help him in the areas of marketing and promotions and he hopes to have them on board by July.

Bubb said he is “optimistic” about the future at Maine and is looking forward to the continuing challenge.

“This is the type of program I want to be associated with. The people here are people I want to be around. It’s a very positive environment. When I came on board, I felt it was the right place to be. I’m looking forward to making a difference,” said the Ipava, Ill., native and 1979 graduate of Monmouth College (Ill.).

Heisten will captain 2002-2003 Bears

University of Maine junior left winger Chris Heisten will captain next year’s Black Bear hockey team with center Martin Kariya and Robert Liscak serving as assistant captains.

Kariya and Liscak are currently juniors, also.

“I was shocked,” said Heisten, who suffered through an injury-filled season that also saw him lose his stepfather (Bob Dearth). “I had a bigger role on last year’s team. I struggled with injuries, a family tragedy and the death of Coach [Shawn] Walsh.”

He was chosen in a vote among his teammates.

“It is definitely an honor. Personally, I consider it my greatest accomplishment to date,” added the Anchorage, Alaska, native who finished with three goals and five assists in 28 games.

As a captain, he said he intends to “just be myself.

“I’m not as vocal as Peter was,” said Heisten referring to this past season’s captain, senior defenseman Peter Metcalf. “I’ll try to lead by example. Since I’ve been here, we’ve had four great captains in Cory Larose, Brendan Walsh, A.J. Begg and Peter. I’ll try to take a little from everything they’ve done.”

He said Kariya and Liscak will be “two great captains and will definitely help with the load.”

NCAA tourney expansion approved

Quinnipiac University athletic director Jack McDonald, the chairman of the NCAA’s Ice Hockey Committee, said the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors has approved the expansion of the NCAA men’s hockey tournament from 12 to 16 teams for next season.

The men’s lacrosse tournament has also been expanded from 12 to 16 teams while the softball tourney will go from 48 to 64 teams next spring.