How much should Paul Bubb’s past weigh on his future at the University of Maine? Bubb, who will become the interim athletic director at Maine on June 30, resigned under fire as the AD at Cal State Northridge for failing to inform President Blenda Wilson of allegations that the women’s basketball coach was using and distributing drugs.

Bubb maintains that he told his immediate boss, vice president of student affairs Ron Kopita, and figured the information would travel up the chain of command to Wilson.

It didn’t.

Bubb had conducted his own investigation into the allegations made by two students about the coach (Michael Abraham). Bubb contacted players, administrators, and former employers of Abraham and even confronted him with the allegations.

Abraham denied them.

Abraham was eventually arrested and served jail time for distributing crack.

The bottom line here is that Bubb, when he applied for his current position of senior associate athletic director at Maine, came forward with the information about the Cal State Northridge situation.

He didn’t try to cover it up or gloss it over. He answered every question the search committee had. And they thought enough of him to hire him.

Bubb has announced that he would love to become the full-time AD at Maine and the Cal State Northridge situation shouldn’t impact his chances.

Bubb should be judged on the job he does as the senior associate AD and interim AD at Maine. Not on his past.

If he turns out to be the best applicant for the full-time AD job, he should be hired for it.

Celtics have finally returned

The Boston Celtics are back.

Finally.

Sure, there is disappointment that they aren’t preparing to take on the Lakers in the NBA championship series.

But the bottom line is the New Jersey Nets were the better team and deserved to win.

The Celtics had no answer for Jason Kidd and, to my surprise, they didn’t make him pay a price for his forays into the lane that resulted in either a short jumper for him or a dish-off to a teammate for an easy hoop.

Call it a hockey mentality but you need to punish the opposing team’s star to try to throw him off his game.

I don’t mean intentionally try to injure him. But he should require a long soak in a hot tub after the game to soothe the bruises.

He needs to know if he drives the lane, there is a legitimate chance he is going to wind up on his rear end.

The Nets punished Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker and were more aggressive in the paint, period.

There were times in the latter stages of the series that the Nets were generating all kinds of second and third shots with their offensive rebounding while holding the Celtics to one shot.

The Celtics had to shoot well from the outside to win and wound up missing their last 11 3-pointers in the decisive Game 6 to seal their fate.

But, let’s face it, they went much farther than anyone anticipated and have a bright future behind the 25-year-old Walker and 24-year-old Pierce.

They will address their needs in the offseason [i.e., center] and should be in the running for a championship in the years to come.

They have a coach they like and respect in Jim O’Brien and have brought the fans back to the FleetCenter.

It was long overdue.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 1-800-310-8600, 990-8231 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.