Sullivan to coach Maine softball School sought former player

Stacey Sullivan always felt privileged to be a student-athlete at the University of Maine. That feeling, she believes, will carry over as she takes over the softball team for which she once played.

And it was clear that the school feels the same about her.

The former Black Bear catcher-outfielder was named UMaine’s new head softball coach Wednesday, replacing her former Maine teammate Michelle Puls.

“It’s amazing,” Sullivan said from Honolulu, where she is coaching a team of 16-19 year-old girls in the Hawaii Friendship Tournament. “It’s something I never imagined I’d get to at this point in my career.”

Sullivan, a 27-year-old native of Stoneham, Mass., spent the 2005 season as the head coach at NCAA Div. II Merrimack College in Andover, Mass.

Sullivan was asked to apply for the job after Puls withdrew her application in July. Puls was the interim head coach in 2005 but decided to take a position as an assistant coach at Indiana University.

“We had identified Stacey as a potential candidate,” Maine interim athletic director Blake James said. “After Michelle withdrew her application we still had a few candidates but we wanted to cover all our bases.”

James declined to say how many finalists there were for the softball vacancy.

“She was the one,” said James, who headed up the search committee. “We looked at a number of people but she was the one that really stood out.”

Sullivan coached Merrimack to a 20-22 overall record and a 16-12 mark in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Warriors also hit 19 home runs, 10 more than Maine’s nine homers, which was the fewest in America East.

“My main philosophy is to have well-rounded teams,” she said. “But we also want to play an offensive game and be aggressive. These girls are gonna work.”

Sullivan also spent two seasons as the head coach at Simmons College in Boston. In 2004 she coached the Sharks to a school-record 20 wins as the team set marks for runs scored (226) and team batting average (.303).

Sullivan was the starting rightfielder for the Black Bears as a junior and senior, helping UMaine to America East playoff appearances all four seasons she played. Her career numbers include 22 runs on 44 hits with 22 RBIs, including 14 RBIs as a junior. She was named a captain in 1999, the year after Puls graduated.

Sullivan said she’s kept in touch with Puls over the years and the two saw each other at the Rebel Games in Florida last spring. Longtime Black Bears coach Janet Anderson, went down to watch the two coaches who played for her.

“Coach Anderson really showed us what it meant to be a student-athlete at Maine,” Sullivan said. “Mostly it was how to carry ourselves off the field and represent the university, and I think I’ve carried that with me to the other schools I’ve been to.”

Sullivan will sign a one-year, $38,000 contract that starts Aug. 29.

Sullivan is the second Merrimack coach that UMaine has hired this year. New head women’s basketball coach Ann McInerney coached the Warriors for six seasons before accepting the Maine job.

Sullivan is also the third former Black Bear player in a row to coach the team. Puls replaced Deb Smith, a 1994 graduate and standout pitcher.