UM’s names Babineau to coach field hockey School passes over interim coach Thebarge

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Skowhegan native Andrea Thebarge led the University of Maine’s field hockey team to a berth in the America East championship game for the fourth time in five years this past fall while serving as the interim head coach.

She had been an assistant under Terry Kix the four previous years.

But a search committee and athletic director Blake James went in a different direction for their new head coach by naming Cornell University assistant Josette Babineau to the position Thursday.

“Andrea did a great job for us filling in as the interim head coach,” said James. “But we looked at the whole picture and felt Josette was the best one for the job. She’s a tremendous fit for our program.”

James said Babineau was one of two finalists submitted to him by the search committee. He wouldn’t release the name of the other finalist, but indicated that it wasn’t Thebarge.

He said there was an impressive pool of “20-something” candidates for the position.

“Josette’s experience, her passion for the game and her understanding of the game are a full package for a head coach. I think she’ll do a great job continuing to move our program forward,” said James.

Thebarge said she was “very disappointed.

“It’s very hard to understand. We had a great season. We went as far as any Maine team ever had. I’ve been loyal. I haven’t been in any trouble. I haven’t had any problems with anybody,” said Thebarge. “I met with [James] on Tuesday and asked him, point-blank, what I did that cost me the job. He said I didn’t do anything wrong. He put most of the responsibility on the committee.

“Then I found out they had offered it to someone else [besides Babineau] and [that finalist] turned it down,” said Thebarge.

She added that when she accepted the interim coaching job, it was decided that it would be for a year instead of half a year so that “I could get a full year of head coaching experience at the Division I level. The two finalists didn’t have any head coaching experience [in Division I].”

Maine has never won an America East championship and the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament that goes with it. The Black Bear field hockey program has the full allotment of scholarships (12) that are permitted under NCAA guidelines.

The Bears overcame injuries and a season-ending illness to a star recruit to earn the third seed in the America East Tournament this past fall and then upset second seed Albany 1-0 in overtime in the semifinals.

They lost to top seed Boston University 4-1 in the final.

Maine finished with an 8-11 record that snapped a string of five consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins. Maine went a combined 64-31 in that span.

Babineau is a native of Moncton, New Brunswick, who spent the last three seasons at Cornell. The Big Red had back-to-back winning records in Ivy League play for the first time in school history.

Prior to her stint at Cornell, Babineau held a variety of field hockey jobs.

She was the head coach of Canada’s Under-18 national team from 1998-2000 and an assistant coach for the Under-21 team. She was also an assistant at the University of Calgary and was the technical director for the Saskatchewan Field Hockey Association from 1995-2004.

Babineau was a five-time All-Canadian selection at the University of New Brunswick and was the Canadian University Player of the Year in 1993. She played in the Under-21 World Cup for Team Canada in 1989.

“I’m very excited. I’m in disbelief. This is a real good place for me to start as a head coach,” said the 35-year-old Babineau, who has a one-year contract.

“Maine has a strong history. They’ve been nationally ranked,” said Babineau, who has a one-year contract and will start on Feb. 12. “Winning an America East title and going to the NCAA Tournament is a definite goal.”

Her first order of business will be to meet the returning players and incoming recruits and she said she intends to “fit a system to our personnel.”

She will eventually hire an assistant and she indicated she will take a good look at hiring someone from the state.

Thebarge, a former star at Skowhegan High and Northeastern University, said Babineau will have a very good recruiting class coming in and indicated she intends to look for a math teaching position.

Thebarge lives in Canaan with husband Jerrod and their two-year-old daughter Samantha.

In the past several years at UMaine, there have been several instances of people obtaining positions at the school after serving on an interim basis.

Men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead had the position on an interim basis as did James as athletic director, and President Robert Kennedy.

Also, UMaine men’s basketball head coach Ted Woodward served as an assistant coach for eight seasons before being named head coach in 2004.