Choice may be difficult for Blodgett

The cliched thank-yous and good-luck sentiments hadn’t been copied off the “coach resigns/is fired” template to be placed on the press release yet, and already Cindy Blodgett was being anointed as the next University of Maine women’s basketball coach.

The Internet, the radio, and newsrooms around the state were abuzz with speculation about locally recognizable possibilities who might be interested in coaching the Black Bears in the wake of Ann McInerney’s sudden departure after two seasons.

Bowdoin coach Stefanie Pemper, former Maine player Stephanie Guidi, ex-Maine assistant Jody Benner and Southern Maine coach Gary Fifield would be fine candidates all, not to mention the anonymous Division I assistants who would find the post attractive as a first step toward the big time, like Sharon Versyp and Joanne P. McCallie before them.

But inhaling all the air in all of those chat rooms and newsrooms was talk of Cindy Blodgett.

One rumor even had it that she would be named the next coach as a make-good to UMaine benefactors Stephen and Tabitha King, whose Bangor radio station recently lost the rights to broadcast Black Bear sports for the next five years to Clear Channel-owned WVOM-FM.

The Kings have been supportive of Blodgett throughout her career as she led Lawrence of Fairfield to four consecutive Class A state championships in the early 1990s and then earned All-American status at the University of Maine before moving on to the WNB’s Cleveland Rockers and Sacramento Monarchs.

The timing of McInerney’s resignation/ouster Wednesday, coming just weeks after the controversial radio rights decision, merely added another chapter to the story.

But such talk, while a great concoction of conspiratorial theater, does little more than demean Blodgett’s efforts to establish her coaching credentials in pursuit of her career goals, whether they involve Maine or someplace else. Whoever gets the Maine job should do so on merit, and to suggest Blodgett might get it through other circumstances is a cheap shot she’s done nothing to deserve.

So is this her time to lead her alma mater’s basketball program? No one knows, because no one knows the range of candidates that will be available.

Blodgett did express interest in the Maine job before McInerney was hired but was told she needed more experience. So she took that advice to heart, and now has two additional years under her belt through her current post as an assistant at Brown University.

With her personal drive and growing resume, if Blodgett wants to be a head coach someday, undoubtedly she will.

But if I were her, I’m not sure I’d want the Maine job. There’s almost nowhere to go but down.

Nearly a decade after graduating from Maine she remains a legend in these parts, a legend built on a one-of-a-kind playing career that elevated the women’s basketball program to borderline national prominence that Black Bear teams since then have been chasing to match.

But as the water-cooler talk during the last 48 hours suggests, public excitement about bringing Blodgett home to rekindle those glory days is high, ignoring the fact that a lengthy honeymoon period aside, such excitement likely would be followed by exaggerated expectations.

And as we all know, the good tidings present whenever a new coach is hired can be very fleeting. That’s one reason there’s an opening now.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net.