Blodgett’s back! Ex-UM star named women’s basketball coach

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During a visit to the University of Maine campus last week, Cindy Blodgett had a chance to walk through some of the school’s athletic facilities such as Alfond Arena and Memorial Gym.

The memories of her own playing days in Orono came back to her.

“It’s such a familiar place,” she said Wednesday night. “Just walking through the Pit, going to see [athletic director] Blake [James] when I first arrived, walking through the equipment room and smelling the grays. It was as simple as that. That scent. It was so familiar. There are a lot of things that are the same.”

Blodgett is home now, as the University of Maine announced Wednesday evening her hiring as the school’s 10th women’s basketball coach.

The 1998 UMaine graduate and four-time All-American was introduced at a crowded press conference in the Dexter Lounge steps away from the basketball arena in which her scoring and on-court presence electrified legions of fans who packed the Alfond.

The Maine program reached national prominence during the Blodgett era, advancing to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 1995 and three straight after that.

Blodgett, a 31-year-old Clinton native, replaces Ann McInerney, who resigned April 11 after two sub-.500 seasons.

University of Maine President Dr. Robert Kennedy and James introduced Blodgett to a crowd that included Maine staffers and administrators, media, fans and former players.

She was notified Tuesday of her hiring.

“I can’t tell you how excited I really am to be here today,” said Blodgett, who left the Boston area at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to be in Orono for the announcement.

“… I really appreciate them bringing me home,” she said of the UMaine administration.

Blodgett was an assistant coach at Brown University the last two years. She had applied for the Maine job the last time it was open, when McInerney was hired in 2005.

Blodgett’s contract at Maine is for four years with an annual salary of $105,000.

Blodgett was one of four finalists. The other three were current University of North Carolina Asheville head coach Betsy Blose, University of California assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb and former University of Illinois associate head coach Marsha Frese.

The fact that Blodgett has limited experience as a college coach compared to the other three finalists wasn’t an issue for Maine’s six-member search committee of which James was a member.

“[It was] the total picture,” James said. “If you look at what Cindy’s accomplished throughout her career as a player, I think you have to equate the experience she had professionally into a lot of experience. … Obviously [it was] an opportunity to bring the greatest women’s basketball player back to the university and what that means for our program.”

James said there was no external pressure from boosters to hire Blodgett, who was such a fan favorite at Maine that she is believed to be the first female college athlete to have a merchandise line of items such as jerseys, shorts and socks with her name.

“We found the best person for the job,” James said. “… Anytime a position of this magnitude comes open there are going to be a wide variety of calls but nothing that wasn’t typical for this kind of search.”

The University of Maine received an increase in attendance at Alfond Arena during Blodgett’s four years. Maine was 13th among 300 NCAA Division I programs in attendance during the 1996-97 season.

Those numbers have dipped over the years.

“I think people will reconnect with the program, and this will bring some of the people back who turned away,” said Evie Smith, who is the co-president of the Friends of Maine Women’s Basketball group and was on the search committee.

“Some of those people may come back to see what this is all about,” Smith added. “It’s a rebuilding process now.”

The Black Bears finished the 2006-07 season with a 13-15 record.

After the announcement, Blodgett, wearing a University of Maine pin on the lapel of her brown suit jacket, accepted handshakes and hugs from several people in the room including current UMaine men’s basketball coach Ted Woodward and former University of Maine player Emily Ellis, who scored 1,696 points from 1981 to 1985.

Gov. John Baldacci weighed in on the hiring via press release.

“I cannot think of a better choice to lead the University of Maine right now than Cindy Blodgett,” he said. “I am pleased to welcome her back home and look forward to an exciting season at the Alfond Arena.”

Blodgett, who led NCAA Division I in scoring as a sophomore and junior, holds six University of Maine career records.

The former star at Lawrence High School in Fairfield is UMaine’s career leader in points (3,005), steals (334), field goals (1,055), FG attempts (2,181), 3-pointers (219) and 3-point attempts (620). She ranks second all-time with 487 assists.

She also holds the record for most points in a game with 52.

Blodgett said her parents, Thayer and Evelyn, were excited for her.

“They’re very quiet, very reserved,” she said. “They said, if this is what you want to do, fantastic.”

After her 1998 graduation from Maine, Blodgett was the sixth overall pick in the WNBA draft by the Cleveland Rockers. She played one season with the Rockers after which she was traded to the Sacramento Monarchs. In 2001, her final WNBA season, Blodgett appeared in 11 of 32 games and averaged 6.5 minutes and 3.1 points per game.

Blodgett also played professionally in France and Korea, and for a National Women’s Basketball League team in Springfield, Mass.

Those experiences, especially playing limited minutes in the WNBA, helped shape her.

“I think overall it had more of an impact on me as a person, my ability to mix with all types of people, be a part of many different teams,” she said, “some as the very best player, some as not the very best player. It allows me to almost empathize at times with current players who may not be playing or those who struggle as the star player.”

She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Boston University in 1999-2000. After studying to become a massage therapist, she returned to coaching in 2005-06 as an assistant at Brown.

Blodgett did a lot of day-to-day work that gave her an inside look at how a Division I program operates.

“There’s so much more to running a program than practices and games,” she said. “For me, I got a chance to see how I’d like to do it, how it’s done at Brown, but how I might like to change it when I have the ability to.”

Blodgett said she recently bought a house in Dedham, Mass., and will put that on the market immediately.

As a high school star for coach Bruce Cooper at Lawrence, Blodgett was a four-time Class A state champion. She was named Miss Maine Basketball in 1994 and was first-team All-Maine four years in a row. She still holds five individual Eastern Maine Class A tournament records and one Class A state finals record.

Under McInerney, the University of Maine suffered two straight losing seasons (a combined 23-34 record, including 1-2 in America East Conference tournament play) for the first time in modern program history. She was in the second year of a five-year contract.

McInerney did not give reasons for her resignation.

In addition to the team’s on-court struggles, McInerney also had some off-court problems.

On Nov. 5, 2006, she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by former UMaine associate head coach Kathy Karlsson, who was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of intoxicants. During the incident, McInerney allegedly provided a state police trooper with a false last name of “Martin.”

Though she eventually gave him her correct name, McInerney was reprimanded in a Nov. 30 letter from Kennedy. She issued an apology Dec. 1.

Karlsson was subsequently suspended for three games by James. The jury trial for her OUI case at Penobscot County Superior Court in Bangor is set to begin May 29.

There were more than 30 applicants for the job.

James said the school will immediately advertise for three assistant coaches. The final decisions, however, will be up to Blodgett.

“I’m really looking for the right fit,” she said. “I’m going to be very patient to make sure they’re going to fit in with what I’m trying to mold.”