Sullivan to join UM hoop staff Bangor grad was Bears captain

Rita Sullivan, a former University of Maine women’s basketball player and Bangor High standout, is expected to be named an assistant to her former UMaine teammate and new Black Bears head coach Cindy Blodgett sometime this week.

Sullivan, a 1995 UMaine graduate and two-year Black Bear captain, has been working at the Harvard University-based Harvard Electricity Policy Group in Cambridge, Mass., as a staff assistant since November 2005.

Neither Blodgett nor Sullivan could be reached for comment on the pending hire.

Bangor High girls basketball coach Tom Tennett, under whom Sullivan played and coached, said Sullivan is a “tremendous person.”

“I just think it’s a great choice by Cindy,” he said. “She’s very comfortable with Rita. If [Sullivan is] an example of the people Cindy’s surrounding herself with, they’ll be fine. … I couldn’t be happier for Rita and the University of Maine.”

Blodgett and Sullivan played together during the 1994-95 season, which was Blodgett’s freshman year and Sullivan’s senior season. The Black Bears won their third North Atlantic Conference title and made their first NCAA tournament appearance that season.

Sullivan has no previous experience coaching at the collegiate level. She did serve as an assistant to Tennett at Bangor and she coached a girls middle school team at All Saints Catholic School in Bangor.

Tennett said Sullivan did a “fabulous” job as his assistant and often acted as a sort of coach on the floor during her Bangor High days.

“All her other qualities will overshadow her perceived lack of experience,” Tennett said. “She’s just a fantastic person. She’ll do a terrific job.”

Blodgett, a 1998 Maine graduate who twice led NCAA Division I in scoring, has only three seasons of experience as a college assistant at Boston University and Brown. Her hiring was announced May 23.

Sullivan worked in media relations for the NBA and WNBA from 1999 to 2003. Tennett said students at Bangor High worked on a project with Sullivan during a trip she took to China with the WNBA during which the students sent her daily emails.

“Rita’s just one of those special people you meet in education,” Tennett said.

Tennett also recalled listening to Sullivan make a presentation along with then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen at a symposium several years ago.

“[Cohen] was the second most impressive person in the room that day,” Tennett said.

Before moving to Massachusetts Sullivan worked for the University of Maine System as a communications coordinator in the Office of External Affairs. She has also stayed connected to the basketball program and was on the roster for the annual women’s basketball alumni game in February.

Blodgett and Sullivan have a lot in common aside from their relationship as teammates and now on the same coaching staff.

. Blodgett was also involved in the WNBA at the same time Sullivan was employed by the women’s basketball league. Blodgett was the sixth overall pick in the 1998 draft by the Cleveland Rockers.

. Sullivan graduated Sunday from the Muscular Therapy Institute in Watertown, Mass., where Blodgett also studied several years ago.

. The two were both on the 1991 BDN All-Maine girls basketball first team, Sullivan as a senior at Bangor and Blodgett as a freshman at Lawrence of Fairfield.

. Sullivan was named Miss Maine Basketball in 1991; Blodgett won the state’s highest honor for a senior girls basketball player in 1994.

. Both women were also top students at Maine, receiving GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

At UMaine, Sullivan started three of 26 games as a senior, averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10.6 minutes per game. As a junior, she was the third-leading scorer on the team (5.9 ppg).

Sullivan, who was born in Anchorage, Alaska, graduated from Bangor High in 1991. She was also an all-state field hockey player.