It isn’t official yet, but expect Georgia Tech linebacker coach Chuck Bresnahan to be named the new defensive coordinator for the University of Maine football team sometime in the next few days.

Bresnahan was on campus in Orono Thursday, but left before he could be interviewed. Attempts to reach him Thursday evening were unsuccessful.

Black Bear head coach Kirk Ferentz would neither confirm nor deny Bresnahan will succeed Ray Zingler as defensive coordinator. Zingler resigned last November after guiding the UM defense through two 3-8 seasons.

“Unfortunately, due to (hiring) procedure, I can’t comment at this time,” said Ferentz, who is preparing for his third season at Maine.

Bresnahan, 31, spent the past three seasons as a full-time assistant coaching inside linebackers under head coach Bobby Ross for the Yellow Jackets, who won a share of the Division I-A national championship in 1990. He spent two seasons prior to that as a volunteer graduate assistant at the Atlanta-based Atlantic Coast Conference school.

Ross stepped down from Georgia Tech after this past season, and new head coach Bill Lewis took over.

A native of Annapolis, Md., Bresnahan is a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He lettered at linebacker for the Midshipmen for three seasons and played in two bowl games – the 1980 Garden State Bowl and the 1981 Liberty Bowl.

Bresnahan served as a graduate assistant at the Naval Academy in 1983 and ’84, then spent two years serving as an assistant supply officer in the Navy before becoming Navy’s wide receiver and tight end coach in 1986. He took the job at Georgia Tech the following season. He is married with two daughters.

Ferentz confirmed he expected to announce the new defensive coordinator “in the near future.” The Maine coach is also in the process of hiring a second fulltime assistant to replace Jerome Sally, who resigned as Maine’s defensive line coach effective March 1. – –

Solomon Sylva recently had his brilliant career as a sweeper for the University of Maine-Farmington soccer team capped by receiving his second straight election to the NAIA All-American Team.

Sylva, a senior from Gambia, Africa, was also named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American Squad for the fourth straight year after serving as the backbone of the Beavers’ defense under head coach Bob Leib.

This past season, Sylva led a UMF squad that finished first in the nation in team scoring defense, allowing 10 goals in 14 games for a 0.71 goals-against average. He also scored six goals and contributed an assist for the 10-3-1 Beavers.

Sylva will graduate from UMF in May with a degree in geography and math.

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The University of Maine men’s basketball team saw home attendance hit its highest level in 11 years this past season, thanks in part to the Black Bears moving into the expanded Alfond Arena.

According to figures released by the UM athletic department Thursday, Maine averaged 1,863 fans per home date, the highest since the program drew 2,409 per game in 1980-81 when the schedule included three dates in Portland and one in Bangor.

In 1991-92, the Bears drew a total of 22,366 people for 12 home contests, including one game each at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland (2,345), the Bangor Auditorium (2,251), and the Memorial Gym on campus (1,193). Maine averaged 1,842 fans for nine dates in the Alfond Arena, including 3,153 in the venue’s grand opening.

Overall, Maine’s home attendance increased by 14 percent from the 1990-91 average of 1,636.

“It’s encouraging our attendance has had an upward swing,” said fourth-year UM head coach Rudy Keeling, whose team finished third in the North Atlantic Conference with a 17-15 record overall, the program’s first winning mark in eight years. “I think that’s definitely proportional to our program being on the upswing.”

Since Keeling’s arrival, Maine attendance has increased 62.5 percent from the 1,146 average the season before he was hired.