University of Maine Athletics

It has been a tough season for the University of Maine. The hockey team had an up and down year ending with no tournament birth and more and more displeasure being voiced about the tenure of Tim Whitehead. Cindy Blodgett was fired as the womens basketball coach on the new AD's first day and expressed displeasure as wins and losses had never been a predicating factor of a coach's tenure at Maine. ( she felt )

The Maine football team had a solid season but did not make the playoffs though one little hears complaints about the program of Jack Cosgrove. Perhaps it is diminished expectations knowing that Maine is Division II in football and thus less passion is expanded, but Cosgrove has run a very good program and has been a standup guy from day one. After some of the good seasons he has had he has made the decision to stay at Maine when certainly he could have moved up to a bigger program and Maine needs to reward that loyalty.

Perhaps the biggest dissapointtment in terms of talent versus results was the Maine mens basketball team, Starting conference play with a five or six victories and being picked by some preseason magazines to represent the conference in the NCAA tournament this was an exciting time for Maine basketball. Of course exciting time for Maine basketball is not very exciting. Crowds are small and the connection is low and it would take more than a paragraph to contemplate why Maine folks embrace hockey players from away but not basketball players. Certainly it is not for lack of interest as Maine hoop fans flock to high school games. The connection is not there and perhaps never will be. The season for the basketball team however disappointed whatever followers they did have by ending the season on a long losing streak, losing home court in the playoffs and bowing out in the first round. Sad indeed.

So what is to be done. Can Maine compete. Is it realistic to think they can. The answer is yes and no. The hockey program draws the most press and is the easiest to address. Can they win and compete. Surely they can. Is Whitehead the best coach. This is open to debate among many. I think Whitehead is a good coach and has done great things at Maine. I wish they would give him a long contract so the folks complaining would sit down and be quiet. I believe that the more grumbling there is the less stability there is and the less chance a player will be inclined to come to Maine. One of the reasons players such as Paul Kariya have come here in the past was the stability of the program and the area in which the school is. Maine needs to embrace that it is not Boston not state we are not Boston but. Winning breeds winning. If Jack and then David Capuano had not chosen to come to Maine years ago would Shawn Walsh have attracted the players he did. We will never know but sometimes it just that simple.

Hockey has changed and college hockey has too. Maine can and will compete in the future but Tim Whitehead has done a good job and deserves more loyalty and respect than he is getting by far.

So then I will do an about face and say that Cindy Blodgett's firing was warranted. Can Maine basketball compete. Womens I would say yes but much will depend on the coach. Getting Blodgett felt like the right move in an attempt to keep Maine girls at home but it did not work. I do not know enough to know why she could not recruit but something must be done to get the strong players from Southern Maine and all of Maine really to grow up wanting to play for Maine. Perhaps a Coach with strong connections in Maine high school basketball and regionally as well.

Can the Maine men's basketball program succeed. The answer is most likely not and the further answer it is doubtful any but a few will care. There are reasons and they are pretty obvious and it does not reflect well on Maine or its residents but they are there and cannot be denied. Still perhaps a better product with a few local players would be helpful. Maine is in a tough spot in that regard as the few players from the area that could compete at that level dream of bigger things than Maine, in short young men do not grow up dreaming of playing for Maine.

Maine football can, does and will continue to compete. Maine football does attract Maine kids and Cosgrove somehow does a fine job putting a good team on the field. Anyone criticizing Cosgrove needs to think about how hard a job he has in Orono, Maine fielding a team. He does a great job and Maine has had some strong seasons.

Perhaps the worst one can say about Maine baseball is that I almost forgot to write about them. I grew up in an era when Maine baseball was a National Power. I remember watching them on ESPN playing Miami when I was in college. I remember Mike Ballou giving up the bomb when Maine gave up the big lead to AZ State when Maine could have easily competed for the championship. AZ won that year, what could have been we do not know. Some friends and I went up in Billy Swift's last year and sat in centerfield behind the fence and talked with him ( he had pitched the day before) when Maine won that regional.

Can Maine compete. Sadly no. The playoff structure of the NCAA has changed. Maine cannot host a regional as they used to and Maine cannot attract the players that they used to. With the money thrown at high school kids Maine has consistently lost committed Maine schoolboys and who can blame the kids. Perhaps a Division II program would be a better choice as Maine folks would come to baseball if the program could succeed. Even now it is a good product to go watch but the spring weather in Maine is a challenge.

Can the new AD correct things. Perhaps. In times of budget cuts and concerns perhaps the answer is to have good coaches, good programs and good kids and see if that combination can lead to a success we can be proud of. In most cases we have those ingredients. Lets not be greedy.