Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
The University of Maine continues its search for a new women’s basketball coach. While the search committee, led by UMaine Athletic Director Patrick Nero, has no official deadline for finding a new coach, the committee would certainly like to find one by the end of May.
Rumers have quietly swirled about former Black Bear great Cindy Blodgett returning to her alma-mater to coach. Ever since she made public her interest to coach last week, Blodgett has gained little support, especially from the university.
While Blodgett may be on the committees list of possible coaching candidates, there are other people with Maine ties that may be on the list as well.
Gary Fifield, the long time head coach at Division III University of Southern Maine has been mentioned as a possible coach at Maine, although the likelihood of Fifield leaving USM is not great. He has been with the Huskies since 1987, and in his 18 seasons has taken his USM women to four Division-III final fours. Fifield was named National Coach of the Year last month.
Like Fifield, Stephanie Pemper is the also the head coach of a successful Division-III women’s basketball program in Maine. She is the head coach at Bowdoin, who has been in the Sweet 16 in each of the last two seasons and has not lost a home game in three years. Pemper guided the Polar Bears to the national title game in 2004.
There are also candidates that do not have Maine ties. Much like Versyp was five years ago, these people are very new to the Maine basketball scene.
While it is easy to speculate about who may or may not be up for consideration, the search committee maintains its original statements of not announcing any specific candidates. While the list goes on, it certainly is being whittled down at the same time.
The Black Bears are not the only America East team looking for a new coach. Stony Brook is also searching for a head women’s basketball coach with the departure of Maura McHugh, who served as interim head coach last season.
McHugh coached the Sacramento Monarchs of the Women’s National Basketball Association, during Blodgett’s final year playing for the team.
While Blodgett, a fan favorite whenever she returns to Orono, attempts to make the jump back into coaching, Pemper and Fifield look to keep winning. Each will have some of their best players returning next year, making things exciting for women’s basketball fans in Maine.
Whoever the next coach at Orono is, that person will have to prove themselves. If they win, they will have the support of Maine fans, and they will continue to bring in the states top high school players.
Ashley Underwood, Bracey Barker, Amy Vachon and Blodgett all came to Orono from a Maine high school. Neither of Versyp’s last two recruiting classes had any Maine players in them.
Nero’s main goal remains finding a coach who can come in and win. He liked the fact that the Black Bears won a lot under Versyp. Nero, the players, and fans will expect nothing less of the new coach, whoever that person will be.
