Maine Off Season 2011

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

I watched Cindy play many many times, she was something else. My memories of her will be playing not coaching. The best BBall player Maine has ever produced.

She had Alfond sold out for just about every game she played. Getting tickets to watch her was just as tough as getting tickets to watch Hockey. Emily Ellis, Racheal Bouchard and other Mainers were good but Cindy was a step above

Definitely great memories of her as a player.......remember the Alfond victory over #11 Alabama? The place (4,000+) was ROCKING!

5 best players in UMaine history:

1. Blodgett
2. Bouchard
3. Cassidy
4. Coffin
5. Ellis

 

[amherstblackbear]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

You start off quietly because you want to find out the applicant pool before you post the open ad. If the only people you really want won't be available for some reason (family, professional) for a year or so, you'd be foolish to charge forward with the open search and settle for subpar choices.

Top-tier college coaches don't grow on trees, and Maine isn't a dream job for all of them.

 

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Well, I always thot Joanne looked pretty dam good on the bench. And, eventually, the Mainahs always want to come home after they get a taste of the congestion outside of the state

LOL.......so true.

 

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

You start off quietly because you want to find out the applicant pool before you post the open ad. If the only people you really want won't be available for some reason (family, professional) for a year or so, you'd be foolish to charge forward with the open search and settle for subpar choices.

Top-tier college coaches don't grow on trees, and Maine isn't a dream job for all of them.

Agreed. I like the fact that Abbott has served notice and now all of the remaining coaches will know that they are expected to win......or at least improve upon recent results.

 

[KnowItAll]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

It's really a shame that Cindy failed as a coach. She gave her heart and soul as a student athlete in placing Maine women's basketball at the forefront. She was also responsible for launching Palombo's career. Unfortunately, she couldn't coach and couldn't recruit. Now she will be remembered as a failure to some people and I feel badly for her.

maybe I am not reading your posts in their entireities... but CINDy is a failure, and TIM is ... kinda not a failure... in your eyes?

 

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Wow.......TIMMAY sorta freaking out in the new PPH article.......LOL.......

Said Whitehead: "I have to admit I was a little surprised. I think everybody was. We certainly didn't know it was even being considered at this time."

Blodgett, along with other coaches, has been under fire on message boards and internet sites, a sign of the times, said Whitehead that can disguise opinion as fact.

"It's an unfortunate part of the college coaching business that people on the outside really have very little idea of the challenges facing programs and coaches on the inside," said Whitehead. "What may seem obvious from the outside is not even close to the reality of what's going on."

http://www.kjonline.com/news/cindyblodgettfired_2011-03-29.html

Poor TIMMAY......quite a turnaround in attitude from this yesterday's photo op with his son and Abbott! The heat is on......

 

[Ma#1ne Hky]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Once a SNAKE always a SNAKE....time will bury Whitehead by next spring...HOPEFULLY. SAVE MAINE HOCKEY

 

[MEbear]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Timmay does sound a little defensive in the article, and he SHOULD be worried because he has to know that he hasn't delivered the results he was hired to either and eventually there has to be some accountability. I don't think that any of us claim to have the knowledge to step in and do his job, or know all the inside info about the team, so he does sort of have a point, but we CAN pretty clearly see that most other college coaches are doing a much better job of handling the challenges they all face than he is and the evidence to support that is the trend of their win/loss ratios over many years. I get the sense that Timmay would still like to think that it's just a few Internet crazies who are overreacting to a few unlucky bounces, but to anyone who's been following Maine hockey for awhile, the problems are clearly much deeper than that, and it's about time that Timmay pulls his head out of the sand and addresses those problems. The first step is admitting that he has a problem.....

I find this Cindy situation to be pretty sad. i loved watching her as a player, both for her skill and her incredible determination and competitiveness and I was an enthusiastic supporter when she was hired as UMaine coach. I expected it would take a few year but I was sure that her knowledge of the game and competitiveness would rub off on her players and together they'd make steady progress in bringing Maine basketball back to where it once was. But it's pretty clear that she wasn't making progress in turning things around as a coach. I've heard the stories like everyone else and sympathized with her that some recent players haven't had anything close to the dedication that Cindy the player did. But as head coach, it's part of her job to find the right players and motivate them and bring the best out of them. I can't claim to know WHY she was unable to do that, but it's pretty clear that she couldn't. I don't doubt for a minute that she tried her hardest, but I think Abbott made a tough call, and it was the right one. I do wish Cindy the best and have no doubt that she will be a huge success in another role that better suits all her natural abilities.

 

[walrus]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

That's the difference between the new expectations at UMaine. In the Walsh years, Diamond would have been a fan favorite who was used to disrupt and agitate and be a good third or fourth line player. The talent has diminished so now people see him as a player to be counted on offensively.

That might be true with others, not so with Diamond.The guy handle the puck in traffic around the net. He's a scorer who just happens to be an agitator

 

[walrus]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

. I don't think that any of us claim to have the knowledge to step in and do his job, or know all the inside info about the team, so he does sort of have a point,s.

Isn't that true about any job? People ***** about me when I don't perform the way they think I should whether they know diddly squat or not about what I do. Obviously none of us have the public scrutiny TImmay does but I don't make 175,000 bucks either. Its his job to know the ins and outs whether we do or not.

 

[BassAle]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Poor TIMMAY......quite a turnaround in attitude from this yesterday's photo op with his son and Abbott! The heat is on......

for what it was worth, that picture wasn't taken yesterday. It was on file.

 

[acs64]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

The only things we, as internet nutcases, need to know is results. All the other distractions, injuries, departures, blah, blah, blah is just noise. Every coach in the country deals with the exact same stuff. The results and trend of this Maine hockey team just are not there. When you have the talent and apparent determination we had coming into this season only to end it in such a disappointing way, well...its just bad, not only for the kids and the team, but for the entire hockey program.

Whitehead would be very smart to just shut his yap right about now and keep his head down. IMO, he is in a very tenable position up there and hopefully it wont take much to make him disappear from the landscape.

Now, lets talk about the return of Joanne to her 'retirement job' here at UMaine

 

[ck1969]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

What I find interesting about the Blodgett situation is she is receiving a one year buyout of 109K paid from private sources. I find it hard to believe that the U could convince private donors to fork over 100K + to get rid of the womens BB coach but can't come up with at least 2 years of Timmay's salary to buy him out. IMO there are way more hockey donors (or used to be) than womens BB donors. I bet if you asked the 5000 +/- fans who regularly attend games, and I know there are at least 5000 true fans of Maine hockey out there. Ask them to put up $100 a piece, thats 500k. I know I would give $100 in a nanosecond to get rid of Timbo. It's not a bad idea, and one that could be done very easilly imo.

 

[BassAle]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

What I find interesting about the Blodgett situation is she is receiving a one year buyout of 109K paid from private sources. I find it hard to believe that the U could convince private donors to fork over 100K + to get rid of the womens BB coach but can't come up with at least 2 years of Timmay's salary to buy him out. IMO there are way more hockey donors (or used to be) than womens BB donors. I bet if you asked the 5000 +/- fans who regularly attend games, and I know there are at least 5000 true fans of Maine hockey out there. Ask them to put up $100 a piece, thats 500k. I know I would give $100 in a nanosecond to get rid of Timbo. It's not a bad idea, and one that could be done very easilly imo.

apparently there was private money lined up to buy out Timmay, but the U wasn't ready to pull the trigger. No matter what, Timmay could not go while Cindy was still there. Her record was horrible, while his was middle of the road in the conference.

 

[AMC]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

What I find interesting about the Blodgett situation is she is receiving a one year buyout of 109K paid from private sources. I find it hard to believe that the U could convince private donors to fork over 100K + to get rid of the womens BB coach but can't come up with at least 2 years of Timmay's salary to buy him out. IMO there are way more hockey donors (or used to be) than womens BB donors. I bet if you asked the 5000 +/- fans who regularly attend games, and I know there are at least 5000 true fans of Maine hockey out there. Ask them to put up $100 a piece, thats 500k. I know I would give $100 in a nanosecond to get rid of Timbo. It's not a bad idea, and one that could be done very easilly imo.

If the embarrassment of the senior night protest should have taught anything, its that there is nowhere near 100% unanimity that Whitehead needs to go. Blodgett was 24-94. Whitehead's record is much better. Should the hockey team's record be better? Yes. But "24-94" is a very easy sell, and I'm betting $100,000 didn't require too many phone calls. Less money, worse record, easier to get done.

 

[BassAle]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Young up and comer has got to be Nate Leaman

Nate is being mentioned as of of the leading candidates for UML

 

[amherstblackbear]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

Isn't that true about any job? People ***** about me when I don't perform the way they think I should whether they know diddly squat or not about what I do. Obviously none of us have the public scrutiny TImmay does but I don't make 175,000 bucks either. Its his job to know the ins and outs whether we do or not.

To play devil's advocate (just for a moment, not sure how long I can pull it off), its possible that the University hasn't had Whitehead's back when he's asked for things that he thought he / the program needed. I would have no trouble believing that the previous AD nickeled and dimed him. 10 years ago, Whitehead's own hire represented the easy way out.

But it *is* about results. Nobody takes a D1 coaching job with the expectation that it will be for life. I have a really hard time believing that Maine has been bad to Whitehead. He's not the highest paid coach in D1, but he's made a nice chunk of money regardless. He's had some success, and nobody doubts that he can run a clean program. There's another job out there with his name on it, and it's probably not a bad job. And it's time.

 

[acs64]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

To play devil's advocate (just for a moment, not sure how long I can pull it off), its possible that the University hasn't had Whitehead's back when he's asked for things that he thought he / the program needed. I would have no trouble believing that the previous AD nickeled and dimed him. 10 years ago, Whitehead's own hire represented the easy way out.

But it *is* about results. Nobody takes a D1 coaching job with the expectation that it will be for life. I have a really hard time believing that Maine has been bad to Whitehead. He's not the highest paid coach in D1, but he's made a nice chunk of money regardless. He's had some success, and nobody doubts that he can run a clean program. There's another job out there with his name on it, and it's probably not a bad job. And it's time.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. IMO, Whitehead's fit to be a D3 coach, not a D1 coach. Less pressure to win, more of a laid back atmosphere overall. I dont know if Beaney is still at USM down here, but he's been a pretty good flop over the many years hes coached the D3 Huskies. Great facility down here, but just an awful coach who ought to be retiring. On the other hand, Beaney's brother has had tremendous success at Middlebury College over the years. Anyway I think the USM job would be perfect for Timmay. Sure it would be a helluva pay cut, but ur paid what ur worth, right? No pressure, good facilities, proximity to Portland...etc, etc.

I cant quite see Timmay getting another decent job in D1 at this point. He's tainted material...with a reputation for mediocrity that has followed him. If any D1 program doesnt care much about winning and is happy as hell middle to bottom of pack, then hes the guy...but how many D1 programs want that? Answer...none that I know of. But, I think Timmay would be or could be highly successful at USM while at the same time giving this area a successful program to follow, and a chance to quelch criticism about his coaching as well as giving the locals some good college hockey to get behind. Chit, look at the success that Mike McShane (former PC coach) has had at Norwich.

 

[Maineiak]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

I did not think that Abbott wanted the job in the first place..........band-aid solution.......the University admin. is in complete disarray with no clear leadership......simply amazing that they are all falling over themselves.......

It was my understanding that Steve DID want the job and was planning on/already was actively pursuing the job as it relates to the National Search Pres. Kennedy said he would launch in the fall. I think from an administration stability standpoint, this makes sense. (New Pres and all the changes that brings, etc, etc).

 

[Maineiak]

Re: Maine Off Season 2011

J Palombo-McCallie back to Maine? Save some of that rum for me

Yeah, and maybe she can bring her husband back with her so he can give out extra credit in Econ class for those students who bring in women's basketball ticket stubs...