Katy Steding had just been hired by Boston University to coach its women’s basketball team when she received a congratulatory call from Cindy Blodgett.
After a minute or two, Steding realized something: “I needed an assistant coach just like Cindy. I wanted an assistant coach just like Cindy.”
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On Wednesday, she got Cindy.
Blodgett, the former University of Maine women’s coach, was hired as an assistant coach for the Terriers. It will be Blodgett’s second stint with BU – her first coaching job was as an assistant with the Terriers in the 1999-2000 season.
“It was a little bit of the stars lining up properly,” said Steding.
Blodgett was unavailable for comment Wednesday but Steding is thrilled to have her. The two were teammates on the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA during the 2000 season and got to know each other well.
“I’m so excited,” said Steding, an assistant coach at California the last two years. “She’s got a lot of valuable experience that I am going to draw on.
“I know she’s a legend in Maine, a legend in the Northeast. Everyone knows her.”
Blodgett is regarded as perhaps the greatest high school basketball player in Maine history. A Clinton native, she led Lawrence High to four consecutive Class A state championships while becoming Maine’s all-time leading high school basketball scorer with 2,596 points.
She took her game to Orono to play for UMaine and led the Black Bears to their first four NCAA women’s tournament appearances.
Along the way she had a school-record 3,005 points, 10th-best in NCAA history.
She was the sixth pick in the 1998 WNBA draft, and played for Cleveland and Sacramento. She also played overseas.
Her coaching career began at BU. In 2005 she was hired as an assistant at Brown University. Then in 2007 she was hired as Maine’s coach.
But the Black Bears struggled for four years before she was dismissed after a 4-25 record in 2010-11. She had a 24-94 record career record.
After that she was an assistant coach at Rhode Island for three seasons.
In a news release, Blodgett said, “I’m extremely grateful and beyond excited to be a member of Katy’s staff and to be part of the BU athletic department once again. Katy is a proven winner on every level but her success on the basketball court pales in comparison to what a wonderful person she is.”
In the same release, Steding said Blodgett “is a person of great character and will be a terrific mentor and role model for the young women we lead.”
Steding, who won an NCAA championship as a player at Stanford and an Olympic gold medal as part of the 1996 team, said Blodgett would work with the guards – point guards in particular – while helping with recruiting as well. She has been involved in recruiting at every school she has been an assistant at and Steding looks to use her connections to draw top players to Boston again.
“She’s got a lot on her plate,” said Steding, “and we’ll probably put even more on her plate.”
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