ORONO – For now, interim athletic director Steve Abbott has not applied for the permanent position of AD at the University of Maine.

He said Wednesday it remains a possibility, but he is “really enjoying” his role regardless of what the future holds.

“The new (university) president will be hired in a month and there will be an opportunity to see the needs short and long term,” said Abbott.

“But I haven’t really put my hat in.”

Abbott was hired in late August to replace Blake James, who left for a position at Miami. At the time, Abbott was just three months removed from his bid to seek the Republican nomination for governor.

A longtime fan of the UMaine program and son of former football coach Walt Abbott, he said his major priority for the athletic department is to raise funds for improvements to Alfond Arena, Memorial Gym and the field house from now until the end of the school year.

“Fundraising is the No. 1 priority for our department now,” said Abbott. “I am deeply committed to getting those dollars raised. The (projects) are all critically important and I want to help.”

The Maine athletic department so far has received about $10 million for the projects: $7 million from the state, $2 million from the Alfond family and another $1 million from longtime benefactor Dick Collins.

The original project had a price tag of $14 million, and that number is likely to go up, Abbott estimates.

“The big money has to be raised,” said Abbott. “We can’t look to the university at this time. We need to find it privately.”

Abbott said regardless of his future employment status at the school, for now he enjoys his time around Maine athletics.

“Just being on campus is invigorating. I’m a Maine sports fan. I’ve been coming to these games my whole life,” he said. “I’m still going to be coming to these games.”

The University of Maine System has set a timetable of late March to name a new university president.

That process, said a spokesperson, may come to a close as early as March 14, when the board of trustees next meets.

The last of four candidates completed a visit on Thursday.

ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE

Two players on the men’s basketball team have surpassed 1,000 points this season.

Senior guard Tyler Kelley of Saco became the 33rd player in school history to reach the milestone in a win over Emmanuel College on Jan. 31.

Kelley needed six points entering the game and made a 3-pointer at the 18:22 mark of the second half to get it done.

Not to be outdone by his teammate, Zach O’Brien, a junior from Schenectady, N.Y., joined him Tuesday night in a win against Rivier College.

O’Brien scored a game-high 20 points while becoming the 34th member of the Monks’ 1,000-point club.

The men’s team is 17-7 overall, 14-3 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

BOWDOIN COLLEGE

The men’s and women’s basketball teams are preparing for the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament this weekend.

The women earned the right to host a game by finishing the regular season with a record of 20-4 overall, 6-3 in the NESCAC to earn the No. 3 seed. They will host No. 6 Bates (17-7, 5-4 NESCAC) at 3 p.m. Saturday at Morrell Gymnasium.

The No. 8-ranked men’s team (14-9, 3-6 NESCAC) will travel to Williamstown, Mass., to face top-seeded Williams (23-1, 9-0 NESCAC) in the quarterfinals. Game time is 2 p.m. Saturday.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND

Junior guard Kelley Paradis of Newport surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in a 67-35 Commonwealth Coast Conference women’s basketball win over Gordon College on Wednesday.

It was the Nor’easters’ ninth straight win, improving their record to 18-6 overall and 11-1 in the conference. The team’s regular season concludes on Saturday.

SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

SMCC will host the 2011 Yankee Small College Conference Final Four this weekend.

The No. 2-ranked women will play at 3 p.m. Saturday against the winner of a game between No. 3 UMaine-Augusta and No. 6 Vermont Technical College.

The second-seeded men play the winner of the game between No. 3 New Hampshire Technical Institute and No. 6 Nashua Community College at 7 p.m.

The championship round is Sunday. The women play at noon and the men follow at 2 p.m.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE

Junior guard Courtney Cochran of Waite put up her 14th double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds in a 59-42 victory over UMass-Boston Tuesday.

The win upped the Huskies’ record to 16-8, 11-2 in the Little East Conference.

Southern Maine is ranked second in the conference standings behind Western Connecticut State (12-1).

• Junior Ben Manning was named LEC track athlete of the week after finishing first in the mile and second in the 1,000-meter run last week at the New England Alliance and LEC championship.

The Huskies won the meet for the third straight season.

Manning ran the mile in 4 minutes, 17.1 seconds. He finished the 1,000 in 2:37.74.

Manning also ran the anchor leg in the championship 3,200-meter relay team, running an 8:09.53 split.

• Freshman Lynn Fleming of Waterville was named LEC rookie track athlete of the week for her outstanding performance at the same meet.

Fleming was seventh in the long jump with a jump of 4.93 meters (16 feet, 21/4 inches). She finished fourth in the triple jump with a jump of 10.56 meters (34-73/4).

Staff Writer Jenn Menendez can be contacted at 791-6426 or at:

jmenendez@pressherald.com

 

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