BANGOR — Cindy Blodgett defended her career as a coach at the University of Maine in a press conference this afternoon, and asserted she was not given the time she thought she’d been promised to turn the culture around.
The former Maine playing legend was fired Tuesday by Athletic Director Steve Abbott after her team went 4-25 this season.
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She met with reporters in Paddy Murphy’s, an Irish bar in downtown Bangor, at 2 p.m. to make her first public statements since the firing.
Her mood shifted from defiant, to lighthearted at times.
“I’m disappointed,” said Blodgett. “Anger doesn’t help. I’m disappointed we didn’t have more leadership and didn’t have more of a commitment from the administration.”
Blodgett, who went 24-94 in four years as Maine’s coach, said she wished the administration had taken into account the time it takes to rebuild a program.
She also repeatedly mentioned the support she said she got from the nine remaining players on the team.
The university renewed her contract for two years last September. Under terms of the agreement, she would be paid one year’s salary of $109,772 to terminate the contract.
Blodgett led Maine to the NCAA tournament four times from 1994 to 1998 and was the nation’s scoring leader two straight years.
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