COLLEGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Blodgett moves on to URI

Cindy Blodgett's next coaching stop will involve another program trying to turn itself around.

Cathy Inglese hired Blodgett as an assistant coach at Rhode Island this week, citing her court sense, recruiting connections and familiarity with the rebuilding process: Rhode Island went just 7-21 last year, 1-13 in the Atlantic-10.

Blodgett, who was fired from Maine in March, went just 24-94 in her four years as head coach, including a 4-25 record this past year.

"Cathy is in the process of rebuilding a program as well, something I'm quite familiar with," Blodgett said. "Just like at UMaine, that didn't deter me, that's a great challenge to be a part of.

"Everyone wants to jump on a program who wins 25, 30 games a year. But there's very few of those jobs out there. You've got to be willing to spend the long hours, be patient, and sort of love the opportunity that it presents."

Inglese, who was born in Presque Isle, and coached at Vermont and Boston College for many years, started with tough records at both of those programs before compiling a 409-292 career record.

She has been at Rhode Island for two seasons.

"Cindy's gone through that at Maine," Inglese said. "It's not for the weary. It's a hard process. I know that, I've been through that ... when you turn a program around it takes time. No one likes to lose. I hate to lose.

"It's almost like you have to start from scratch, get rid of the foundation. I feel like this is really my first year in the rebuilding process."

Inglese said she began talking with Blodgett fairly shortly after she was relieved of her duties at Maine, but an official hire was made more recently.

"I was sort of waiting. You want to give them a little bit of downtime," Inglese said. "Yet, at the same time, you have a person like this in the region. I thought 'I've got to go after her.'

"We met, I massaged it a little. It was a process. What I like about Cindy is the fact she didn't want to just jump into a job. It had to be particulars with her. I liked that. A lot of people were calling her. She felt really comfortable here."

Blodgett moved to the Kingston, R.I., area over the weekend and started her new position Monday.

She said she's known of Inglese for many years, and was recruited by her when she was in high school.

"You know there's certain people in the coaching business who have a great reputation whether its wins or losses, or overall reputation in the league and Cathy has that," Blodgett said. "I knew the name when I was very young. She actually recruited me when she was at BC. She is very successful. She had openings on her staff. I thought it would be a great fit.

Barb Kyes Nominated for the 2011 Tampa Bay Business Journal's ...

Business Woman of the Year award. Last year Kyes was one of a record field of 300 to become a finalist. This year she hopes to join an elite group of extraordinary women to earn the yearly award that has been given since 2004.

A nominee in the “Business Services” category, Kyes is both managing partner and master coach for the ActionCOACH franchise headquartered in Pinellas County. The business systems approach she developed is the model for other ActionCOACH franchises across the country, contributing to the company’s ranking as the No. 7 business coaching franchise in the world by Entrepreneur magazine. The Pinellas franchise was raked #1 ActionCOACH firm in America in January, 2011.