WINSLOW — Not long after Steve Blood resigned as Winslow softball coach, he got a phone call from his sister. She had heard he resigned because of problems dealing with parents.

Blood does not know how that rumor got out there, but says it’s untrue. He decided he wanted to set the record straight and speak publicly about the reasons behind his resignation.

Blood, 55, stepped down earlier this month after three seasons with the team. His resignation came after he had coached the Black Raiders in preseason for nearly three weeks, and less than two weeks before the first game of the regular season. Beth Fisher, a former star pitcher at Winslow and Blood’s assistant the last four seasons, took over as coach on April 6.

Blood cited a list of incidents leading him to believe there was a difference in philosophy between him and the school administration.

Winslow athletic director Carrie Larrabee and principal Doug Carville both declined comment for this story.

In 14 years of coaching over three stints at Winslow, Blood has a record of 245-37, and his teams have won six regional titles and three state championships. He believes it is crucial for players to have the opportunity to develop at the lower levels, citing Fisher as a player who was on the junior varsity team as a freshman and was Eastern B Player of the Year as a senior.

But Blood said the administration’s policy was to only fill the positions if the interest warranted it — even though, he said, the school had budgeted the junior varsity and both junior high coaching positions. He said the effect of this was that when players went to sign up and saw only one coach in place, they may have walked away, believing there would be only one team and they wouldn’t be good enough to make it.

“I thought it was particularly important to have the coaches in place,” Blood said, “so that the kids know, at the high school, that there are going to be two teams. (They know) you don’t have to be good enough to make the varsity. You’re going to have an opportunity to develop and play.”

This season, Blood said there were 17 players on the varsity team after a total of 25 had expressed interest in playing, but there was no JV team.

At the junior high level, Blood said there were 10 eighth-graders and 16 seventh-graders who were interested in playing. He said his other assistant, Gary Libby, works closely with the youth program and said there were 15 or 16 players interested in playing for the sixth-grade team.

According to Blood, he suggested several possibilities to Larrabee and Carville so that there could still be two junior high teams, such as moving seventh-graders to the eighth-grade team or putting sixth-graders on one of the junior high teams.

“You do what you have to do to make the program work,” Blood said. “We’ve had seventh graders playing eighth grade basketball, eighth grade girls playing seventh grade basketball. We’ve got sixth graders playing field hockey.”

Blood said Larrabee and Carville rejected each possibility, and decided to have one junior high team. After participation went down to 19, five players were cut.

Another thing that frustrated Blood was last year’s bus situation. According to Blood, the Winslow baseball and softball teams — who travel to away games together — were late for every game except the one at Waterville. For an important road game against Medomak Valley, Blood said the teams were 45 minutes late, and had to skip batting practice.

“If it happens a couple of times,” Blood said, “I think you make a call as an AD and say, ‘This has to happen. They have to be there on time.’

“The worst part of it was, the kids were getting out on time, and they were missing their classes. We’re standing on the lawn out back waiting for buses.”

According to Blood, maintenance on the softball field was also a problem. He said he used his own lawn mower three times last season to mow the softball field, because he felt keeping the field in good shape was not a priority of the administration.

Blood said these things began to distract him, as he found himself thinking about them during practices this spring. He began to enjoy the job less even though he liked working with the players and their parents.

Blood said he had Fisher inform the players of his decision, because he would have been too emotional.

“I know at sometime it was going to happen, and I know that Beth was ready to take over the job — and wants to take over the job,” Blood said. “It’s not a one-year thing. This is what she wants to do. She’s going to do a great job with the kids, and I know that.

“Do I miss it? Yeah. Every day. But I think it’s probably the best thing for everyone at this time.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

 

Copy the Story Link