Mike Blaine enters his fifth season as an assistant under head coach Bill Courtney with eyes on pushing the Big Red to the top of the Ivy League. He was hired in October of 2010, just in time for the Big Red's first season under Courtney. Blaine plays an active role in the team's scheduling, as well as recruiting and assisting in nearly every facet of the program.
Blaine helped the Big Red improve its win total in their first two seasons, including winning 13 games in 2012-13 after capturing 10 and 12 wins in the program’s first two seasons. He helped tutor a young and inexperienced frontcourt that made great leaps. Eitan Chemerinski, who played sparingly his first two years in the program, graduated as the school’s career field goal percentage leader, while 2011-12 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Shonn Miller earned first-team all-conference accolades in 2012-13 as one of the league’s top defensive players. He also worked with young big man David Onuorah, whose 28 blocked shots ranks seocnd all-time at Cornell as a freshman.
Blaine spent the previous two seasons helping turn around the fortunes of the Maryland-Eastern Shore program. UMES won 11 games and went 8-8 in the MEAC conference to finish fifth in 2010-11, nearly tripling the program's win total from the season before Blaine arrived. Junior Hillary Haley was a led the team in scoring (12.4 ppg) and was named to the all-tournament team in the backcourt. Blaine's responsibilities included working with the backcourt players, as well as scouting and recruiting.
Prior to his stint at UMES, Blaine spent one season at both Radford (2006-07) and Hampden-Sydney College (2007-08). He also has experience in the Director of Basketball Operations position at Army (2004-06) and James Madison (2003-04), spearheading the administrative efforts, as well as film exchange, academic progress of the players and team travel.
A 2003 graduate of Johns Hopkins with a degree in political science and sociology, Blaine was a standout for the Blue Jays. He ranks among the school's top 20 players in field goal percentage (seventh, .572), blocked shots (13th, 50) and offensive rebounds (17th, 105). He was part of teams that compiled 67 career victories, including a win over Navy that served as Hopkins' first-ever over a Division I opponent. Blaine received the Robert H. Scott Award, given to the senior student-athlete who best demonstrates excellence in athletics, scholarship and extracurricular activities.
Blaine and his wife, Kara, were married in August 2014. The couple resides in Ithaca.
* Updated August 26, 2014
