Dick Blood
The Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball
Phone: 255-8500
Email:
rb53@cornell.edu
As the Big Red softball team completes its 16th season as a varsity sport at Cornell, head coach Dick Blood continues to lead the program to a promising future.
In his 14th year at the helm of the Cornell softball program, Blood helped the 2009 team to regain the Ivy title that he led the Big Red to in 1999, 2001 and 2004. The Big Red claimed the Ivy South Division title and played host to Dartmouth for a three-game Ivy championship series. Cornell earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after winning games one and three. The Big Red led the Ivy League with a .357 batting average and a 2.02 ERA. With a 42-13 record, the 2009 squad tied the school record for wins in a season that was set in 2004. The team also broke the record for Ivy wins in a season with a 17-3 mark. Blood’s players swept the league’s top honors with Alyson Intihar being named player of the year, while Elizabeth Dalrymple was pitcher of the year. The duo was joined by Ashley Garvey, Elise Menaker and Jessy Berkey on the All-Ivy first-team. Pitcher Ali Tomlinson and catcher Vanessa Leonhard were honorable mention All-Ivy.
In 2008, the Big Red finished the season leading the nation with a.351 batting average in the final NCAA rankings. Cornell ranked in the top 10 teams in five different categories, including batting average, scoring, win-loss percentage, slugging percentage and doubles per game. Blood coached four Cornell hitters to rank in the top 100 individually for their batting average. The Big Red finished the season with a 40-10 overall record, and its .80 winning percentage ranked 10th in the country. The team finished in second place in the Ivy South division with a 16-4 mark. Senior outfielder Jenna Campagnolo earned one of Cornell athletics’ top honors, being named the female recipient of the Outstanding Senior Athlete award. Campagnolo also earned her fourth first-team All-Ivy honor, and she was joined by Elise Menaker, Samantha Hare and Alyson Intihar on the All-Ivy teams.
In 2007, Blood led the Big Red to its best start in program history opening with 12 wins. Cornell went on to notch a 35-14 record, while going 13-7 in the Ivy League. The Big Red placed second in the Ancient Eight’s South Division. Intihar and Campagnolo were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Mid-Atlantic All-Region teams. Intihar received first-team honors in the utility position, while Campagnolo was named second-team as an outfielder. Intihar was also one of only three Ivy League players to be named to the 2007 ECAC Division I softball all-star team.
Blood collected his 300th career win May 20, 2004, in a dramatic upset of Long Beach State in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Blood coached Lauren May ‘05 to consecutive Ivy Player of the Year honors (2004-05) and the ECAC Softball Player of the Year award in 2005. May closed out her career under Coach Blood in 2005 as Cornell’s all-time leader in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs and RBI. Blood’s 2005 team also landed Erin Murtha and Jenna Campagnolo on the All-Ivy first team and Erin Kizer on the second team. Last season, Campagnolo earned her third-consecutive first team honors and was joined by freshman Alyson Intihar as a utility player.
Blood became the first Jan Rock Zubrow ‘77 Head Coach of Softball when the position was endowed in the summer of 2001. He has led Cornell to four Ivy League titles in his 14 years, compiling an impressive 478-208-1 record.
Blood led the Big Red to a team-record 42 wins in 2004 as it captured a piece of its third Ivy title. The long ball was key to the team’s success en route to the NCAA tournament, hitting a team-record 57 home runs.
The Big Red used powerful hitting (54 home runs) and solid pitching (1.88 ERA) to earn a share of the league championship in 2001. During a play-in series, the Big Red swept Harvard to clinch a trip to the NCAA tournament. The team’s 54 home runs ranked second in the country behind NCAA champion Arizona.
Blood also led the Big Red to its first Ivy League championship in 1999, compiling a 41-11 slate in the process. Blood’s squad went 11-1 in the Ivy League, improving on its second-place finish from the previous year, while earning a berth to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. Although Cornell didn’t repeat as champions in 2000, the Big Red won 30 games for the fourth-consecutive season thanks to a final-day sweep of upstart Dartmouth. The Big Red defeated the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year to earn the mark.
Blood’s pitching staff had the 19th-best earned run average in the country in the 1999 season, allowing opponents a mere 1.43 earned runs per game. His squad was 18th in runs scored (5.23 per game) and ranked 20th in slugging percentage (.428). The Big Red was 14th in doubles (1.54 per game), was tied for 33rd with Northern Iowa and Canisius in home runs (0.50 per game) and was tied for 33rd with Coastal Carolina and Cal State Northridge in NCAA Division I batting average, hitting at a .293 clip. Cornell’s 4-3 victory over Bethune-Cookman on March 27, 1999, gave Blood his 100th coaching victory on the East Hill.
The Big Red finished the 1998 season with a 37-9 mark, earning its second-straight berth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament, only to have the championships canceled due to rain. Blood’s squad finished in a tie for second place in the Ivy League with an 8-4 conference slate.
In 1998, Cornell ranked fourth in the nation in home runs (0.87 per game), fifth in slugging percentage (.512), sixth in winning percentage (.804), eighth in doubles (1.57 per game), 10th in batting (.328), 12th in scoring (6.15 runs per game) and 13th in triples (0.43 per game).
In just his second year at the helm of Cornell softball, Blood’s 1997 team compiled a 35-15 record and won its first-ever ECAC championship. The team also finished seventh in the nation in home runs (0.64 per game) and 18th in slugging percentage (.428).
Prior to Cornell, he spent just a year as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, but was the girls’ varsity softball coach at Hopkinton (N.H.) High School from 1980-94. During his time there, he posted an impressive 264-43 record, while also working as an English teacher at Hopkinton High from 1975-1983. Blood guided Hopkinton to eight state championships, including five straight from 1985-89, and was named the New Hampshire High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1987.
Blood was named National Federation Interscholastic Coaches Association New Hampshire Coach of the Year in 1995 for his many contributions to statewide clinics and was instrumental in the development of softball in the entire state of New Hampshire. He worked to establish an Amateur Softball Association for the state. In 1986, the Cornell mentor began coaching Dolls ‘n Granite and New Hampshire Granite Junior Olympic teams and his squad won the regional championships and placed 13th at the national tournament in 1993. The following year, his team won the state championship and was a regional contender.
A 1975 graduate of Plymouth State College, Blood earned a bachelor of science degree in secondary education with a specialization in English. He played both basketball and baseball for the Panthers, captained the diamondmen in 1974 and 1975 and was the most valuable player in 1973 and 1974.
Upon graduation, Blood coached boys’ basketball at Hopkinton High School from 1975-1981, while also coaching the junior varsity baseball team from 1975-79. He then became the men’s assistant basketball coach for two years at New England College in Henniker, N.H. From 1989-92, he was the assistant softball coach and pitching coach at New Hampshire College in Manchester, N.H., while also coaching softball at Hopkinton HS.
In 1979, Blood graduated from the Bill Kinnamon Professional Umpiring School in San Bernardino, Calif., and umpired for two years in the Class A New York-Penn League.
Blood and his wife, Judy, reside in Ithaca.
*Updated June 2009
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