E-mail Coach Blood (rb53@cornell.edu)
The Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball
As the Big Red softball team enters its 15th season in 2007-08 as a varsity sport at Cornell, head coach Dick Blood continues to lead the program to a promising future. Now in his 13th year at the helm of the Cornell softball program, Blood led last year's squad to a 35-14 record. It was the 10th time in the last 11 seasons that the Big Red has notched more than 30 wins. Cornell opened its 2007 season with its best start in the program's history winning its first 12 games. The Big Red finished second in the Ivy South Division with a 13-7 record, only one game behind division champs, Penn.
Cornell claimed second place in the Ivy League in both 2005 and 2006. The 2005 season saw the Big Red end its season one victory shy of hitting the 30 win mark, going 29-17. Blood guided his team to a 10-4 Ivy finish with Jenna Campagnolo (outfield), Lauren May (shortstop), and Erin Murtha (first base) all being named first-team All-Ivy. Second baseman Erin Kizer earned second-team honors. Campagnolo would earn her second first-team spot in 2006 when Cornell went 32-23 for the season and 11-3 against the Ancient Eight. Senior Caitlin Warren joined her as a first-team member at third base. Murtha earned second-team honors at first.
In 2004, Blood led Cornell to a share of the Ivy League title and its eighth straight season with 30-plus wins. He 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 to Ivy Player of the Year honors, while May, Erin Sweeney, Kate Varde, and Melissa Heintz were all named to the All-Ivy first team last season. Blood's squad also boasted a second-team selection as well as an honorable mention.
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 three Ivy League championships. In his 12 years guiding the Big Red, he has compiled an impressive 396-185-1 record, including a 283-111 slate from 1997-04. Blood ranks 21st on the NCAA Division I winningest active coaches charts with his .681 career winning percentage.
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 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 school-record 41-11 slate in the process. Blood's squad went 11-1 in the Ivy League, improving on its second-place finish the previous year,while earning a berth to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. Although Cornell couldn'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[apos]s pitching staff had the 19th-best earned run average in the country in 1999, 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 with Northern Iowa and Canisius for 33rd in home runs (0.50 per game) and was tied with Coastal Carolina and Cal State Northridge for 33rd in NCAA Division I in batting average in 1999, 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 to 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).
He spent just a year as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, but was the girls[apos] 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. In addition to serving as Hopkinton's head coach, he was the pitching coach at New Hampshire College from 1986-92.
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.
