• Blaine enters his second season at Cornell after arriving in
2010 from Maryland-Eastern Shore, where he was instrumental in
helping to turn around a once downtrodden program.
• 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 of Johns Hopkins University, Blaine ranks among the school's top 20 in three statistical categories (field goal percentage, blocks, offensive boards).
Diary Series: Mike Blaine, Asst. Coach - Cornell
I hope all our readers out there enjoyed a safe and happy holiday season! Unfortunately it seems as though the time grows shorter each year. I know that I enjoyed having a few days to spend with family and friends. I hope that you all did as well.
December is always a challenging month for players and coaches. There are various events and functions that can pull your focus into several different directions. These challenges are multiplied for our players with the academic rigors of Cornell.
Our month started off with an exciting overtime victory over Lehigh University on December 3rd. Lehigh had won 6 straight games at that point in the season, but Newman Nation provided Cornell Basketball with a tremendous home court advantage the propelled our team into Finals Week on a high note.
The academic rigors that our players face at an Ivy League institution are multiplied, as our Final Exams span not one week, but two! Our players put together a tremendous effort with their studies and finished the semester out on a high note.
However, they also found time to get together and volunteer their time and resources to the Adopt a Family program at the Ithaca Salvation Army. Our players were thrilled to have the opportunity to help a local family with a warm holiday meal. Central New York has been incredibly supportive of Cornell Basketball and our guys were excited to have a chance to give something back to those that help us so much.
While our players studied, the coaching staff was also hard at work studying for the future. December is one of the best windows during the season where we can get out and evaluate prospective student-athletes. We racked up plenty of airline miles, highway tolls, and fast food meals to continue to look toward adding to the legacy of success of Cornell Basketball. The camaraderie of the players and the caliber of the young men that have come through this program has been documented in the past by several media outlets. We continue to look for student-athletes that fit in with who we are and what we do!
Coming out of final exams we had three games in a five day stretch. A thrilling overtime victory over Albany closed out our home slate for 2011. This led us into a five game road trip sandwiched around the holidays. Between these road games and the holiday break our Cornell Basketball program was in transit for twelve out of fifteen days! Fortunately this has toughened us up for our “14 Game Tournament” that is Ivy League play!!!
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