Justin Blood

Justin Blood (born November 20, 1979) is an American baseball coach and former player, who is the current head baseball coach of the Keene State Owls.[1] He played college baseball at Frankin Pierce from 1999 to 2001. He then served as the head coach of the Hartford Hawks (2012–2021).[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Justin Blood
Blood in 2014
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamKeene State
ConferenceLittle East
Record0–0
Biographical details
Born (1979-11-20) November 20, 1979
Keene, New Hampshire
Playing career
1999–2001Frankin Pierce
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2003Quinnipiac (Asst.)
2004–2005Franklin Pierce (Asst.)
2006–2011Connecticut (Asst.)
2012–2021Hartford
2022–presentKeene State
Head coaching record
Overall223–297
TournamentsAmerican East: 9–10
NCAA: 0–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
  • America East Tournament (2018)
Awards
  • America East Conference Coach of the Year (2018)

Playing career

Blood pitched for three seasons at Franklin Pierce. In 2000, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[8] Blood become the first baseball player ever drafted from Franklin Pierce, being selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 9th round of the 2001 MLB Draft. He played three seasons in the Mariners organization, reaching Class-A.[1][3]

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Blood became an assistant coach at Quinnipiac before spending the next two years at Franklin Pierce completing his degree and serving as a student assistant. From 2006 through 2011, Blood served on the staff of Jim Penders at UConn, later adding recruiting coordinator and associate head coach duties. He was responsible for recruiting players including Mike Olt, Matt Barnes, and George Springer, and helped the Huskies to a pair of regionals and a super regional while his pitching staffs ranked among the nation's best. He was hired at Hartford during the Huskies 2011 NCAA tournament run, and has been tabbed one of the nation's top 10 under 40 head coaches by Baseball America.[1][7]

In 2012 and 2013, Blood's first two seasons at Hartford, the Hawks had losing records and missed the conference tournament. In 2014, however, Hartford went 31–23 and qualified for the America East tournament, where they went 1–2. It was Hartford's first winning season since 1992 and first postseason appearance since 1996.[9][10][11] Following the season, Blood signed a five-year contract extension through the 2019 season.[12]

Head coaching record

This table depicts Blood's record as a head coach.

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Hartford Hawks (America East Conference) (2012–2021)
2012 Hartford 16–407–175th
2013 Hartford 17–3613–175th
2014 Hartford 31–2316–72ndAmerica East tournament
2015 Hartford 23–3110–125thAmerica East tournament
2016 Hartford 37–1814–92ndAmerica East tournament
2017 Hartford 20–308–137thAmerica East tournament
2018 Hartford 26–3116–81stNCAA Regional
2019 Hartford 23–3411–136thAmerica East tournament
2020 Hartford 6–60–0Season canceled because of COVID-19
2021 Hartford 18–2018–20T-3rd (Division A)
Hartford: 217–269113–116
Keene State Owls (Little East Conference) (2022–present)
2022 Keene State 6–282–14
Keene State: 6–282–14
Total:223–297

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References
  1. "Justin Blood Named Keene State Baseball Coach". Keene State Athletics.
  2. "2013 Baseball Coaching Staff". Hartford Hawks. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  3. "Baseball Alum Justin Blood Tabbed as Head Coach at University of Hartford". Franklin Pierce University. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  4. "Justin Blood Profile". UConn Huskies. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  5. Mike Anthony (September 20, 2011). "Coach Justin Blood Aims To Build Respect For UHart Baseball". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  6. Dom Amore (May 31, 2011). "UConn Assistant Justin Blood Named UHart Baseball Coach". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  7. Aaron Fitt (January 3, 2013). "The Top 10 College Head Coaches Under 40". Baseball America. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  8. "2000 Orleans Cardinals". thebaseballcube.com. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  9. Jacobs, Jeff (May 21, 2014). "Blood Has Injected a Spark into Hartford Baseball Team". The Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  10. "All-Time Coaching Records" (PDF). HartfordHawks.com. Hartford Sports Information. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  11. "2013 America East Conference Baseball Record Book" (PDF). AmericaEast.com. America East Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 24, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  12. Anthony, Mike (July 3, 2014). "Hartford Baseball Coach Justin Blood Signs Five-Year Contract". Courant.com. The Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
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