Justin Blood (born November 20, 1979) is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and former player, who is the current head baseball coach of the Keene State Owls. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at Frankin Pierce from 1999 to 2001. He then served as the head coach of the

Hartford Hawks The Hartford Hawks are the NCAA Division I athletic teams of the University of Hartford, located in West Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The men's and women's tennis teams were ...

(2012–2021).

Playing career

Blood pitched for three seasons at

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

. In 2000, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Orleans Cardinals The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play t ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Blood become the first baseball player ever drafted from Franklin Pierce, being selected by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

in the 9th round of the

2001 MLB Draft The 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 5 and 6. First round selections Supplemental First Round Selections Compensation Picks Background On June 1, 2001, Rolando Viera, a Cuban ba ...

. He played three seasons in the Mariners organization, reaching Class-A.

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Blood became an assistant coach at

Quinnipiac Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.'' Ojibwe: ''Anishinaabeg'' and Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a Quiripi-speaking Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wampano ...

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 James F. Penders is the coach of the UConn Huskies baseball team. Penders began his time with the Huskies in 1991 as a player on the varsity team. In his senior year, he was named a co-captain and helped to lead the Huskies to victory in the 1994 ...

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, later adding recruiting coordinator and associate head coach duties. He was responsible for recruiting players including

Mike Olt Michael George Olt (born August 27, 1988) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago White Sox. He played college baseball at the Universit ...

Matt Barnes Matt Barnes (born March 9, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Barnes was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. He ...

, and

George Springer George Chelston Springer III (born September 19, 1989) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Houston Astros from 2014 to 2020. The Astros selected Springer i ...

, 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 ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

. 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. Following the season, Blood signed a five-year contract extension through the 2019 season.

Head coaching record

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

References

External links

Official Biography, Hartford Hawks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood, Justin Living people 1979 births Baseball pitchers People from Keene, New Hampshire UConn Huskies baseball coaches Everett AquaSox players Franklin Pierce Ravens baseball coaches Franklin Pierce Ravens baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Hartford Hawks baseball coaches Inland Empire 66ers players Quinnipiac Bobcats baseball coaches San Bernardino Stampede players Baseball coaches from New Hampshire Keene State Owls baseball coaches