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Josette Babineau was named head coach of the University of Maine field hockey team on Thursday, February 1, 2007 by Director of Athletics Blake James. She becomes the sixth head coach in Maine field hockey history. "We are very excited to have someone with Josette's experience and success as our head coach," said James upon her hiring. "I am confident that we will see continued success both academically and athletically with our field hockey program." Babineau comes to Maine after serving as an assistant coach at Cornell the past three seasons. While with the Big Red, she was involved in all aspects of the program, including preparing practice plans and scouting reports for the Big Red. At Cornell, Babineau was instrumental in developing a defensive system which resulted in opponents taking 50 percent fewer shots than the previous season. Cornell's offense scored nearly half a goal per game more than it did the previous year. She also recruited extensively for Cornell. Babineau spent nine years as a Technical Director and Provincial Coach of the Saskatchewan Field Hockey Association. She served as head coach of the Under-21 Canada Games Team in 1997 and 2001. She was responsible for the growth and development of field hockey in Saskatchewan. During the 2003 season, Babineau served as the associate head coach at the University of Calgary. Babineau worked with the coaching staff to organize the season plan, practice plans, game plans and scouting reports. She also assisted in recruiting, team management and administrative duties. She also served as head coach of the Canadian Under-18 National Team during the 2000 season. She coached the Canadian Under-18 team at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Scotland. She ran identification camps throughout Canada to select athletes for the Youth Commonwealth Games team. From 1998-2000, Babineau served as an assistant coach of the Canadian Under-21 National team. The Under-21 team competed in the Qualifying tournament and finished third earning them a spot at the World Cup. Babineau was an outstanding field hockey player at the University of New Brunswick. She led her New Brunswick team to the Silver Medal at the Canadian National Championships in back-to-back seasons. She was a five-time Atlantic University All-Star selection. She was selected to the Canadian University All-Star team four years in a row. Babineau was named most valuable player of the Atlantic Field Hockey conference from 1990-93. In addition, she was named best all round athlete at the University of New Brunswick in both 1992 and 1993. In 1991, she was named Athlete of the Year at the University of New Brunswick and in 1993 she was selected as the Canadian University Player of the Year. She graduated in 1993 from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in business administration. |
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