Baseball The
baseball program has made several trips to the
College World Series and has produced numerous major- league baseball players. The program has also made 16 NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2011 when they defeated FIU, 4-1, in the NCAA regionals. The program has won the
AEC Tournament five times, in 1993, 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2011. The program also won the conference in 1990 and 1991, before the America East sponsored a baseball tournament.
Basketball The
basketball teams, as well as all other sports teams, participate in the
America East Conference. Former
Clemson University head baseball coach
Jack Leggett also attended the university, as well as
NBA head coach
Rick Carlisle (although Carlisle transferred to
Virginia and finished his college career there). Other notables include
Rufus Harris, Kevin Reed, Matt Rossignol, Jim Boylen, Andy Bedard, and several former Maine high school stars including Bangor's Jon McAllian and Edward Little's Troy Barnies. A prominent current player is
San Diego-native Gerald Mclemore. The women's and men's basketball teams play at the
Cross Insurance Center in
Bangor starting with the 2013-14 season. The men's team has held a total of eight games at
Memorial Gym since 2003–04. The team has never played in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
Cindy Blodgett played basketball at Maine before playing in the
WNBA. She went on to serve as an assistant coach at
Boston College and
Brown. The
men's basketball team in recent years has made progress as in the 2009–10 season the team finished the season in second place in the America East conference with a 19–11 overall record with recording one of its biggest wins in recent years with a 52–51 win over
Boston College of the Atlantic Coast Conference and in the 2010–11 season defeating the University of Massachusetts, 68-56, and Penn State, 74-64. On May 23, 2007, Blodgett was named the head coach of the women's team. She was released in March 2011. The Black Bears'
rivalry with the
New Hampshire Wildcats is the longest continuous basketball rivalry between any two non-
Ivy League schools: the men's teams have played each other 120 seasons in a row, from 1904–1905 to the present season (2024-2025). The program has developed 2 NBA players those being former
Los Angeles Clippers Jeff Cross and former
Boston Celtics and current head coach of the
Dallas Mavericks Rick Carlisle.
Football Maine's
football team competes in the
Coastal Athletic Association. Prior to the 2007 season, the NCAA football league was sponsored by the
Atlantic 10 Conference. The football program has produced many professional football players and coaches, such as
center Mike Flynn, offensive lineman
Justin Strzelczyk, quarterback
Mike Buck, wide receiver/coach
Phil McGeoghan, Pro Bowl linebacker
Lofa Tatupu, who transferred to
USC after his freshman year, linebacker
Stephen Cooper, Pro Bowl fullback/special teams
Montell Owens, defensive back
Daren Stone, tight end
Matthew Mulligan, defensive lineman
Mike DeVito, linebacker
Jovan Belcher, Pro Bowl fullback/defensive lineman
Patrick Ricard, and defensive back
Brandon McGowan. Current Iowa coach, and 2002 AP National Coach of the Year
Kirk Ferentz began his head coaching career at Maine. In the
2006 NFL draft, the
Oakland Raiders selected wide receiver
Kevin McMahan as the draft's last selection, affectionately known as
Mr. Irrelevant. Among Division I FCS-level college programs, Maine currently has the most active players on
National Football League rosters as of 2025. The team has played several
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents. In recent years, the team has played Iowa, Rutgers, Hawaii, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Connecticut, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh. In 2004, The Maine Black Bears defeated
Mississippi State University, 9-7. This marked the first time that Maine defeated a
Division I FBS opponent. The largest crowd that the Black Bears have ever played in front of was 77,469
fans at Memorial Stadium, when Maine fell, 25–7, to
Nebraska in
Lincoln, Nebraska. The team is scheduled to play BCS games at the ACC's
Boston College in 2012 and the Big Ten's
Northwestern University in 2013. UM also defeated longtime rival and FBS opponent Massachusetts, 24-14, in 2013. Despite success over the past decade, including an NCAA tournament berth in 2011, Maine had never won a CAA regular season title. That drought ended on November 16, 2013 as Maine defeated the
University of Rhode Island 41-0 at home to win their first CAA title.
Ice hockey The men's
ice hockey program was introduced in 1977. The team has been successful and have won the
Hockey East title five times, appeared in eleven
Frozen Fours, and won 2
National Championships. The Black Bears compete in the Hockey East conference, which includes teams such as
Boston College,
Boston University,
Northeastern, and
New Hampshire. The program has produced many professional ice hockey players, such as
Paul Kariya,
Eric Weinrich,
Keith Carney,
Garth Snow,
Mike Dunham,
Dustin Penner, and
Jimmy Howard. The team is best known for its 1992–93 season, in which the team only lost one game, finishing with a record of 42–1–2. The team is noted for its head coach
Shawn Walsh, who coached the team for seventeen seasons. Walsh is credited with turning the team into such a successful program, as well as turning the
Alfond Arena into one of the most intimidating arenas in college hockey. Walsh died of
renal cell carcinoma on September 26, 2001. == Media ==