Justin Blood
{{short description|American baseball coach and player (born 1979)}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Justin Blood
| image = Justin Blood (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Blood in 2014
| current_title = Head coach
| current_team = Keene State
| current_conference = Little East
| current_record = 0–0
| contract =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1979|11|20}}
| birth_place = Keene, New Hampshire
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater =
| player_years1 = 1999–2001
| player_team1 = Frankin Pierce
| coach_years1 = 2003
| coach_team1 = Quinnipiac (Asst.)
| coach_years2 = 2004–2005
| coach_team2 = Franklin Pierce (Asst.)
| coach_years3 = 2006–2011
| coach_team3 = Connecticut (Asst.)
| coach_years4 = 2012–2021
| coach_team4 = Hartford
| coach_years5 = 2022–present
| coach_team5 = Keene State
| overall_record = 223–297
| tournament_record = American East: 9–10
NCAA: 0–2
| championships =
- America East Tournament (2018)
| awards =
- America East Conference Coach of the Year (2018)
| coaching_records =
}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://keeneowls.com/news/2021/7/13/justin-blood-named-keene-state-baseball-coach.aspx|publisher=Keene State Athletics|title=Justin Blood Named Keene State Baseball Coach}} He played college baseball at Frankin Pierce from 1999 to 2001. He then served as the head coach of the Hartford Hawks (2012–2021).{{cite web|url=http://www.hartfordhawks.com/coaches.aspx?rc=437&path=baseball|publisher=Hartford Hawks|title=2013 Baseball Coaching Staff|accessdate=December 22, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/sports/bsb/2010-11/releases/060211BBbloodHartford|publisher=Franklin Pierce University|title=Baseball Alum Justin Blood Tabbed as Head Coach at University of Hartford|accessdate=December 22, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/blood_justin00.html|publisher=UConn Huskies|title=Justin Blood Profile|accessdate=December 22, 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://www.courant.com/2011/09/20/coach-justin-blood-aims-to-build-respect-for-uhart-baseball/|author=Mike Anthony|newspaper=Hartford Courant|location=Hartford, Connecticut|title=Coach Justin Blood Aims To Build Respect For UHart Baseball|date=September 20, 2011|access-date=December 22, 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://www.courant.com/2011/05/31/uconn-assistant-justin-blood-named-uhart-baseball-coach/|title=UConn Assistant Justin Blood Named UHart Baseball Coach|author=Dom Amore|newspaper=Hartford Courant|location=Hartford, Connecticut|date=May 31, 2011|access-date=December 22, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/on-campus/2012/2614504.html|publisher=Baseball America|title=The Top 10 College Head Coaches Under 40|author=Aaron Fitt|date=January 3, 2013|accessdate=December 22, 2013}}
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.{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.thebaseballcube.com/college/summer/stats.asp?Y=2000&T=Orleans_Cardinals |title=2000 Orleans Cardinals |publisher=thebaseballcube.com |date= |accessdate=May 6, 2020}} 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.
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.
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.{{cite news|last=Jacobs |first=Jeff |title=Blood Has Injected a Spark into Hartford Baseball Team |url=https://www.courant.com/2014/05/21/blood-has-injected-a-spark-into-hartford-baseball-team/ |access-date=May 30, 2014 |newspaper=The Hartford Courant |date=May 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527003644/http://articles.courant.com/2014-05-21/sports/hc-jacobs-column-0522-20140521_1_justin-blood-sean-newcomb-hartford-hawks |archive-date=May 27, 2014 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|title=All-Time Coaching Records |url=http://hartfordhawks.com/documents/2013/1/22/Records_BB-Year-byYear.pdf |work=HartfordHawks.com |publisher=Hartford Sports Information |accessdate=June 10, 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042445/http://hartfordhawks.com/documents/2013/1/22/Records_BB-Year-byYear.pdf |archivedate=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|title=2013 America East Conference Baseball Record Book |url=http://www.americaeast.com/fls/14000/records/base.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=14000 |work=AmericaEast.com |publisher=America East Conference |accessdate=May 20, 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424161321/http://www.americaeast.com/fls/14000/records/base.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=14000 |archivedate=April 24, 2013 |url-status=dead }} Following the season, Blood signed a five-year contract extension through the 2019 season.{{cite news |last1=Anthony |first1=Mike |title=Hartford Baseball Coach Justin Blood Signs Five-Year Contract |url=http://www.courant.com/sports/college/blog/hc-hartford-baseball-coach-justin-blood-signs-fiveyear-contract-20140703,0,528461.story?track=rss |accessdate=July 5, 2014 |work=Courant.com |publisher=The Hartford Courant |date=July 3, 2014 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717012503/http://www.courant.com/sports/college/blog/hc-hartford-baseball-coach-justin-blood-signs-fiveyear-contract-20140703,0,528461.story?track=rss |archivedate=July 17, 2014 |url-status=dead }}
Head coaching record
This table depicts Blood's record as a head coach.
{{CBB yearly record start|type=coach}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead|name=Hartford Hawks|conference=America East Conference|startyear=2012|endyear=2021}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2012
| name = Hartford
| overall = 16–40
| conference = 7–17
| confstanding = 5th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2013
| name = Hartford
| overall = 17–36
| conference = 13–17
| confstanding = 5th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2014
| name = Hartford
| overall = 31–23
| conference = 16–7
| confstanding = 2nd
| postseason = America East tournament
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2015
| name = Hartford
| overall = 23–31
| conference = 10–12
| confstanding = 5th
| postseason = America East tournament
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2016
| name = Hartford
| overall = 37–18
| conference = 14–9
| confstanding = 2nd
| postseason = America East tournament
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2017
| name = Hartford
| overall = 20–30
| conference = 8–13
| confstanding = 7th
| postseason = America East tournament
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = confboth
| season = 2018
| name = Hartford
| overall = 26–31
| conference = 16–8
| confstanding = 1st
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2019
| name = Hartford
| overall = 23–34
| conference = 11–13
| confstanding = 6th
| postseason = America East tournament
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2020
| name = Hartford
| overall = 6–6
| conference = 0–0
| confstanding =
| postseason = Season canceled because of COVID-19
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2021
| name = Hartford
| overall = 18–20
| conference = 18–20
| confstanding = T-3rd {{small|(Division A)}}
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal|name=Hartford|overall=217–269|confrecord=113–116}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead|name=Keene State Owls|conference=Little East Conference|startyear=2022|endyear=}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2022
| name = Keene State
| overall = 6–28
| conference = 2–14
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| season = 2023
| name = Keene State
| overall = 13-25
| conference = 3-13
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| season = 2024
| name = Keene State
| overall = 21-22
| conference = 8-8
| confstanding =
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal|name=Keene State|overall=40–75|confrecord=13–35}}
{{CBB yearly record end|overall=247–343}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{baseballstats|brm=blood-001jus|fangraphs=}}
- [https://www.hartfordhawks.com/coaches.aspx?rc=904&path=baseball Official Biography, Hartford Hawks]
{{Hartford Hawks baseball coach navbox}}
{{America East Conference Baseball Coach of the Year navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood, Justin}}
Category:Sportspeople from Keene, New Hampshire
Category:UConn Huskies baseball coaches
Category:Everett AquaSox players
Category:Franklin Pierce Ravens baseball coaches
Category:Franklin Pierce Ravens baseball players
Category:Orleans Firebirds players
Category:Hartford Hawks baseball coaches
Category:Inland Empire 66ers players
Category:Quinnipiac Bobcats baseball coaches
Category:San Bernardino Stampede players