Page 16 - The Bell Tower - Winter/Spring 2014

Bengals in Action ATHLETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FORT KENT
MIKE HART (’89) has achieved near-legendary status as men’s head
coach at St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, Rhode Island, after notching his 400th career win in January 2014. Mike’s career record now stands at 400-213.
Hart is in his 20th year as bas- ketball coach at St. Andrew’s, a non- denominational co-educational boarding and day school located on a 100-acre campus. The school serves grades 6 to 12 and post-graduate high school.
Mike arrived at St. Andrew’s in the mid-90s. Since then, he has trans- formed an underperforming program into one that has made eight appear- ances in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) class championships, and winning six titles during that span.
Throughout most of his tenure, Mike has been ably assisted by John O’Shea (’89). The two friends have known one another dating back to their playing days at the Community College of Rhode Island, and later at UMFK. For the past 16 seasons the two coaches have sent 17 players to Division I college programs, and another 50 players to either Division II or Division III schools. Ninety-five percent of those players have gone on to earn a college diploma.
Hart (5’9”) and O’Shea (6’10”) are, at times, amusingly referred to as the “Mutt & Jeff ” of New England prep school coaches. Call them what you will, but call them successful. With both coaches still in their forties, the prospect of achieving 500 wins at St. Andrew’s appears very attainable.
14 | The Bell Tower
Alum Receives National Soccer Coach of the Year
Wulf-Dieter Koch (’89) was been named a 2013 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Field/Turf Coach of the Year. Koch won the award in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) level for his team’s success during the past season. He is in his seventh season as head coach at Auburn- Montgomery University (Montgomery, Alabama).
Koch led the Warhawks to a 15-7-2 record, and a berth in
the NAIA National Championship match. His squad won the
Southern States Athletic Conference regular season championship. Wulf was selected as the leagues’ Coach of the Year and notched his 200th career victory during the 2013 season.
Wulf was a member of UMFK’s 1988 championship soccer team, which captured the North East College Athletic Conference championship and the NAIA District 5 semifinal. He was a standout soccer player for four years.
Born in Roth, Germany, outside of Nuremberg, Wulf attended UMFK from 1985 to 1989, earning a bachelor of arts degree in History. Wulf led the Bengal men in scoring as a freshman and sophomore, and captained the squad during his junior and senior years.
Wulf finished his UMFK career with 32 goals and 28 assists.
Off the field, Koch was president of his junior and senior classes; treasurer of the UMFK Student Senate, and was the recipient of the “Distinguished Service Award” during his senior year.
Wulf was inducted into UMFK’s Athletic Hall of Fame during its inaugural year of 2008.
COLPITTS JOINS 1,000 POINT CLUB
UMFK women’s basketball senior guard, Jennifer Colpitts (’14), scored her 1,000th career point on December 5 at the UMFK Sports Center. Jenn’s milestone came during a 95-29 win over the University of Maine at Machias.
The 5’7” Colpitts reached the scoring milestone with seven minutes remaining in the first half on a strong slash to the basket, finishing with a right-handed lay-up over two Machias defenders. See the video below.
Jenn finished the 2013-2014
regular season with 1,158 career
points. The Lady Bengals ended
their season by attending the national championship where Colpitts added to her career numbers.
The Scarborough, Maine native finished her UMFK hoops career as the University’s second-ranked, all-time women’s scoring leader.