UMPI names softball coach
PRESQUE ISLE — The University of Maine-Presque Isle has announced Peter Coffin as the new head women’s softball coach.
A native of Millinocket, Coffin is an UMPI alumnus, graduating in 1986 with a degree in health, physical education and recreation. He has been teaching in the Presque Isle school system for the past 12 years.
“Peter Coffin 
comes to us with extensive coaching experience in a variety of sports including 14 years of softball coaching,” said UMPI Athletic Director Chris Corsello, “in addition to his coaching experience Peter brings with him a thorough understanding of the game, having served as a collegiate umpire for several years.”
Coffin will inherit a team that completed the spring 2011 season with a record of 14-13 and went to the championship game of the now defunct Sunrise Conference Tournament. He takes over for Terry Cummings, who stepped down from his positions of head men’s basketball coach and head women’s softball coach at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
In his first season, Coffin will need to rely heavily on returning players from last season’s roster, one that featured only two seniors. Building from “within” will be a priority for the first-time collegiate head coach.
“I would like to keep the program going in the direction it has started moving in the past two seasons,” said Coffin. “I am also looking to find ways to attract local softball talent to the university. As a teacher and coach in Presque Isle I have seen a lot of talented softball players who leave the area to attend college and do not play the sport after high school. I would like to talk to Aroostook county athletes and try to get them to continue their softball interests as well as get a solid education right in their own backyard.”
