Plattsburgh State Athletics

Mike Blaine enters his sixth season as the head men's basketball coach at Plattsburgh State in 2024-25.

Blaine's 2024-25 team made the SUNYAC tournament for the second straight season with a 15-12 overall (11-7 SUNYAC) record, earning the fourth seed and a home first round game. The Cardinals won their first postseason game since 2017-18 when they beat fifth-seeded Morrisville 69-66 in the first round at Memorial Hall. The Cardinals then fell in the semifinals 74-72 at New Paltz and this was also the first time the team made the semifinals since the 2017-18 season. Blaine coached three All-SUNYAC players in Franklin Infante, Kevin Tabb, and Kareem Welch, the most since the 2017-18 season. Tabb and Welch earned second team honors while Infante was named to the third team. 

In his fifth season as head coach Blaine led the team to a 14-12 overall (11-7 SUNYAC) record and a SUNYAC Tournament berth. After a four-year drought last making the playoffs during the 2018-19 season, the Cardinals earned the fifth seed. The team lost 78-77 in the SUNYAC first round in overtime to fourth-seeded Cortland. The team had one All-SUNYAC selection, as Kevin Tabb earned an All-SUNYAC selection for the second year in a row this time being named to the second-team. 

Blaine's 2022-23 squad saw an eight-win improvement from the season before, as his team finished 10-15 overall and 6-12 in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play. The team finished in eighth place, finishing two games back of the sixth and final playoff spot. Blaine also saw the first all-conference selection of his tenure, as sophomore guard Kevin Tabb was a third-team selection. 

In Blaine's second season at the helm, and third year at Plattsburgh, the team finished 2-23 (1-17 SUNYAC) after a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic and significant roster turnover.

Plattsburgh State finished just one game back of SUNYAC Tournament qualification in Blaine's first season at Plattsburgh State, as he guided the Cardinals to an 8-17 overall (5-13 SUNYAC) mark.

Prior to arriving at Plattsburgh State, Blaine served as the head coach at Medaille College for five seasons. Medaille won two Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) championships under Blaine's direction, including most recently in 2016-17 when he earned AMCC Coach of the Year honors. He posted an 84-55 record (63-27 AMCC) during his time at Medaille and qualified for the AMCC Tournament every year. Blaine's Mavericks made two NCAA Division III Tournament appearances during his time in Buffalo.
 
In addition to his coaching duties at Medaille, he served as the AMCC's representative on the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Advisory Committee for men's basketball from 2016-18 and oversaw the department's NCAA compliance and student services.
 
Prior to Medaille, Blaine worked as an assistant coach at Division I Cornell University of the Ivy League from 2010-14 on head coach Bill Courtney's staff. He served as the program's primary admissions, alumni relations and game scheduling liaison and managed recruiting efforts in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions of the United States.
 
Blaine also coached for two seasons as an assistant at Division I University of Maryland Eastern Shore, one season as an assistant at Division III Hampden-Sydney College, one season as an assistant at Division I Radford University, two seasons as the director of basketball operations at Division I Army West Point and one season as the director of basketball operations at Division I James Madison University.
 
As an undergraduate student-athlete, Blaine competed for Johns Hopkins University for four years, helping lead the Blue Jays to a 67-34 overall record during his tenure there. He finished his career ranked fifth in program history in field goal percentage (.572) and 10th in blocked shots (50). Blaine also helped Johns Hopkins defeat Navy, 66-61, on Dec. 4, 2002, marking the Blue Jays' first win over a Division I team under head coach Bill Nelson.

Blaine earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology from Johns Hopkins in 2003 and his Master of Arts in organizational leadership from Medaille in 2017.

He currently resides in Plattsburgh, N.Y., with his wife, Kara, and their daughter, Erin, and son, Michael.