By Andy Walter

DOVER — J.P. Blandin didn’t expect his players to be too happy.

Still, despite losing to LeMoyne on March 17, the Delaware State baseball team had won two of three games from the Dolphins.

“The guys were pretty down,” said Blandin, DSU’s veteran coach. “I was like, ‘Man, we just won our first NEC series. The guys should be excited.’

“I was sort of evaluating how the guys were feeling. I thought that was really important. I took the moment to stop and think about my energy level.

“It just sort of hit me. I was like, ‘You know what? I think this is it for me.’”

By the end of the month, Blandin had made up his mind. Last week he announced that this season — his 24th as the Hornets’ head coach — will be his last.

Including one year as an assistant, the 54-year-old Middletown native has been in the DSU dugout for 25 seasons and posted over 500 coaching victories. That makes Blandin the winningest coach in DelState athletics history.

But coaching college baseball, especially on the East Coast, is demanding.

Coaching any college sport in this day and age can be tough. Baseball — and softball — also have a long schedule with cold, rainy spring weather as a constant foe.

“There’s so many different sides to coaching,” said Blandin. “We’re still wearing a lot of hats. It’s everything from working on the field — I mean everything from edging grass to pulling weeds — to recruiting, to fund-raising, to everything.

“That job never ends. You have to have energy and balance to be able to do that.”

DSU baseball coach J.P. Blandin wants to be able to spend more time with his family, including wife Kristen. DELAWARE STATE ATHLETICS PHOTO

For Blandin, finding the balance between his two ‘families’ — his wife and children and the Hornet baseball program — was getting more difficult.

DelState joined the more-competitive North East Conference last season and the NCAA Transfer Portal has made it easier for college players to transfer.

Being a college head coach these days means thinking about your program pretty much year-round.

“Am I present when I come home?,” Blandin said he asked himself. “Do I feel like I’m giving everybody the same energy.

“With the landscape in college athletics, you’re constantly recruiting. You’re recruiting and then you may lose guys and you’re re-recruiting. It’s just a lot of work.

“Our program deserves the best. These kids deserve the best. ... Where I am right now, I want to give them the best but I probably need to pass this down to somebody else.”

Zach Candeloro, now a Caesar Rodney High assistant coach, pitched for Blandin at DSU. The idea of not having Blandin leading the Hornets seems strange.

“I can’t even picture them without him,” said Candeloro, who graduated from DelState in 2015. “He’s been like the face of that team for a long time.

“He cares about the players. He cares about you while you’re there and after you leave. He just loves baseball. He’s a great guy all around.”

Candeloro says Blandin was great about keeping the players focused despite distractions. He remembers one road trip where the Hornets had to deal with snow in North Carolina.

“He handled every situation thrown at him,” said Candeloro. “He always kept us focused on the task at hand.”

DSU baseball coach J.P. Blandin wants to help the Hornets get to the NEC Tournament for the first time this season. DELAWARE STATE ATHLETICS PHOTO

Blandin later spent time as an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco and coached an American Legion team in Colorado.

In 2000, Blandin returned to his home state as the pitching coach for Hornet head coach Tripp Keister. He replaced Keister the following season as interim head coach before taking on the job full-time.

During Blandin’s tenure, DelState won six MEAC Northern Division titles and reached the league championship game three times. In 2002, the Hornets won a school-record 40 games.

Seven DSU players were selected in the Major League Baseball draft during Blandin’s time as head coach including Trey Paige, who was selected by the Cardinals a year ago.

Blandin was twice named the MEAC Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.

After the Hornets swept Norfolk State in a three-game series last weekend, Blandin’s career record stands at 536-625-6. That includes a 259-159 regular-season record in the MEAC.

Blandin said he’s not sure right now what he’s going to do next. For the moment, he said he’s focusing on getting everything he can from his players.

The Hornets are 6-6 in the NEC and tied for sixth in the league standings. They have to finish in the top sixth to make the conference tournament.

“I want to really focus on this last run with these guys,” said Blandin.
Despite the demands of the sport, Blandin said he’s always loved coaching baseball. With only a short time left at Delaware State, he said he’s happy with the opportunity he’s had there.

“To coach college baseball 25 miles from where I grew up, that’s something for which I’m extremely grateful,” said Blandin. “Looking back at everything and getting this chance after Tripp left to take over the program. ... here I am 25 years later and I’m still coaching and still doing something that I really love.

“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I feel good about the work that I put in there but I’m also excited for the future of the program.”