I have one question left I did not get to ask Cindy Blodgett on Thursday in the news conference she threw two days after being fired as the University of Maine women’s basketball coach.

Has it ever occurred to you that you might be responsible for being fired?

On any level?

I heard Blodgett talk for almost 45 minutes about what was done wrong in the process of being dismissed, the deficiencies of the funding behind the program, the injuries that took away potential wins, and the disappointment and betrayal she feels for having the rug pulled out from under her before her plan to rebuild came to fruition.

She sat in a crowded room in an Irish pub a story above downtown Bangor and answered some tough questions.

She proudly stood behind her plan and gave some tough responses.

I never heard her utter the word responsibility.

I’ve covered sports for 12 years at this newspaper and have seen football coaches, choked up and struggling for words, take responsibility for a loss when a place-kicker missed a winning field goal.

I’ve heard hockey coaches take responsibility for losing a playoff game when the goaltender was, frankly, abominable.

At every possible level, from high school, to college, to minor league and major league sports, I have heard coaches take responsibility when things don’t turn out they way they wanted.

Just this week Austin Ainge told me he sometimes demonizes himself when the Maine Red Claws lose, questioning every move he made. And they lost a lot this year. Thirty-one times.

Blodgett’s team won 4 of 29 games this year.

Four.

Cindy Blodgett apparently has not looked in the mirror.

I heard what she said: The program is about to turn the corner. The plan was in place, the hurdles met, and the promised land was just over the horizon.

I get that she really believes it.

She also said she told Athletic Director Steve Abbott she would walk away after next season if those wins didn’t come.

Perhaps that was when the mirror would be held up, the hard truths acknowledged?

The University of Maine did not think Cindy Blodgett deserved more time.

Maine, which hired her four years ago, signed her paycheck and basked in the return of its prodigal daughter.

By virtue of dismissing her and agreeing to eat the $109,000, on some level the university admitted it was wrong for signing her to a two-year contract extension last fall.

The school cited her record in firing her. It cited team discord, although Blodgett refutes that.

But at what point does a human being do a little soul-searching? At what point does some self-awareness cross the threshold from the subconscious to conscious?

Maybe it’s in there.

Maybe those thoughts are too private to share in front of the glare of shuttering lenses, TV cameras, reporters tweeting your every remark and scribbling down your words.

But I didn’t hear it.

Not once.

Staff Writer Jenn Menendez can be contacted at 791-6426 or at:

jmenendez@pressherald.com