Al Bean is just the third person since 1955 to serve as the Director of Athletics at the University of Southern Maine. He began his five-decade long relationship with the institution first as a student athlete as a member of the Huskies' baseball team. Bean went on to serve as an assistant baseball coach, sports information director, assistant athletic director and currently athletics director since 1993. His relationship with USM goes back to 1973 when he first entered USM as a student. During his years at USM, Bean has been instrumental in the creation of the USM Athletic Association, the Husky Hall of Fame, Honors Night, the William B. Wise Scholar-Athlete Awards, the Husky Golf Classic and most recently the Full Potential and Artists & Athletes initiatives. He has helped lead numerous initiatives and projects that have resulted in the construction of the Costello Field House, the USM Ice Arena, the renovation of the USM Baseball Stadium, Hannaford Field - the Huskies first artificial exterior playing surface and home to the men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams and the field hockey team, and most recently, the USM Softball Stadium project. Further plans are in the works for a grandstand with amenities at Hannaford Field, resurfacing of Flaherty Field and the renovation and expansion of the Costello Sports Complex.
Bean, a South Portland native and former baseball and basketball player for the Red Riots, received his B.S. in history and education from USM in 1977 and later earned his M.S. in adult education in 1992. He served as a history teacher and career counselor at Windham High School before being hired full-time at USM in the fall of 1983. Bean is a member of the USM Husky Hall of Fame, the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame and the Little East Conference Hall of Fame. He was also honored as the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year by NACDA, earned the Multiple Sclerosis Leadership Award and was placed on the USM College of Education Bailey Hall Wall of Honor. Bean, his wife, Robin and three children reside in Standish, Maine.
Now in his fourth decade as the head coach of the University of Southern Maine baseball team, Ed Flaherty has firmly established USM among the nation’s elite NCAA Division III programs. He’s earned an outstanding reputation for his proven teaching ability, discipline and hard-nosed work ethic. His instructional baseball camps are highly regarded and among the best attended in the New England region.Last season, Flaherty achieved a personal milestone when he became the 11th coach in NCAA Division III history to reach 1,000 career wins when the Huskies defeated Bates College on May 2. In his 33 seasons as head coach, Flaherty has compiled an impressive 1,004-450-4 record, including 17 seasons with 30 or more wins. Twenty-four times during his collegiate coaching career, Flaherty has guided the Huskies to a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
His career-winning percentage at the start of the 2019 season ranks him 15th among active NCAA Division III coaches with five or more years of service, and his 1,004 wins ranks fifth.
Under Flaherty’s direction, the Huskies reached the pinnacle of the NCAA Division III baseball world in 1991 when they traveled to Battle Creek, Michigan, and claimed their first national championship. That team was the first collegiate team from the state of Maine to win a national championship. The Huskies have made six other World Series appearances.
A former standout player at the University of Maine, Flaherty has earned many honors throughout his coaching career. In January 2005, Flaherty was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame.