Delaware State’s Jean-Paul Blandin, who served as the head baseball coach for 25 years, has retired. Blandin made the announcement this past March that he would retire following the 2024 season.
Coach Blandin took over the program prior to the 2000 season. The 2012 Mid-EasternAthletic Conference (MEAC) Coach of the Year now concludes his career with more than 500 wins and six MEAC Northern Division titles to his credit. The 2024 season saw Blandin guided the Hornets to the Northeast Conference (NEC) baseball tournament with a 20-13 conference record.
Blandin coached seven players drafted into the Major League Baseball. Last season, former player Trey Page was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in round 17 (515th pick overall).
JP Blandin compiled a 268-183 record in the MEAC regular season play from 2001-2022. When the MEAC no longer sponsored the sport of baseball at the end of the 2022 season, Delaware State joined the Northeast Conference. In NEC play, he amass a 28-35 record from 2023-2024.
Prior to his coaching career, Blandin was a standout player at Wilmington (Delaware) College. He helped lead the 1992 Wildcats to a fourth place finish in the 18-team NAIA World Series.
Blandin served as an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco in 1998. He was also an undergraduate assistant at his alma mater, Wilmington College, during the 1994 season. That year, Wilmington qualified for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) World Series in Des Moines, Iowa. As a player at Wilmington College, Blandin helped lead the 1992 Wildcats to a fourth-place NAIA World Series.
Throughout his coaching career at DSU, Blandin had NCAA statistical leaders in scoring (2001), pitching ERA (2001), stolen bases (2013), batting average, and on-base percentage (2014).