2 UMaine women's basketball assistants promoted

Jun. 22—University of Maine women's basketball assistants Courtney (Anderson) England and Tom Biskup have received promotions.

England is now the associate head coach under head coach Amy Vachon and Biskup was named the program's recruiting coordinator.

That will go into effect on July 1.

"They are both very hard workers who want to be the best that they can be," Vachon said.

Their responsibilities won't change, according to Vachon.

"They have been doing a lot of work all along," she said.

Both will begin their fifth seasons with the program. Parise Rossignol will return for her third season as an assistant, Vachon said.

England has been an assistant the past four years and Biskup was promoted from director of basketball operations to assistant coach in 2018.

In their four seasons with the program, UMaine has gone 83-35, 53-10 in America East regular season play.

UMaine has reached the America East Tournament championship game in all four of their seasons, although the 2019-20 game wasn't played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UMaine won back to back tourney titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19 to earn NCAA Tournament bids but they were upset by Stony Brook 64-60 in this past season's final.

"Courtney has been an integral part of our success at UMaine," Vachon said. "Starting as a student-athlete and transitioning to a coach, Courtney has made an indelible mark on our program. Our success is directly correlated to Courtney England. Her pride in the University is second to none and there is no one more deserving of being the associate head coach than Courtney."

England spent four years as a player at UMaine before becoming the director of basketball operations at New Hampshire. She then spent a year stint as an assistant coach at Presbyterian College in South Carolina.

"To have a successful program, a consistent staff is integral," Vachon said. "Tom is the epitome of consistency. His work ethic, his loyalty and his dedication to UMaine is special. Tom has developed into a top-notch recruiter and has enabled us to attract and retain elite student-athletes. We are very specific in who we recruit to be a Black Bear and there is not anyone I'd rather have be our recruiting coordinator than Tom Biskup."

Biskup, a UMaine graduate, previously spent two seasons on the basketball staff at Southern Maine Community College before serving a three-year stint as an assistant coach at Roanoke College in Virginia.