I had a chance to talk with Gene Blain just last week and it looks like the Eastern Connecticut Conference will be in good hands under his interim leadership.
Why?
The Windham High Principal sees the role of the Principals of the member schools as a lesser one in the overall scheme of things. Under previous leadership, it was believed the Principals should make policy but it wasn't always that which the real conference leaders, the Athletic Directors, thought was the correct decision.
Blain told me that he thought it was time to leave most of the decision-making process to those who truly know what's happening- the AD's. That was glimpsed in the last big vote when the Principals followed the Athletic Director's guidance and voted to revert back to a three-division football alignment next fall.
The old Quinebaug Valley Conference, generally, ran pretty well because the AD's were the ones who guided the policy-making. No offense to the Principals but they have many other things on their minds than interscholastic athletics.
Blain assumed the post of chairperson of the ECC when former Putnam Principal Linda Joyal chose not to serve. Blain said he volunteered to be chairman for the next couple of years because "no one was jumping out of their seats to take the position" and because when Windham's true turn to be chairman takes place, "sometime around 2025", Blain will likely no longer be in the picture.