Robin Balducci: UNH's Newest Hall of Famer

Robin Balducci, the leader of the UNH field hockey program as the head coach of the Wildcats for just over a quarter of a century, got to spend a little time in sunny Florida early in January.

Besides a lot of field hockey talk, a little business and some good times at her sport's annual convention in Naples, there was something else on the agenda this time around for coach Balducci: She was one of the celebrated guests at the event and received one of the most prestigious honors accorded in any sport when she was inducted into the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

UNH has been on a roll lately. In December, legendary UNH football coach Bill Bowes was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame in ceremonies in New York City.

Last month, Balducci – a three-sport standout in field hockey, lacrosse and ice hockey as a Wildcat before becoming a UNH coach – had her turn.

Balducci's accomplishments go well beyond the coaching piece on the field.

"Not only has she been an unbelievable coach all these years, but I think the most important thing about Robin to me, having spent 16 years with her, is how she mentors young women to become really significant contributors to society," said UNH director of athletics Marty Scarano. "She has a very high standard and she's old school and she's tough. When you talk to her alumni, they are so appreciative of what she taught them while they were here."

Balducci, her proud colleagues point out, is more than capable of coaching any number of sports. UNH men's hockey coach Dick Umile said he would have loved to play on one of her teams. She keeps everyone – not just her athletes and including prospective athletic directors - on their toes.

Robin Balducci, Hall of Famer: Yes, it has a ring to it.

RB Time

She even has her own time zone, of sorts.

They had a name for it.

Kyle Lyons - who played for Balducci and has followed her into the field hockey coaching field and is now an assistant at Vermont – said she and her teammates learned to set their schedules by Robin Balducci Time.

"We had to be 15 to 20 minutes early," Lyons said. "We called it RB Time. I think it's engrained in every alum. It's definitely carried over. When someone's late I get pretty ticked off. It's all a good thing. It prepares you whether you go into coaching or not. It's a part of how you carry yourself professionally and that's important when you graduate from college and go work in the real world. That's what Robin embodies. She's so direct and professional and there are some great life lessons to be learned, even while you're having fun playing."

Lyons was impressed with how much Balducci got out of her and her teammates.

"She was a great coach and she always had real high expectations in a real good way," Lyons said. "I think she pulled things out of us we didn't know we were capable of at the time. That's a fun thing to be a part of. Looking back, we didn't know some of those things were possible."

Balducci tends to keep a lot of people around the Field House thinking, said gymnastics coach Gail Goodspeed, another of the veteran coaches in the building and another who is thrilled with Robin's Hall of Fame honors.

"Balducci's funny," Goodspeed said. "She just keeps you on your toes. She keeps her athletes on their toes. Keeps other coaching staff members on their toes. She's got a great sense of humor, while working hard. I think her athletes would probably say she makes it challenging while having high expectations. But as another coach, it's fun to be around her and it's fun for our entire coaching staff to look at each other as role models for what we want to achieve."

Scarano was introduced to Balducci's high expectations before he even joined the department.

"Robin embodies what UNH is all about," he said. "She was in one of the interviews when I came here to be interviewed for the job and she put it to me like she puts it to everybody. 'What are you going to do to contribute to this place?' . . . It was good. She sets a high standard for everyone around her as well. . . . She asked me the best questions. I was in a circle of just the head coaches. That's a tough group to satisfy. She said, 'What program in our league would you use as an exemplar?' My head was swimming and I said Delaware."

Good answer.

"She said, 'That's the answer I was looking for,'" Scarano said. "Lucky guess. But at the time Delaware was kind of the gold standard almost across the board. Luckily I came up with that answer. That's the kind of person she is. She does that every single day to her athletes. She challenges them every single day."

Teacher/Coach

She could coach any sport, Scarano and others said.

"I often kid with her about it, that's she's the only woman I'd let coach with us," said football coach Sean McDonnell, another UNH alum turned highly successful coach. "I sit there and laugh. I could see her coaching the linebackers, the strong safeties. . . . Telling them to get in an athletic position and go tackle someone and knock them back. I can see the look in her eyes. She's a great teacher and she's passionate about what she does. I'd have her coach with me any day. I love what she stands for.

Umile takes the same subject from another angle.

"I would love to have played for her," Umile said. "She's my kind of coach. She's like a Sean McDonnell. She's like my high school football coach. Hard-nosed. Really knows the game. Makes you work, but is there for you all the time. On game day, the game's easy after what you've gone through in practice. Game day is a fun day. During the week, it's hard work."

Cross country and track & field coach Jim Boulanger is another of the longtime UNH coaches, another of the alums, another fan of Balducci.

"Charlie Holt's in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Bill Bowes is in the football Hall of Fame and now Robin," Boulanger said. "I think it speaks to the tradition of the coaches here at the university, that they've spent a long time working at their craft."

Like all coaches, she's a teacher first.

"The title of teacher/coach is the way you want to do it," Boulanger said. "She's tough, demanding and she's changed with the times. And she will make her kids succeed. I think that if you want to be successful at the sport she coaches, you pay attention and she'll make you good. She'll make you proud of herself. She unbelievably cares for her kids. . . . Those awards. That's the highest level you can get to. It's like somebody getting into Cooperstown. It's unbelievable."

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Robin Balducci: UNH's Newest Hall of Famer

Related Videos