Saluting Coach Boulanger's Retirement

Jim Boulanger in 1991 / Photo courtesy UNH Archives

DURHAM, N.H. - Jim Boulanger, the director of the University of New Hampshire's cross country and track & field program since 1982, is retiring this spring after nearly four decades of success in teaching and leading Wildcat athletes. He will coach the team in his last home meet on Saturday at 11 a.m.

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We reached out to Boulanger's former student athletes, mentors, colleagues and friends seeking assorted perspectives on his career upon the occasion of his retirement and among the people we talked to was Alison Leveh. Then Alison Poulin, she grew up in Durham and worked with Boulanger while at Oyster River High School before starting her collegiate career at the University of Vermont. She transferred back to UNH and, nurtured by Boulanger, rediscovered her love for competition and ended up ranking as one of the school's most accomplished athletes before graduating in 1993.

An All American in the 400-meter hurdles, Poulin was named the top female collegiate athlete in New Hampshire by the NCAA. Nearly three decades later, Poulin still holds UNH records in the 55, 200 and 400-meter hurdles in indoor track and the 100 and 400-meter hurdles in outdoor track. Only one UNH track & field record has lasted longer than hers.

Poulin twice went to the Olympic Trials, first in 1992 after her junior year at UNH, and again in 1996.

This is what she had to say via email from her home in San Tan Valley, Ariz., about her fond memories of working with Coach Boulanger:

"When I first moved to New Hampshire in 1980, little did I know I was living on the steepest hill in Durham. I remember waking up on the weekends to the sound of men rallying and cheering each other on as they got closer to the top.

It was like watching a well-oiled locomotive train to see a group of approximately 20 men from the UNH cross country team work so closely together. I was deeply inspired by their collaborative synergy and what I could only imagine was a mutual love of athletics that drew them together. I was in complete awe of their strength, grace, dedication and the intense bond it seemed to create among the runners.

They drew me to Coach Boulanger like the Pied Piper.

In high school I ran winter and spring track, and although I ran hurdles and did many events, I was mostly drawn to high jumping at the time. My high school coach, Doc Burton, introduced me to Jim in high school since he had more experience coaching high jumpers.

Coach B's charismatic personality, passion for track, and thirst for knowledge made him very magnetic. His love of track was contagious, yet it was his humanitarian values and genuine care for people that made the deepest impression on me.

I earned a college scholarship to the University of Vermont with my high jumping, yet the whole time I was at UVM, I couldn't help but miss Jim's familiar face and passion for athletics.

After going through some rough times, I decided to move back home for my last two years of college, and work with Jim again. I was mostly impressed by his level of self-respect and his positive expectation that we write down our goal/s before he would even work with us at all.

I considered him a friend, and no matter how hard of a day I had before I got to practice, I knew I could count on Jim to put a smile on my face when I walked into the track. He would always stop whatever he was doing to give a big shout out to me, "Ms. Poulin!"

I admired how he was always learning new training techniques and put heart monitors on us to train, according to pulse and VO2 levels. He made hard work fun. Even though I would gripe, he would just smile and say, "Off you go!"

I appreciated his willingness to allow me to train with the UNH men's track team, as the women had a very strong distance running team, yet not many sprinters or hurdlers. It was truly a family for me and a place where I felt like I belonged.

Coach Jim Boulanger in 1981 / Photo courtesy UNH Archives

Coach B was like a jack of all trades, and knew how to stretch out my hips and lower back, and made sure I got down to the training room for ice and treatment, or to stretch my calves on the slant boards after workouts. He took time to do extensive biometric testing, nutritional counseling, and even had me dunked in a tank to find my true body fat. He was a real, salt of the earth kind of guy, and I felt so good inside when I heard him say with sincerity, "She is a good kid."

Working hard together with Coach B were the best years of my life. He taught me how to set goals, and work hard to achieve them, and then set new goals. He taught me that whatever the mind can conceive, the body can achieve.

He didn't laugh when I set high goals, and I respected him for that. I had faith in him, and he had faith in me, and it brought us to the 1992 Olympic Trials in my junior year at UNH. By my senior year, I ran a world leading time at our Eastern Championship, and I remember hearing Jim say, "Just wait until she gets good."

1995 America East Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship Team with Coach Jim Boulanger (top right) / Photo courtesy UNH Archives

He was such an optimist, and he gave me so much hope when I truly needed it. Although he was a hell of a task master, he had one of the biggest caring hearts of anyone I've ever met. He would say, "She just needed a little TLC."

He was very humble, yet proud, and instilled a very strong work ethic in me that has served me well over my life. I am very grateful for all the time, energy, and love that Coach B put into his career at UNH. He not only built a career for himself there, yet a life and a legacy that I'm sure will live on in all of the athletes he knew and trained."

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