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It wasn't always so. Boulanger, 45, knew from age 15 that he wanted to coach, but he figured he would coach one of the sports he played: football, basketball or baseball. "Being this round guy I am, I always figured myself to be coaching offensive linemen."

He was a junior at UNH and no longer playing football when he decided he better improve his resume. He went to Oyster River High School in Durham to apply for a job as an assistant winter track coach. Told he didn't have enough experience, he went back in the spring when he saw the spot was still empty. Perseverance triumphed over resume.

Soon, he fell in love with cross-country, and with coaching cross-country and track athletes. He took over the program and began winning meets and titles. After assisting at UNH, he replaced John Copeland in 1982.

For years, Boulanger, a regular at many UNH sporting events, has done a lot with a little, in terms of facilities and scholarship money and other resources. He still waits for a new UNH track so the team can have home meets. But the goals remain the same.

"To keep winning the conference," Boulanger says. "To keep getting better. To always be a team. I know there will be times we have holes. But my puzzle keeps getting completed by those who walk through the door and get better."

Jeff Biron '99 wasn't sure he wanted to run anymore. He had been a very successful runner at Manchester Memorial High School, but always loved soccer more. He sat out his first track season at UNH. Then he came out to run for Boulanger.

"I had injuries and setbacks, and he never let me beat myself up about it," Biron says. "He makes sure you stay positive."

Biron cites Boulanger's knowledge and ability to get the most out of his athletes. Biron never ran with the knees-high style most sprinters use and coaches often insist is the best, sometimes only way to run.

"He's able to see the fundamentals and mechanics you have and he doesn't try to change everyone to fit one mold," Biron says. "He uses those tapes and he's definitely a student of the sport as well as a teacher." Biron was captain last winter and spring and ran on conference championship relay teams. UNH won team titles in six of his seven seasons in the program.

"I love to win as much as the next guy," Boulanger says. "But I really think it's very important also to know you can tell the kids that a loss is in the past. Start clean the next day and let's go on. I don't want anyone else dwelling on a statement like, 'This loss will follow you the rest of your lives,' that was said to me in high school. That didn't sit well with me at all. I thought, 'This is a game,' even then."

Dick Umile '72 didn't know for sure that late spring day, but he had a feeling he might be losing Jayme Filipowicz. Thinking about Filipowicz leaving was sobering—and sure enough, a few days later, the defenseman announced he was skipping his senior year of college to turn professional—but a few minutes later Umile smiled when highly regarded freshman Kevin Truelson, up for orientation, stopped by to say hello. Out with the old. In with the new.

Derek Bekar visited earlier in the day—he was back in town working toward his degree after passing up his senior year to go pro last year. Brian Putnam '97, another former player and now a coach, stopped by. Letters had arrived from both Jason Krog '99 and Steve O'Brien '99, leaders of the 1998-99 team, thanking Umile for their experiences as UNH hockey players.

"They come in here as kids, a year or two out of high school and you see them grow and develop," Umile says. "This is what coaching's all about. Those letters were very emotional. It's what keeps you going. You're not going to go to the Final Four every year. You're not always going to play in the championship game. But you're always going to get the letters."

Of course, the way UNH has played the last couple of years, fans may be hoping the Wildcats are going to the Final Four every year. Umile and his coaching staff have raised the bar. Never before had UNH made the Final Four two years in a row. Never before had UNH played in the national championship game, a game it lost in overtime to Maine last April.

Still fiery, passionate and intense—especially in his pregame speeches—Umile played for UNH and then came back to coach under Bob Kullen. He has calmed down some, but not a lot, since suffering a heart attack after a game two and a half years ago.

"He's learned that if the edge is off, it's OK," says UNH assistant coach Brian McCloskey. "He doesn't feel like he needs to drive the kids emotionally. He lets the kids provide the emotion. The kids have picked up on it. If you're unsettled on the bench, your kids will become unsettled."

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