Bruce Lehane (January 11, 1949 – September 23, 2017) was the cross country, middle distance, and long distance

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

coach at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

from 1982 to 2017.

Early life and running career

Lehane grew up in

South Boston, Massachusetts South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...

. He began his cross country and track career at Boston English High School and continued his career at

Boston State College Boston State College was a normal school from 1852 to 1872 and a public university from 1872 to 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was merged into the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1982. History Boston State College's roots ...

. There, he set school records in the 880 yard run (1:52.1) and mile run (4:11.2) and earned N.A.I.A. All-American honors under coach Bill Squires.

Coaching career

Lehane began coaching at Boston University in 1982. Since that time, he has coached 50 D.1 NCAA All-Americans, 7 national champions, 7 world champions, and 2 Olympians. Lehane has said of coaching that, "No one system works for all athletes. The key to successful training is to match the training loads to what the individual athlete benefits from". World Championship appearances under Coach Lehane include: Cross Country: Lesley Lehane (5th place), Rosemary Ryan, Matthew Smith, Karl Rasmussen, Are Nakkim, Eirik Hansen, Markku Kyyronen. Individual National Champions under Coach Lehane include: Lesley Lehane (USA XC, 3k Indoors), Matthew Smith (British XC), Karl Rasmussen (Norwegian XC), Are Nakkim (Norwegian 5k, 10k), Eirik Hansen (Norwegian 5k, 10k), Jennifer Lanctot (NCAA mile), Dean Crowe (NCAA 5000). Olympic Appearances under Coach Lehane include: Rosemary Ryan (2000 Olympics), Cathy O'Brien (1988 Olympics)

Other works

Lehane also co-authored the boo
Speed With Endurance
along with Bill Squires.

Personal

Bruce Lehane married wife Lesley in 1987. Lehane had three sons: Blaize, Elliot, and Aidan. His son, Elliot, was in the class of 2012 at BU and ran on the cross-country and track and field teams. He was an assistant coach at BU for 2 seasons from 2015 to 2017.

Quotes

"Putting on the meets is a labor of love. We give thanks to all who participated and to all who came to spectate - except to the guy who threw up in the sink in the men's room. Like us, he has got to clean up his act."

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehane, Bruce 1949 births 2017 deaths Boston University Terriers track and field coaches University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts Boston State College alumni