Not Enough Scrapbooks: Alum Bugbee ’79 Is Writing Final Chapter Of Famed Coaching Career

A collegiate lacrosse coaching legend, Keith Bugbee ’79, is in the final weeks of a 42-year career, which leaves a lot to unpack—figuratively, statistically, and otherwise.

The numbers and accolades are gaudy and too many to list, but we will share some in this story.

Ultimately, though, the numbers and hardware take a back seat to what the appreciative Owl graduate says he’ll take away from his long tenure on the sidelines and in the classroom.

“I’m most proud of the relationships I’ve formed over my career. I’ve always been a relationship coach, focused on building a culture of family and helping boys become men. I tell our recruits that I’m recruiting them for 40 years not four. That part of who I am and what I’ve done matters most. I’ve involved my family in my career. It’s not a job, teaching and coaching, it’s a lifestyle I’ve embraced from day one.”

Bugbee lettered in lacrosse and soccer while earning his bachelor’s in physical education at Keene State. He received his master’s in physical education from Springfield College.

“I’m most proud of the relationships I’ve formed over my career. I’ve always been a relationship coach, focused on building a culture of family and helping boys become men. I tell our recruits that I’m recruiting them for 40 years not four. … It’s not a job, teaching and coaching, it’s a lifestyle I’ve embraced from day one.”

– Keith Bugbee ’79

He will retire at the end of the semester with scrapbooks—yes, scrapbooks—full of accounts of awards, honors, championships, and decorated players that place him on a lofty and uncrowded coaching perch.

Under Bugbee, the Springfield College men’s lacrosse team rose to one of the top programs in the country.

A few remarkable stats to consider: more than 424 victories as of this writing, a .644 winning percentage, 34 post-season tournament appearances, 24 NCAA Tournament appearances, and a national Division II championship in 1994, a team that featured faceoff specialist and All-America standout Mark Theriault, the current Keene State men’s lacrosse coach. Theriault was the most valuable player in the national championship game.

A two-time national coach of the year, Bugbee is just the fifth coach in the history of collegiate men’s lacrosse to garner 400 victories and the only one ever to win their first 400 games at the same institution.

The list goes on. And on. Another scrapbook, please.

Bugbee remembers his Keene State education and experiences vividly. A PE major, he recalls joining his professor and adviser, Dr. George Henry, on a weeklong trip to Harlem, N.Y., to teach inner-city children at a school that specialized in reaching young boys and girls through physical education.

He had a student-teaching experience in England, too, and credits the College’s outdoor education component of the PE program as inspiration for launching a popular on-the-ropes course at Springfield.

He remembers the “prepared professors, great friends, the skiing and hiking the region offered, and lacrosse.”

Bugbee has stayed in contact with many of those great friends, including Jay Stone, his KSC roommate; Barclay Dugger, a now-retired Springfield College head athletic trainer, and Mike and Midje (Schuman) Theulen.

Mike Theulen, the son of legendary Owls men’s basketball coach Glenn Theulen, still teaches at Springfield College, where he coached basketball and is a member of the college’s Hall of Fame.

“Keith is my best friend and our families are very close,” said Theulen, a standout basketball player at Keene State, while Bugbee starred in lacrosse. “Keith is the best, beloved by the entire Springfield College community…players past and present, his students, and his nationwide lacrosse network. He and I have been in each other’s orbit for 45 years and it’s been a blessing for me.”

Theriault calls his decades-long friendship with his former coach “a fun switch of schools.”

“I have seen Coach Bugbee touch the lives of so many players,” he added. “He has built an incredible program at Springfield and has a legacy that will be remembered forever. There is a coaching tree of hundreds of ex-players continuing his teachings and values to their respective programs, be it professional, Division I, to youth programs. I also see him as a husband, a parent, a grandparent, and a person who affects others in such a positive way.”

Bugbee, 67, and his wife, Jane, have three adult children, five grandchildren, and a sixth due any day. “My success doesn’t happen without my family,” he said.

Bugbee is a regular at former players’ weddings, at least a couple each summer, and he looks forward to more of that coaching byproduct. What will he not miss? “Recruiting,” he answered in a split second. “Just recruiting.”

Congratulations, Coach and Owl alum. We hope retirement is everything you imagine and deserve.