From the podcast: Springfield’s Keith Bugbee on his coaching tree, type of player

Longtime Springfield College coach Keith Bugbee joined the "Chasing The Goal" podcast this week. (Mark Finerty)

Keith Bugbee is one of the longest-tenured coaches in all of Division 3 college lacrosse. He is entering his 39th season in charge of Springfield and has produced more coaches than any other program in New England.

Kyle Devitte and Jack Piatelli sat down with Bugbee in the latest episode of “New England Lacrosse Journal’s Chasing The Goal” to talk about his coaching tree, his legacy at Springfield, and the new pavillion being built on campus to celebrate the memory of his daughter, Lindsay.

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This podcast is sponsored by the University of Nebraska High School. For more information on UNHS, visit highschool.nebraska.edu/nelj.

Kyle Devitte: Your coaching tree is basically immeasurable at this point. Springfield is “Coach University” — how does it feel to have impacted this many of your players’ lives by instilling the “Springfield way” in all of them?

Keith Bugbee: You know, I’ll be honest with you. When I’m done coaching at Springfield one day, and I look back on my career, there is no question (about) that. We won and lost some games, won the NCAA tournament, had some fun years — but I think it’s seeing so many guys go into coaching. I never thought that I would see that.

When I started coaching back in ‘84, I didn’t say, “I’m going to coach here for 40 years and produce coaches.” That was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just trying to bumble my way through it back then. But it’s just really gratifying to see so many guys give back by going into coaching. 

Jack Piatelli: Coach, you talk about the players and the culture at Springfield — the players have kept you there for 39 years. Tell us about what kind of players they are.

KB: I refer to them as “blue-collar players.” I think for the most part that’s what they are. One thing I try to do is hire a lot of my former players as assistant coaches. Not that all of them have been Springfield guys, but I feel like when I have Springfield guys coaching with me, they know what a Springfield player looks like from 10 miles away.

I don’t know if other schools have a defined kid that fits their profile — I don’t know what that looks like for other schools — but for me, I know what a Springfield kid looks like. And we have tried in our recruiting process to keep as many of those guys in the program as we can. A Springfield kid is a hard worker and has a good culture. 

JP: Coach, tell us a little bit about the Bugbee Pavillion and what that project is.

KB: I’m incredibly honored that the alums are doing this. It’s very humbling. It’s called the “Bugbee Family Pavillion” and it’s going to be located on the edge of the (lacrosse) field in an area where we have tailgates all the time. It’s an indoor facility with a loft that’s going to be called “Lindsay’s loft” and it won’t just be our team; it will be used by football and field hockey so other teams can use it for tailgating and team get-togethers.

What I really enjoy about it is that the primary use of this facility is for tailgating and social activities. I can’t think of anything that sums up the game of lacrosse, or our team, in particular. They enjoy social gatherings and family events. Something with our family name on it that has to do with joyous celebrations and breaking bread together with our family … it’ll be really cool.

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