Boucher gets 500th win: Keith Boucher hits milestone in 37th season

“I knew I had over 400 wins, but I didn’t know where I was,” said Keene State Women’s Basketball Head Coach Keith Boucher. “After the game, I started to walk off, and I turned around and my captain, Avery Stewart, was holding a plaque. I never really think about that. I try to take it one day at a time.”

This moment captured Boucher’s approach to coaching: Staying in the moment rather than chasing numbers. Nearly four decades at Keene State have yielded over 500 wins, earned through consistency, strong relationships and shared values. Boucher reached the milestone on Jan. 21st, after the Owls defeated UMass-Dartmouth 50-39.

Boucher reflected on his milestone with a mix of humility and humor.

“First of all. It means that I’ve been here a while,” he joked. “But second, I can’t imagine doing anything else. If you have a passion for something, I don’t think it’s work– it’s more of a vacation.

His love for sports, he said, began long before coaching.

“I’ve loved sports my whole life and knew I wanted to teach and coach from a young age,” he said.

For Boucher, sports weren’t just games; they defined who he is as a person. “I loved the camaraderie with my teammates, coaches and players. I’ve always loved a challenge– finding ways to compete even when we weren’t the best.”

But for Boucher, success has never been measured solely by wins.

“It’s not about victories, it’s about values,” he said, crediting mentors and coaches, as well as his father, for teaching him gratitude and giving credit where it’s due. “These 500 wins are really a tribute to them more than anything else.”

Brynn Rautiola, junior and team captain, said it was special to watch Boucher hit the milestone.

“We were all happy for him. He cares about you off the court as much as on it, and always wants you to do your best academically and athletically, ” said Rautiola.

Jack Colvin, a junior, said the milestone reflected the strength of the program and Boucher’s leadership across campus.

“It makes me feel proud that I’m at a school with such a good basketball program,” Colvin said. “I feel like it shows consistency and discipline mixed with great leadership.”

He added that the achievement mattered beyond the court.

“I think it matters to the community because it reminds everyone why they’re a part of Keene State and what a great school it is for these athletes.”

Boucher echoed the same sentiment, noting his frustration when student-athletes don’t finish their degrees. “It frustrates me when they don’t graduate. They’re good people and successful, but I want every one of my players to get that degree. Basketball is your passion, but not why you’re here,” said Boucher.

He reinforces these lessons with practical advice for his players, telling them there’s an “11th commandment”: “Thou shalt not take for granted.’

Lessons like this allow Boucher to teach his players to recognize and appreciate those who support them.

That advice extends beyond his parents to family, coaches, teachers, colleagues at Keene State, and, of course, his wife and three sons, a family that has grown up alongside the demands of a coaching career.

“It’s not easy to grow up in a coaching household,” he said. “My wife, she is my rock without a doubt.”

Even so, there were times when the demands of coaching made him an absentee parent.

“I was gone recruiting, or we had games, or we had late practices,” he said. “One time, I came home after a game, and I hadn’t seen my kids in three days. There was a picture on the refrigerator of me that said, ‘Missing – have you seen this man?”

He also credited past mentors and his current coaching staff for helping sustain such a long career.​

When he first started coaching, Boucher wanted the strong, meaningful relationships with his players that he had experienced while playing under his father-in-law, Lang Medcalf. “I was so envious of the relations he had with his players, and I wanted that too,” he said.

“It’s not about wins and losses, or the player. It’s always about the person and the relationships,” Boucher said.

He still vividly remembers his first season at Keene State.

“I’ll always remember my first team in 1989. Sometimes they were coaching me as much as I was coaching them. If it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know if I would still be here right now, because they allowed me to coach them.”

The first group left a lasting mark on his life. One player, Michelle Ziegler Bennet, later became the godmother of his second child.

“So that’s what she meant to me,” he said. “The whole team was filled with outstanding people.”

Among the many players he coached was Melinda Treadwell, who later became president of Keene State College, a fact that he’s proud of and anticipated.

“I bet I am the only coach in the country who coached a student athlete who later became the president of the college. I kept telling [Treadwell], ‘Someday you’re going to be president of Keene State College, and I’d love to see that.’ She did a great job, and I’m proud to have been a small part of that incredible story,” Boucher said.

Still, he is quick to point out that picking one player among the lot of them would be unfair.

“I would be short-changing all the other ones if I said one specific one because they’ve all been phenomenal,” he said.​

Boucher also praised the current team and their willingness to adapt.

“I think they’re the next piece of the puzzle. The one thing I do enjoy about this group is that we’ve had to change the way we play because we’re small, and they’ve bought into it. It isn’t always pretty, but you can’t get complacent– you have to work at it every day, or you develop bad habits.”

As he looks toward retirement, Boucher said what he will miss most are not the wins or losses, but the connections he has made.

“I’ll miss the competition, obviously, but as I said, this is a tribute to all the people who have helped me along the way, and I will miss the relationships more than anything else,” said Boucher.

However, retirement remains an uncertain concept.

“It scares me. I can’t just get up in the morning, watch ESPN, go work out, and come back and still have half the day left. What am I going to do?”

He laughed while imagining himself lingering around the gym.

“I’ll probably sit on somebody’s bench like the old guy in ‘The Waterboy’… or maybe I’ll write a book, whether anyone reads it or not,” he joked.