Bruce Lehane has been the distance coach at BU since 1982. Lehane has developed NCAA Champions on both the men's and women's teams. He has coached 35 Division I All-Americans, and 24 IC4A/ECAC individual champions. He has coached numerous national champions including Lesley Lehane, Jennifer Lanctot, Dean Crowe, Are Nakkim, Cathy O'Brien, Karl Rasmussen, Eirik Hansen, and Rosemary Ryan.  Nine of his athletes have qualified for the World Cross-Country Championships. Included in this total is two-time U.S. National Champion Lesley Lehane, who placed fifth overall at the 1987 Cross-Country World Championships, to help the USA win the world title. He has coached two Olympians, Cathy O'Brien who represented the US in the marathon at age 20 and Rosemary Ryan who represented Ireland in the 5000 meter run. The men's cross country has made ten NCAA National Cross Country Championships, including three top ten finishes. Since the inception the America East Conference, the women's cross country team has won fifteen out of eighteen conference championships.

Some of the fastest athletes Bruce has worked with include 1:45 800 meter runner Alex Adam, 1:46 Kevin Murphy, 13:18/27:32 5k/10k runner Are Nakkim on the men's side and, on the women's side, 2:03/4:14 800/1500 meter runner Jennifer Lanctot, 4:08/8:44/31:42 1500/3000/10k runner Lesely Lehane. Two of his athletes, Dean Crowe and Jen Lanctot, won individual NCAA crowns while representing B.U..

Philosophy/Personal Statement: "What I seek for the runners I coach is they achieve their 'gold medal' performance. A personal gold medal performance is what might be called a supreme achievement for that individual. For what athletics is all about is the pursuit of excellence. When you have prepared yourself very well for the challenge, and have raced at the peak of your physical and mental resources, there comes a sense of fulfillment and achievement that more than compensates for all the effort. You gain a dimension of character that you can call on whenever you have to."  

Training Methods: "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. For some athletes, that might mean more weekly mileage, for another that might mean scheduling two water workouts per week because more running results in breakdown. Generally, we stress the importance of base fitness, the periodization of speed work, and not over racing."  

Goals: "I have goals for our team and I have goals for each individual. For the team, we always have it in our minds to be a top national class team. Locally we have good competition so it usually goes hand in hand that if we can compete in our own backyard we can do very well on the national scene as well. History has proven this. For individuals on my team, I am typically trying to help them move up two or three levels of competition. So that if they are already a strong local performer, I am trying to get them to move up to a national class performer. If the athlete is a strong national class performer, I am trying to get them to an international class level of performance. In other words, I see my job as a coach to help the athlete to improve."  

Education and Athletics: "I love sport, but it is no substitute for a good education nor a career. In its place, sport brings a wonderful zest and excitement to life. But it is critical not to allow sport to get in the way of the full development of other aspects of life. The primary purpose for attending college is to receive a strong education and to lay the ground work for one's career. The key to success in athletics and academics is to budget one's time wisely. We often find that when runners are running well, their academics are going well too. That is because they have their priorities straight and they are focused on what they want to achieve."  

Autobiographical: Born in 1949, Bruce spent most of his childhood in South Boston, Massachusetts. The family moved to Hayward, CA. for three years where he was introduced to the sports of track and cross country. Moving back to Boston, Bruce graduated from Boston English School in 1966, where he was coached by Mr. Fred Gillis. Bruce graduated from Boston State College in 1970 with a Bachelor's Degree in English and Secondary Education. While at Boston State College, he set school records in the 880 and mile runs, earned N.A.I.A. All-American during junior and senor years, and was coached by the renowned Bill Squires, whom Bruce regards as his mentor.  Graduating from the University of Lowell with a Master's Degree in Reading and Language, he taught developmental and remedial reading for 5 years in the public schools of Maine. He began his coaching career with Boston University in 1982. Bruce is married to Lesley Lehane, and has three sons, Blaize, Elliot, and Aidan.