Bates College

Kurt Simard, interim head coach during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the former head coach at the University of New Hampshire, has been named head alpine skiing coach at Bates College, Director of Athletics Jason Fein announced in 2021.

"Bates is fortunate to have had Kurt Simard as the interim head coach of alpine skiing for the past year, and I am delighted he is now going to be with us on a more permanent basis," said Fein. 

"I am really excited to join the Bates community," Simard said. "The tradition of excellence in skiing at Bates is something that I have tremendous respect for and I look forward to influencing it forward. My time with the team this past winter gives me confidence that great things are ahead."

The head alpine coach at UNH from 1999 to 2007, Simard was the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006. He served as head coach and alpine director at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, from 1994 to 1999 and again from 2007 to 2015, then became director of competition programs at Gould before his arrival at Bates in 2020.

Simard has a proven record of leading a coaching staff and athletes to their full potential and highest outcomes. Career highlights include coaching and mentoring past and current US Ski Team athletes and coaches; advancing the UNH alpine ski team to one of national recognition, and being a vital contributor to Gould Academy's on-snow programs during arguably its two most successful time periods.

"We knew Kurt's qualifications as an alpine ski coach were outstanding," said Fein. "But his leadership of our student-athletes, and the relationships he has established with them over the past year, with no intercollegiate competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been exceptional."

Simard earned a bachelor's degree from the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business in 1991. He is a United States Ski & Snowboard Association Level 300 coach.

Bates' alpine and Nordic ski teams compete in the EISA carnival circuit along with Division I programs such as UNH, Vermont and Dartmouth, as well as NESCAC rivals such as Colby, Middlebury and Williams. The Bobcats are a perennial presence at the NCAA National Collegiate Skiing Championships.