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James Upham

James Upham

James Upham was named the head coach of the Bates Nordic program after serving as the Nordic team's interim head coach for the 2023 season.

Bringing a lifetime's wealth of knowledge about Nordic skiing, he completed in his eighth year as assistant coach at Bates in 2021-22. 

"It's very much a family feel with this team," Upham said. "I will certainly put my own stamp on this program but we have a great thing going and it's just more about what little things we can do to improve here and there." 

Coach Upham has served as the head Paralympic Nordic Coach for the U.S. Biathlon Association, following an eight-year stint as the association's development coach. He directly coached five athletes to the 2006 Olympic Biathlon team in Turin, Italy, and to four medals at the 2010 and 2014 Paralympic Games. From 1999 to 2001, Upham worked as Swixsport USA's Nordic specialist, and prior to that he was head Nordic coach and history teacher at Burke Mountain Academy.

Upham won a junior national biathlon championship and competed on two junior world championship teams. His father, Tom Upham, competed in the 1968 Winter Olympics and coached the U.S. women's cross country ski team at the 1976 Winter Olympics. Coach Upham graduated magna cum laude in 1995 from Northern Michigan University and earned a master's degree in sports management from Lasell University in 2021.

"James is incredible and I feel like from a timing standpoint, it could not have fit more perfectly," outgoing head coach Becky Woods '89 said. "When James came to Bates, he was totally overqualified to be my assistant. But he was humble about that, and he worked really hard, and it's the right time for him to have the opportunity to take this over. He has incredible roots here as well. His grandparents went here, his aunt worked here, so we both have really similar backgrounds with Bates and it allows us to have sort of a deeper understanding of what Bates can do for our athletes, and what it means to be a part of the community. It should be a seamless transition and I think our team will be really excited about it."