The Music of Coaching

Brandon Newbould’s career does not fit into a tidy box. Over 15 years, he has helped Exeter athletes achieve record-breaking performances and has collected numerous championship trophies as the head coach of cross-country and associate head coach of the track and field program. He is also the principal trombonist in the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra and runs his own music contracting business.

“I used to keep it all compartmentalized,” he says. “Music and coaching — and everything else. I thought it was better that way, but over time I’ve come to realize it is good for the kids to know what I do. I want them to see you don’t have to choose just one thing.”

Newbould grew up in Alaska, where there are few roads. “My mom introduced me to running when I was in seventh grade,” he says. “Running opened up all kinds of opportunity to explore. In high school we ran through the mountains and bear country on backpacking trails, horse trails, off trail, wherever we wanted to go. I use that experience now to show the kids here what that can look like, while keeping them safer than we were back then.”

At Soldotna High School, which is roughly 150 miles south of Anchorage, Alaska, Newbould was an accomplished Nordic skier and runner. His track coach, Mark Devenny, proved to be a lifelong mentor and major influence on his training technique.

“Coach Devenny was right out of a Rocky movie,” Newbould says. “He grew up in Philadelphia and was one of the only real track guys in Alaska. He devoted his life to us, and that’s my model of a coach.”
Newbould’s teams are driven by that same culture of toughness, unity and belief. “What I loved growing up was the adventure,” he says. “I try to bring that to our training. How can we incorporate a sense of adventure through our practices? That’s the best thing, sharing with the kids and watching them learn what they can do, how to compete and what they’re capable of. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

Newbould continued running at Messiah College and beyond. He followed a disciplined schedule, logging 120 miles a week as a competitive runner while pursuing a career as a professional trombonist. Newbould would often start his days in the early morning with a 20-plus-mile run, then sneak in another five miles between rehearsals and performances.

Throughout, mentors and peers urged Newbould to choose one path: music or something else. Instead of conceding, he kept his dual pursuits mostly private. His foot-on-the-gas persona, driven to defy that either-or mindset, has become something of a rebellious calling card. “Watch me or don’t — I don’t care,” he says. “But I can do this.” And he has.

Newbould, who won the Baystate Marathon in 2009 and 2017, was the top New Hampshire finisher and placed in the top 50 at the 2013 Boston Marathon. He is also an accomplished trail runner. With his guidance, Exeter’s cross-country and track and field programs have become some of the most successful athletic programs in New England. And he continues to play the trombone in some of the most elite musical groups in the area.

When Newbould is not on the track or on the stage, he can be found deep in the woods or out in the fields with his wife and two sons where they hunt, fish, forage and tend to a lively homestead full of crops and chickens.