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Cranmer's coaching career includes 18 seasons at Colorado where he led 30 athletes to 72 first-team All-America honors, 12 skiers to 18 individual NCAA titles and four team national championships
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BOULDER — Bruce Cranmer, the University of Colorado head Nordic coach for the past 18 seasons and a Buffalo alpine skier in the 1970s, will be retiring from his post that he has held since August of 2000.
Cranmer, who coached 12 different CU skiers to 18 individual NCAA Championships and helped lead the Buffaloes to four team NCAA titles as a coach and two as a member of CU's alpine team in 1972 and '73, will officially retire from the University on July 1.
For Cranmer, 67, skiing and ski racing has been a part of his life practically since birth. His retirement from coaching comes after a 30-year NCAA career, which included 12 years (and an additional four NCAA titles) as the head cross country coach at Vermont.
"I don't think I started out thinking, 'Oh, this is what I want to do,' " Cranmer said. "It was just a passion and a love that I had for my whole life and I just sort of fell into the coaching part because that was offered to me after I quit the U.S. team and coached for 12 years in Vermont and 18 years at CU. It has been super, it was a great opportunity. I can't thank CU and Richard (Rokos) enough for the opportunity and the friendship and camaraderie with everybody."
The Buffs won the mythical Nordic national championship seven times under Cranmer's tutelage, scoring the most Nordic points at the NCAA Championship in 2004, '06, '08, '10, '11, '13 and '15. Those are the only seven times in Colorado history the Buffs topped the Nordic points list since the NCAA went to a combine skiing championship in 1983.
Cranmer's roots with Colorado and the United States go deeper than his 18 year coaching career or winning two national championships under Bill Marolt in the early 70s. His grandfather, George, started the Winter Park Ski Resort, which has blossomed into one of the finer ski areas in the world. Cranmer coached for two U.S. Olympic Teams, the 1994 squad in Lillehammer, Norway, and the 1998 team in Nagano, Japan. After his ski racing career at CU ended, he later went on to compete for the U.S. Ski Team from 1980-88 and he was a member of the 1985 World Championships team.
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As for the next chapter in his life, Cranmer looks to catch up on some of the activities he has missed out on over the years while coaching.
"I think I'm ready to do some other things in life," he said. "I'll still be skiing and still will be a Buff. I'm not going away, I plan on staying around Boulder and will support CU.
"I certainly enjoy traveling, I have friends all over the world. There are things that I couldn't do in the fall that I love doing. Going on a climbing trip with a friend or going out when an opportunity comes up and you go, 'Oh, I'd love to do a Grand Canyon kayaking trip' or go on a trip to some remote area out by the ocean. Now I can be more spontaneous and have the opportunities to do that. My mom is still alive, she is 97, and I can spend a little more time with her. And I can ski more. I always enjoyed being fit as much as I can and being active and I don't anticipate that changing."
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