University of New Hampshire Athletics recently honored an eight-member Hall of Fame Class of 2026, including three New Hampshire natives: Manchester’s Ryan Day, Bedford’s Josh Bauer and Dover’s Jim Boulanger.
Here’s a look at all the inductees:
Ryan Day, 2002, football
Day, who won the NCAA football championship in 2024 as head coach at Ohio State, was honored for his beginnings as a quarterback for the Wildcats.
Day set nine UNH records, including career-spanning marks in pass completions (653), touchdown passes (53), completion percentage (59.9%) and total offense (8,492 yards). He passed for a total of 7,670 yards, which ranked second in the UNH record book at the time and is currently fifth-best in program history. Day completed 653 of 1,089 pass attempts.
Both his completions mark and passing touchdowns are now fifth on the Wildcats’ all-time leaderboard.
Day is still coaching with the Buckeyes, who are slated to play UNH in a regular-season football game on Sept. 11, 2027 in Columbus, Ohio.
Josh Bauer, 2020, men’s soccer
Bauer became one of the most decorated players in program history across his four year career. He received 10 awards in his 2019 senior season, including selections to the United Soccer Coaches All-America first team and the USC Scholar All-America first team, and he was also a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy as the national player of the year.
A center back, Bauer won nearly every imaginable award a collegiate player could earn: All-American twice, All-Region and defender of the year in ECAC twice and America East defender of the year twice. He also stepped up in tournaments, earning America East Championship most outstanding player twice (2018, 2019) as the Wildcats began a three-year conference title reign.
Bauer started all 60 of his matches over three seasons and played 5,585 of a possible 5,654 minutes (98.8%) for a defense that only allowed 0.54 goals against per game during his tenure. He contributed 10 goals and 10 assists as well.
He was chosen by Atlanta United FC in the second round of 2021 MLS Super Draft and now plays for Nashville SC.
Jim Boulanger, 1975, cross country/track and field
Jim Boulanger was head coach at UNH for 37 seasons, from the fall 1982 season until his retirement in 2021.
Boulanger received a total of 21 men’s America East Coach of the Year awards. His three men’s teams won 15 America East titles in various spurts of consecutive successful classes and groups. During his tenure, seven Wildcats became All-Americans across all the men’s and women’s programs, including two-time Olympian and UNH Athletics Hall of Famer Elle Purrier.
He mentored Wildcats to a total of 149 America East individual titles. In recognition of his legacy, UNH established the first outdoor track and field home meet every year as the Jim Boulanger Invitational.
Others in the 2026 class
Rosie Donegan of Melbourne, Australia, graduated in 2017 after an illustrious athletic and academic career. The cross country and track and field athlete had a perfect 4.0 grade-point average throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies, earning her numerous academic accolades, while becoming a three-time All-American. She still holds the indoor track 5,000-meter record and excelled in the steeplechase at a national level.
Aileen Farrell Terrien of Ottawa, Ontario, is one of the few UNH skiers who are four-time All-Americans. She was team MVP in 2009 and co-MVP in 2010 as the top point-scorer for the Wildcats in Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association competition. Her All-American selections spanned 2007 to 2009, with two in ’09 as First Team in slalom with a fifth-place finish and Second Team in giant slalom with eighth place at the NCAAs.
Another Ontario native, Amy Perrault Perkins, was honored for her swimming prowess. She was the 2010 America East Swimmer of the Year, a five-time Olympic trials qualifier and six-time NCAA provisional qualifier. She won eight individual America East titles, including the 100 backstroke and the 200 back three consecutive years and won the 200 individual medley twice. She broke three records, two in backstroke and one in butterfly during her time as a Wildcat.
Moving to hockey, Carissa Zaban Wahlig from the class of 2000 is still the most prolific scorers in UNH history. Across 129 career games, she averaged 2.04 points per game with a program-leading 145 assists and second-best 118 goals. Zaban Wahlig led the team in both assists and points all of her four seasons. She is the only Wildcat who has led the team in assists all four years. With her on the team, UNH went 94-31-20 for a .733 winning percentage, including a national runner-up finish in 1999 and an ECAC title in 1996.
The last inductee rounding out the group is football coach Sean McDonnell. He was a defensive back for the Wildcats from 1975-78 and became head coach of the program in 1999. He was a two-time Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year (2005, 2014) and ranks second all-time in wins for UNH with 157. Under his command, UNH football reached new heights. The Wildcats had a 14-year run of NCAA playoff appearances and victories from 2004-17. During those years, they won three conference championships (2005, 2012, 2014), reached back-to-back national semifinal game appearances (2013-14) and spent 162 consecutive weeks ranked in the FCS top 25.
