Proulx's Climb to her 100th Career Win

In her 9th season, Head Women's Basketball Coach Michelle Proulx achieved her 100th win after beating Salem State University in Picknelly Arena for their home opener this season.

As a 2008 Graduate of Elms, Coach Proulx played four years of Basketball and three years of Field Hockey for the Blazers while pursuing her studies in English with a concentration in Writing and a minor in Coaching. 

After her years in a Blazers jersey Coach Proulx stayed a part of the Elms College community and served as an Elms Admissions counselor and as the Director of the Student Ambassador program.  She was named Assistant Director of Admissions in summer 2013. From 2008 - 2014 her chief duties included travel coordination for the entire office, mentorship to the first year admissions counselors, management of on-campus admissions events and continued travel and review of territories in the Springfield area and Connecticut.

All while working within the admissions department at Elms Coach Proulx grew her passion for coaching as she worked alongside Laura Habacker (2002-14 Head Women's Basketball Coach at Elms) as her assistant with the Elms College Women's Basketball Program. 

Coach Proulx reflects on Habacker's 100th career win at Elms College and the personal impact it made on her growth as an assistant:

"It allowed me to spread my wings while under her guidance" she continued " I was very lucky that I was able to get more coaching experience within my first few years in collegiate athletics - - Every year Coach Habbacker would give me more responsibility and really prepared me to one day be a head coach."

Another comment from Coach Proulx, "One thing I really took away from Laura was to always have set expectations and standards of who we are as a program and how we are going to carry ourselves on the court and off of the court."

From her start in 2014 till her current season, Proulx has coached almost 200 collegiate competitions with a record of 101-97. In her first six seasons Coach Proulx and her team made four consecutive NECC (New England Collegiate Conference) appearances including qualifying for the NECC tournament finalist games in her first season (2014-15) and the 2017-2018 season. 

The Elms College Athletic Department entered the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) in the fall of 2021 academic year. As their first season began in the GNAC, Coach Proulx along with all the winter sports seasons were cut short including due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Elms College Athletics are currently still in the GNAC.

When asking Coach Poulx after her 100th win what she was most proud of as a coach and with this success she answered, "What makes me most proud as a coach is seeing what the women within our program go on to do after graduation." Coach Proulx continues while adding, " Many coaches such as myself have had student athletes who didn't think they could go to college, or be successful at college, and don't even know what they will do after they have graduated. And then watching their success post graduation is what we are most proud of as a coach." 

"We talk about how the four years here are supposed to be the best four years of your life, but they're really supposed to prepare you for the best years of your life," Coach Proulx added. "My responsibility is to make sure that we are successful on the court and we're successful in the classroom, but that at the end of their career they have a plan moving forward." 

As a Division III coach you strive to make sure your student athletes are being just as successful off the court as they are in the classroom. Coach Proulx speaks on behalf of the college and how well it provides internship opportunities for all students on and off campus. "We make sure that all our students that need an internship or require an internship for their major are placed in a place that correlates with what they want to in their future endeavors." 

Elms College Athletics stands out in the fact that many coaches and staff within the department help provide shadowing opportunities as well as other college sports related work experience. The internships and work study opportunities stretch across many academic departments such as Business, Social Media Marketing, Graphic Design, Sports management, and Writing majors on campus.

When asking Coach Proulx what made her choose to be a student athlete here to continue her passion for coaching at Elms she responded by saying, "from being a student here in the early 2000's to now the atmosphere on campus and within the Athletic Department has stayed the same. The people here and the students we bring in provide a very unique place and it is different in a positive way compared to other Universities." Proulx added, "As a recruit that was the biggest thing that made me gravitate towards Elms, as well as when I had the opportunity to Coach here and stay a part of the dynamic on campus and within the college itself, it was something I couldn't pass up."

Just like how an athlete needs motivation, a coach needs motivation when it comes to being successful with your team. Win or lose, Proulx talks about what inspires her to be a better coach everyday for her team.

"It is seeing the young athletes come in and seeing upperclassmen take them in. Being able to have my daughter Avery come to practices and games, and seeing my team interact with her - that is truly a special moment to see." Proulx emphasizes the amount of offseason work required to build a strong program, "All the hours spent scouting and recruiting and when they're actually here, that is when we find success during games, even if we don't win. If we compete and compete well that motivates me." 

With a positive mindset from Coach Proulx she added this about her athletes and how their current season is going. "I am so proud of our team and how we have tackled every challenge this season. Being a team where 11 of our 16 players are first years and sophomores would make some coaches have lower expectations. But for me l have been very up front with our team about my belief in their upside together and the standard of play that is expected from top to bottom. They have risen to every challenge and have grown tremendously as a group in just a few short months. We have the privilege of being in a conference where every game requires a full preparation for and our players have stepped up when called upon. From our first years to our graduate students, they all bring such an important, integral part into who we are and it has been a pleasure watching them go forward together every day. It's a long season, with many games left to play and we are excited to take that on together."

Coach Proulx and the Blazer Women are currently in the midst of their season with a record of (4-7, 0-5) heading into a more conference heavy January schedule. The Women's Basketball team will be hosting an Alumni game that is projected to have 22 Alumni coming to play in the game on Saturday, January 7th at 9AM before their conference game against the Dean College Bulldogs at noon.