From Coaching to Teaching

by Rebecca Endres ’15

Casey Twibell ’05, M.A. ’11, and Melanie O’Brien ’14 coached sports teams at Adelphi before leaving in spring 2015 to pursue teaching opportunities.

Twibell was an assistant coach of the Panthers baseball team for 10 years, while O’Brien served in a similar capacity with the Panthers women’s basketball team for one season. Earlier, both had transferred from Nassau Community College as athletes on the teams they would later coach.

Once he decided—years after earning a bachelor’s degree in business—that he wanted to pursue a master’s degree in physical education while continuing to coach, Twibell found Adelphi supportive. His dedication paid off earlier this year, when he became a physical education teacher at P.S. 256 in Far Rockaway, New York.

In the process, Twibell, who led from the sidelines in his coaching role at Adelphi, now is more front and center as a physical education teacher. He’s also coaching the school’s tennis and track teams.

O’Brien spoke with several Adelphi coaches before transferring, then went on to play for the Panthers basketball team while earning a bachelor’s degree in physical education. “All the professors cared deeply about my future as well as how I was doing,” she said.

O’Brien, who also hopes to become a teacher, currently works at the Great South Bay YMCA in Bay Shore, New York, and coaches boys’ basketball for the Long Island Lightning, a nonprofit sports organization. “When you’re coaching or teaching kids,” she explained, “you’re developing them for the future and focusing on teaching them fundamentals.”