MATT VOLZ
Sports Editor
For many Fredonia student-athletes, graduation means goodbye.
But for two former Blue Devils, it meant the start of a new journey.
Nick Abdo and Brinn Shaughnessy have begun their new journey as assistant coaches.
Shaughnessy, who graduated in 2022 with a degree in childhood inclusive education, will be assisting Head Coach Geoff Braun on Fredonia’s volleyball staff.
She played three seasons as a member of the Blue Devils, with the 2020 season not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shaughnessy said she stepped into the role after the team’s prior Assistant Coach, Rebecca Allen, was unable to do so for the 2023 season.
“I just really liked the atmosphere,” Shaughnessy said of her return to Fredonia.
She is currently in her second year of graduate school, pursuing a Master’s Degree in Inclusive Education Curriculum/Development and Applied Behavior Analysis.
Shaughnessy attributed her eye for coaching to her high school coach, who taught her athletes to coach each other through her toughness.
“I think that helped me to constantly have my eyes moving, noticing everything,” she said. “That made me think that I had the ability to coach. I think she played a big role in that.”
Abdo also said he was inspired to pursue coaching by his high school coach.
“He just dealt with things in a way that I really respected,” Abdo said. “He always dealt with adversity from his athletes, and I always respected how he dealt with situations, how he held people accountable.”
Abdo, who graduated in 2023 with a degree in business, says he didn’t originally plan on going to college at all.
“When I was a senior [in high school], I used to race motocross pretty heavily, and I ended up getting hurt pretty bad,” he said. “So I started running track … Now it’s something that I’m really passionate about. It worked out.”
Shaughnessy also dealt with injuries throughout her playing career, and she partly attributes that to her coaching abilities.
“I wish I could have played more [in college], but I couldn’t because of some injuries,” she said. “So it was kind of, ‘What way can I transfer my knowledge of volleyball, my love for volleyball?’ And coaching was the best way.”
However, Shaughnessy says she didn’t envision stepping into a coaching position this soon.
“It’s always been something I’ve been interested in and that I thought of as a possibility, but I never thought it would be while I was still in grad school,” she said. “I think I’m pretty lucky because I always thought of coaching as a more distant plan. It’s kind of exciting to just be thrown into it and given the opportunity.”
Abdo also followed a path to coaching that he didn’t originally imagine.
He began his student-athlete career at the University at Buffalo (UB) in 2019, but due to circumstances surrounding the coaching staff, he decided to transfer to Buffalo State when COVID-19 hit in March 2020.
“I told the coach, ‘Look, in my head, this is a perfect time to make a change,’” he said. “So, I decided to make a change.”
He says he chose Buffalo State because he was friends with some members of the team, a team which received multiple All-Conference awards in 2021.
However, after their coach left for maternity leave, the new coach was described by Abdo as “less than ideal”, resulting in him and several others deciding to transfer.
Abdo says he sent letters to three SUNYAC schools: Brockport, Cortland and Fredonia.
Whoever called him first would get him.
“It wasn’t even ten minutes, and Tom [Wilson] was on the phone with me,” Abdo said. “The reason I came here was just that he called me first.”
Funny how things happen sometimes.
Despite his injury history, Abdo says that if he could coach any other sport, it would be motocross due to his familiarity with it.
“I think that’s something I would fit in with really well … It’s a pretty intense sport,” he said. “And something I’ve had to dial back personally is the intensity of which I do things because not everybody is intense.”
Shaughnessy says she also carries a level of intensity to coaching, something that comes from being a supportive teammate.
“When I’m the loudest one in the gym, jumping up and down, giving them high fives … It feels good because, you know, not all coaches do that,” she said.
She also believes in the importance of motivating rather than putting down as a coach.
“I think it’s important to be their number one supporter,” she said. “I want all my players to know that I believe in them and I see the work they’re putting in.”
If she could coach any other sport, she says it would be football, as she grew up a loyal Penn State Nittany Lions fan.
“I think I would like to coach football just so I could be a conditioning coach,” she said. “If I was at Penn State. Nowhere else.”
Despite her love for Penn State, Shaughnessy considers Fredonia to be home.
“We’re not these large towers, these large, extravagant buildings, but it’s just a place that feels like home,” she said.
For her and Abdo, a return to campus is like a return back home after going away.
Welcome home, Blue Devils.