O’Brien Steps Down From NHS Girls’ Team

By Andy Hutchison

Shawn O’Brien is stepping down from his role as the school’s varsity girls’ basketball coach at Newtown High School. O’Brien told The Bee, on Wednesday, that he wants to devote more time to his family with two children moving on from high school to college.

“This year’s a critical year with college visits with my daughter, and then we’ll be starting the process again with my son next year,” said O’Brien, a Danbury resident, whose daughter, Taylor, is a senior at Immaculate High and son, Connor, is a sophomore.

O’Brien said he wanted to continue his role with the Nighthawks but added that the demands of varsity coaching were too much.

“I want to be able to do it the right way,” he said of coaching.

A former basketball player at Abbott Technical High School in Danbury, as well as at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, VT, O’Brien’s coaching career at Newtown High began as a junior varsity coach in 2002. After one season, he stepped up into varsity coaching at the high school and led the team to the South-West Conference Tournament and state playoffs in each of his seven seasons as the varsity team leader.

“Obviously, Shawn did an outstanding job with our girls’ basketball program. Above all, he put our student-athletes first and winning second,” NHS Athletic Director Gregg Simon said.

That said, the coach helped the Hawks to winning ways in each of his campaigns at the helm.

O’Brien said he will miss working with the varsity girls.

“It’s been a big part of my life,” he said, adding “I would love to stay involved with the program.”

O’Brien said that he would enjoy working as an assistant or serving some kind of role with the NHS basketball program if a position opened up.

Simon said the varsity position would be filled this fall. The regular season gets underway in December.

This marks the third varsity coach to leave shoes to fill this school year. Matt Childs, who coached the girls’ and boys’ swimming and diving teams, in the fall and winter, respectively, left the program to pursue his graduate degree. He remains a teacher at the high school, however. Amanda Hadgraft stepped down as the varsity field hockey coach, also to return to the classroom as a student.