HAVERHILL – Some hires just feel right.
And for Haverhill High Athletic Director Tom O’Brien, Sean Bryan fit the Hillies like a glove.
“We’re thrilled to have him,” said O’Brien of Bryan, the new Haverhill High boys varsity basketball coach. “His playing experience, his coaching experience, and his knowledge and experience in the MVC makes him a perfect fit for the position.
“Every coach, every person he’s worked with just could not say enough about him.”
Bryan, a former three-time Merrimack Valley Conference All-Star and an All-Scholastic at Lowell High School, replaces Souleymane Wane, who resigned from the position after nine years at the Hillie helm.
“I’ve been really blessed to be coached and to be around great coaches,” said the 26-year-old Bryan, who spent last season as a graduate assistant with the Division 1 University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
“It will be a challenge, but challenges are good. I’m excited to get there, and I’m excited to work with the kids.”
A 2016 Lowell High grad, Bryan went on to twice be named Player of the Year in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference for Salem State.
He has coached in the highly acclaimed Mass Rivals AAU program and was an assistant at Lowell High in 2021 for coach Bob Michalcyzk.
He’ll be one of the younger head coaches the MVC has seen. But Bryan says he is ready.
“I saw this as a good opportunity to be in the MVC. I see a lot of promise with Haverhill the last few years. It’s just a great opportunity for me,” said Bryan, who still leaves in Lowell and works at Lowell High.
He’ll be replacing a rock in Wane, who went 74-84 in his time leading the program. Haverhill went 9-11 this past season, before knocking off Everett in the Hillies’ D1 tourney opener and then falling to North Andover in the round of 32.
Bryan’s goal is to land the Hillies consistently in the upper echelon of the MVC, one of the state’s deepest boys hoop conferences.
“It’s going to be a learning process for myself, too. I do believe I will be successful,” said Bryan. “I care about the kids, as people, not just basketball players. We’ll go in there, do the work and see where it takes us.
“If we’re the hardest-playing and most-disciplined team every night, I would hope we’ll be competitive every night. I’m just going to start building our culture. It starts Day 1 with accountability. Everyone is held to the standard. You do the right things over and over every day. Build on that every day and the culture will build itself.”