It was a grueling decision for Lawrence’s Brendan Neilon, but in the end, family won out.
The longtime Lawrence High educator, award-winning baseball coach and most recently athletic director — who began working in the school system in 1994 — has stepped down from his position with the Lancers, citing family obligations, and accepted a special education job in the Everett school system.
“I was moving my daughter (Fiona Neilon) into college at Trinity, and I was feeling pretty sentimental,” said Neilon. “I was looking at her basketball schedule, and was trying to figure out how I could get to her games. Then I kind of had a realization.
“It’s nothing that anyone did. I’m not bitter or angry. I love Lawrence. I still live in Lawrence, and that will never change. Lawrence is the only home I’ve known. But sooner or later, I had to make a decision. I want to spend time with my kids. I want to watch my daughter play basketball, and I want to go to games with my son (Casey) at Merrimack College. I had the opportunity to go to Everett and work fewer hours, and if I didn’t do it now I probably never would.”
The 53-year-old has a life-long attachment to Lawrence.
Neilon graduated from Lawrence High in 1988. He played football, hockey and baseball for the Lancers, then continued his baseball career just up the road at Merrimack College.
In 1994, Neilon began his career as an educator at Lawrence’s Frost Elementary School, and other than a few years at Greater Lawrence Tech, he had spent his entire career in the Lawrence school system.
Neilon served as the Lawrence High baseball coach for 15 years, going 168-152 with three appearances in the North Final. He was named Eagle-Tribune’s Baseball Coach of the Year twice (2010, 2015). He became athletic director in 2017.
He noted the workload and pressure of being an athletic director played a major role in his decision.
“The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was telling my bosses that I was leaving Lawrence, the only place I’ve ever known,” said an emotional Neilon. “I graduated from here, I taught here and I was an assistant principal. But as I get older, and hopefully a little wiser, I felt moved by my family.
“Being an athletic director, the demands of the job, is a lot. You have to be on call 24/7. You have to answer the phone. You have to make sure there is coverage at games and that the busses are on time. If the busses are late, it doesn’t matter if you have plans, you have to take that call. It makes it hard to be with your family and going to their games. I have to finally be fair to my children.”
While he will now work in Everett, he says Lawrence will always be his home.
“I will always love Lawrence,” he said. “Sports brings out so much passion in everyone. I have never worked anywhere that doesn’t involve Lawrence kids. Lawrence is home, and I will be here until they put me in the ground.”
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