First-Year Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rich Fazzi recently announced the hiring of assistant coaches Evan O’Brien and Robert Nelson for the upcoming inaugural season of Pine Manor College Men’s Basketball.

Assistant Coach Evan O’Brien, pictured, arrives at PMC after spending the previous three seasons on the men’s basketball coaching staff at Framingham State University. He was named FSU’s Interim Head Coach near the end of the 2012-13 season and most recently led the Rams to their first MASCAC playoff appearance in three years. As the program’s Recruiting Coordinator, O’Brien was also responsible for bringing in eleven freshman and sophomore recruits, five of which received All-MASCAC Academic honors this past season.

Prior to Framingham State, O’Brien spent four years at neighboring Newbury College in Brookline, MA. He served as an adjunct professor in the Business Department, while also taking over as Head Men’s Basketball Coach midway through the 2007-08 season. That season, O’Brien compiled a 17-4 record while winning the New England ECAC Championship for the Nighthawks as a Division III Independent. He later headed the program as they entered the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC), securing the program’s first ever conference playoff and semi-final appearances. While at Newbury, O’Brien recruited the 2010 NECC Rookie of the Year and the school’s second all-time leading scorer while also overseeing the development of the top five leading scorers in program history.

O’Brien received his Master’s in Business Administration in 2005, as well as his undergraduate degree in Government in 2002, from Suffolk University in Boston, MA. During his time as a graduate student, he served as the Graduate Assistant in the Suffolk Athletics Department and spent the 2004-05 NBA season as an Intern in the Boston Celtics Media Relations Department. As an undergrad, O’Brien was a member of the Suffolk Men’s Basketball program, and served as an office assistant in the Athletics Department.

Robert Nelson is a 2013 graduate of Division III Keystone College in La Plume, Pennsylvania. During his playing career he was awarded the Colonial States Athletic Conference Sportsmanship Award and helped lead Keystone to back-to-back Conference Championship appearances. Before playing at Keystone, Robert spent a season as team manager. During that time he developed his interest in coaching. He also Coaches AAU Basketball for ASA Hoops in the Greater Boston Area.

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