Westfield State men’s and women’s track and field head coach Sean O’Brien enters the 2022-23 academic year in his 25th season leading the Owls men’s track and field program and 24th at the helm of the women’s program.

O’Brien has guided the Owls’s women’s team to 17 outdoor and eight indoor MASCAC championships.  The Owl women won the New England Alliance crown (combined MASCAC-Little East) indoors in 2000 and 2003, and outdoors in 1999 and 2009.

The Owls men have won 15 outdoor and nine indoor MASCAC team titles, and 11 New England Alliance championships.   The Owl men have placed in the top ten in the New England Division III meet eight times in 12 seasons.

Westfield State track and field student-athletes have earned 25 All-American awards in O’Brien’s tenure, highlighted by NCAA Division III National Champions Marlee Berg in the women’s indoor high jump in 2009, and Travon Godette in the men’s javelin in 2015.

O’Brien was named the New England region women’s indoor track and field coach of the year in 2009.

O’Brien is certified by the USATF in Level 1 and Level 2 sprints and Hurdles, the USTFCCCA in level 1, Level 2 specialist, sprints/hurdles/relays specialist, throws events specialist, combined events specialist, strength and conditioning, jumps event specialist and Speed Summit certified.

He served as the New England Division III men’s track and field president in 2011 and 2012.

Most recently, Owls decathlete William Canty and women’s weight thrower Lauren Gilderdale earned All-America Honors in 2020.

Owls athletes in virtually every event have thrived under O’Brien’s leadership, as athletes in the women’s shot, men’s decathlon, women’s steeplechase, women’s 400 and 400 hurdles, multiple honors and honorees in men’s javelin, and women’s pole vault have all earned All-America honors in recent years.

O’Brien also serves as an assistant football coach for the Owls, where he coaches a defensive secondary that set a school record in 2009 with 25 interceptions and led the nation in pass efficiency defense. The Owls' pass defense was ranked first in the NCAA Division III in 2005, and second nationally in 2001 and 2002.