Comeback coach: Brianna Robbins Driscoll takes over St. Mary’s field hockey program
When St. Mary’s new field hockey coach Brianna Robbins Driscoll says she’s just happy to be here, she means that in every sense of the word.
Driscoll comes to the Spartans with a wealth of experience and a genuine appreciation for the opportunity to run her own program again – three years after losing that and almost so much more.
She was in her fifth year as the head coach at Austin Prep, having started the program in 2019, the same year St. Mary’s began fielding a team. What should have been a routine road trip to the Tilton School in New Hampshire turned into an emergency visit to the Lahey Hospital in Burlington.
Just before boarding the bus, Driscoll felt nauseous with an extreme headache and diminished vision in her left eye. When a co-worker got a close look at her, she immediately called 911.
EMTs quickly determined that Driscoll was having a stroke or brain aneurysm and got her in the ambulance. The next day she had surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm. She was in a medically induced coma for several days, the ICU for three weeks and she came home wearing a helmet covering the left side of her head, where half of her skull had been removed in the operation.
“I had to learn everything – walking, reading, writing,” said Driscoll, who was back on the field in 2024 as a volunteer assistant at North Reading High School, where she could walk from her home, still not having been cleared to drive at that time.
Less than two years later, Driscoll is looking forward to taking over a St. Mary’s program that has reached the Sweet 16 in the MIAA statewide tournament the last five years. And she doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that when she was ready to return to a varsity job, the St. Mary’s job was open.
“I didn’t see this coming,” said Driscoll, whose husband, Mike, teaches and coaches at St. John’s Prep. “I have a lot of experience with Catholic schools, and it is a passion for me. I know what the St. Mary’s community is about and I saw my path going that way.”
St. Mary’s Athletic Director Jeff Newhall is pleased to attract a coach with the ability and experience of Driscoll, who played at Lasell University and has coached in USA Field Hockey.
“We’re excited to welcome Brianna to our staff,” Newhall said. “Her background fits perfectly with our athletic program and our school community.”
Driscoll, who also ran track in college and coached at Malden Catholic, knows she is coming into a good situation.
“I’m excited to go back into a head coaching position and to keep building this program,” she said. “The students are the No. 1 priority.”
As for her health, she is not yet 100 percent, with her short-term memory still on the improve, but for someone who has come back from a medical episode with a 50-percent survival rate, she has absolutely no complaints.
“I believe in the power of prayer and with everything I went through it’s in God’s hands,” she said.
Amen to that.
