Bresnahan

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Still unsure of her long-term future in the sport, Olivia Bresnahan and college basketball are getting along just fine.

Bresnahan, 26, scored 1,395 points during a stellar girls basketball career at Butler High School. Her career path has included a number of twists and turns since.

She accepted a scholarship to play at Florida State, then transferred to Duquesne.

She turned down an offer to play pro basketball overseas and accepted a graduate assistant coaching position at Akron — only to wind up as a graduate student manager back at Duquesne.

She served the last three seasons as a graduate assistant for the Dukes.

Now Bresnahan is back in the ACC — accepting the position of Director of Basketball Operations for the Wake Forest University women's team last summer.

“It's hard to plan things out in this business,” Bresnahan said. “You accept opportunities as they arise and sort of go from there.”

Bresnahan said she will not “close the door” to getting back into coaching.

“What I'm doing now may steer me toward becoming an athletic director down the road, but I feel like I'm prepared to go in either direction,” she said.

Bresnahan's current duties include chartering flights for the team, setting up and confirming hotel reservations, lining up buses, scheduling court time for practices, acquiring equipment, etc.

“Whatever needs done to help the season along, I'm involved with it,” Bresnahan said. “A lot of people in basketball operations transition over to athletic director. I can see why.

“The job can be pretty hectic.”

Bresnahan found this position through the tip of a fellow assistant coach at Duquesne who knew Wake Forest women's coach Jen Hoover.

The Demon Deacons are off to a 9-5 start and only recently began Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“It's good to be back in the ACC,” said Bresnahan, who began her playing career with Florida State. “I'm looking forward to our trip to Florida State. I haven't been back there in a while.

“Coach Sue (Semrau) is still there and I've always stayed in contact with her since I left. There are no hard feelings there at all. We have a very good relationship.”

Bresnahan was a two-time all-state player in high school. She started 54 of 56 games at guard for Duquesne during her two years there. She was also a team captain with the Dukes.

Bresnahan received her bachelor's degree in business administration from Duquesne in 2015 and her master's from there in 2017.

“I'm involved in every aspect of game-day preparation,” she said of Wake Forest. “I sit on the bench and provide input when I can, but I'm not an assistant coach, so I'm limited in what I can do that way.

“Wake Forest is a great school. It's considered the Ivy League of the ACC.”

Bresnahan is unsure of where her career will go from here — except that it will likely remain in college athletics.

“Just take things as they come,” she said. “I've learned that.”