New teacher and assistant cross country coach Mr. Colin Donovan joined Brophy this year and helped coach the team to a top-10 finish in the AIA State Championship. 

Mr. Donovan, who attended Benedictine College, double majored in Chemistry and Physics. In addition to his academics, he is All-American in track and cross country, with times of 15:34 in the 5k and 4:21 in the mile. 

Mr. Donovan also attended De Smet Jesuit High School in the St. Louis area. He started running his freshman year saying, “I just kind of fell in love with the routine, daily practice, the idea of, you know, coming in as a freshman, and then getting better and better and better every year. I had big goals, and I liked kind of the culture that our team had of setting big goals and trying to meet them.” 

He then continued on to run in college, where he met his wife at the freshman barbeque. They immediately hit it off, and have dated ever since; just recently getting married.

Mr. Donovan has enjoyed both teaching and coaching at Brophy so far. He said,  “The team culture is very impressive. That was the thing I noticed from day one, everyone is there to get better. They show up to practice, ready to go.” 

Donovan has also enjoyed teaching at Brophy saying, “I think about my sophomores, from even early August to now, I’ve seen them grow up in a lot of ways, and, yeah, I’m excited to see that development continue.”

The students he teaches and coaches have also enjoyed his presence at Brophy. One of Mr. Donovan’s Honors Chemistry students and cross country runners, Mason Zinman ’27, said, “ Mr. Donovan is an excellent teacher who really explains chemistry well. It is a difficult class, but no matter the number of questions that we have, he’ll answer them and explain the material until we understand it.“