Brad Costa, a former three-sport athlete from a small town near Buffalo, New York, always knew he wanted to pursue a career in sports.
He now gets the chance to do that as the new director of athletics at Eastern Alamance High School.
At first, he thought having a career in sports would be playing professional football. But after an underwhelming stint as his high school’s quarterback, he realized professional sports may not be feasible. Still, he wanted to keep the competition.
“I'm the kind of person that hates losing more than I like winning,” Costa said. “Having a purpose and common goal is so important to me as a human being. You don't get that anywhere more than you do in athletics.”
Costa moved to Mebane starting as an assistant coach for Eastern’s men’s basketball team in 2015. The New York native learned under head coach Jay McPherson, the all-time wins leader at Eastern Alamance High School.
“We had a ton of success,” Costa said. “And not because of me, but because we had a lot of really great players.”
After McPherson stepped down as head coach in 2020, Costa became the head of the team. His time was defined by COVID-19 shutdowns, canceled workouts and less successful years compared to seasons prior. Despite the outcomes, Costa said he pushed through adversity and became an assistant athletics director in 2023. Soon, a career-changing opportunity presented itself.
Eastern’s 15-year athletic director, John Kirby, decided to retire this spring. Costa was given the chance to fill his shoes.
“I never wanted him to retire,” Costa said. “My thought process was: try to learn from him in an assistant athletics director role for as long as I could.”
Costa looks to continue a legacy of support and tenacity at Eastern Alamance High School.
Costa said he was excited to progress in his career but knew he had big shoes to fill in Kirby’s absence.
“He is a Mebane legend,” Costa said. “He's unbelievable and very, very missed. But I know that he's always here.”
After officially starting in August, it quickly became clear to Costa that he had lots of work on his hands.
“My day-to-day is to put Eastern Alamance athletics in the best possible chance to grow athletes and win games,” Costa said.
That includes ensuring athletes stay eligible to compete, meeting the North Carolina threshold for grades and filling out proper medical forms, Costa said. He said he takes time daily to supervise the school’s athletic facilities while keeping tabs on transport coordination for all sports. Doing this for each of the roughly 200 student-athletes at Eastern makes it a full-time job, needing constant communication.
“I didn't realize what all goes into it,” Costa said. “I'm always calling a radio crew that's trying to set up for a Friday night game or reporters that are trying to get with our football coach.”
The new job means more to Costa than just a leg up — it feels like he has found a place to stay.
“Eastern Alamance is like a home,” Costa said. “I don't want to go anywhere else. We live just a couple of minutes from here. It would be a great way to entrench my family and my daughter into the school and into the community.”
As Costa and his family continue to grow in Mebane, he said it means everything to give back to a community so eager to provide support.
“Mebane is a small town, and for so long, Eastern Alamance has been the beacon,” Costa said. “This community cares about athletics so much.”
On one of his first days at Eastern Alamance, Costa was on morning parking lot duty. He was surprised to see droves of cars driving down to the Eastern football field.
“It was people setting up chairs to watch the Friday night football game,” Costa said. “They were there at 7:30 in the morning because that's the spot they've been in for the last 20 or 30 years. I think that does a perfect job of saying what sports means to the community.”
The Mebane community raised roughly one million dollars to fund Eastern’s new fieldhouse. Costa said he hopes to rally the community for similar projects.
“I’m so grateful to have this community,” Costa said. “I’m grateful to be in a place that has cared for me.”