Each year, hundreds of Buffalo State student-athletes progress from the campus buildings of the University and into the professional world, ready to build incredible careers and impact positive change in their communities. Here are their stories.
 
Spencer Cameron Pressley '19 was a dual-sport athlete in football and track and field at Buffalo State, but he never imagined that his career path would lead him to Northern Ohio as an assistant track and field coach at Toledo University at 25 years old.
 
"I'd been to Ohio just once in my life, but now it's my home. One thing that is great about track is that it takes you places unexpectedly," Cameron-Pressley remarked.  
In his short time at Toledo, Cameron-Pressley has already been tasked with leading the Rockets' 13 sprinters and jumpers through a rigorous competition schedule that includes meets at Michigan, Notre Dame, and North Carolina State among others, helping multiple student-athletes achieve top-10 times in school history.

"Coaching is a whirlwind of fun when you see where it can take you. You have to love what you're doing and find the staff and athletes and culture that fits you. The culture that has been built is incredible, and it's great to see such a huge connection from the city to the University."
 
And Cameron-Pressley believes that he's found the right fit in Toledo for himself in more ways than one.
 
"Learning new things, creating new relationships and friendships, and seeing that there's so much that can be offered in other places of the world, especially in Ohio. Leaving Buffalo was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I've been able to have so many new experiences and opportunities from it."
 
"Toledo has one of the best metro parks in the nation, so I've gotten to enjoy new experiences, explore nature, and travel to places that I never dreamed of going to."
  
For Cameron-Pressley, the coaching track was not expected one bit, but the chance to coach presented itself at the conclusion of his collegiate career as an assistant coach at Canisius High School alongside teammate Austin Becker.
 
"The biggest thing was that I wanted to stay involved in athletics when I graduated, and gaining that experience was extremely valuable," Cameron-Pressley said.  
Cameron-Pressley specifically mentioned the team culture and chemistry that he experienced as a student-athlete, and some valuable life advice from a Buffalo State professor, as the two reasons that he wanted to continue to be involved in athletics.
 
"The camaraderie that you have from those bonding moments is incredible, and I've built friendships that will last me a lifetime. And I will always remember the influence of Dr. Ron Stewart in encouraging me to go to grad school and pushing me to be my best."
 
The specific quote that Cameron-Pressley remembers Dr. Stewart telling him: "You're too smart to do nothing with your life."
 
While pursuing a master's degree at the University of Buffalo, Cameron-Pressley's collegiate coaching kicked off at Buffalo State in a different sport: football.  
"Coach Ozolins gave me the opportunity to maintain that coaching path, and I started to gain more experience and confidence with one-on-one work and group work with athletes."
  The perfect circumstances led to an opening at Buffalo State as an assistant track and field coach, which Cameron-Pressley shifted into seamlessly while also maintaining his role with the football team. He helped Buffalo State have success on the jumps side, mentoring four student-athletes to qualifying berths for regionals.
 
At the conclusion of 2021, Cameron-Pressley made the life-altering decision to head out of Buffalo to accept a position at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. He made the most of his short time with the Student Princes by leading the squad to 58 conference-qualifying marks and one student-athlete to break the school record in the pole vault.
 
"Having one of my athletes break the school record was one of the greatest career accomplishments that I've had to this point, and seeing the joy and pride when everything that we'd worked for started to pay off was really rewarding."  
 
In August of 2022, Cameron-Pressley made another move, this time to his current position as assistant coach at Toledo, where he has developed a more scientific approach to coaching the sport.
"There is so much running and training involved in track that so much science goes into what we do to keep our athletes in the best shape possible. The last thing that you want is to accidently burn out an athlete, or have them not be 100% healthy."
   
So what could be in store for Cameron-Pressley's future?
 
"I can see myself in an associate role in the next four-five years, or continuing to use the connections that I have to build my career." Creating connections and networking are crucial in the professional world, as Cameron-Pressley has begun to understand.
"Our director at Toledo has connections to everyone. We went to Notre Dame for a meet, and I turned around to see her with the Alabama coaches, turned around again and she's with the Michigan coaches."
 
As for the greatest life advice that Cameron-Pressley could offer up from his own experiences: "Life will take you far if you accept what is coming towards you. Everything will happen for a reason, it may take time or it can happen really quickly."
 
He continued by saying, "Don't rush yourself and don't create your own timelines. We fall into the narrative that we need to achieve this or that in our careers by a certain time, which creates a lot of unneeded stress."
 
GO BENGALS!



If you know of any Buffalo State Athletics alumni that are accomplishing great things in their professional lives that would be worthy of a feature story, please contact Director of Athletic Communications Mitchell Binda at bindamw@buffalostate.edu !