Bobby Bozym knew before he graduated from Ledyard High School in 2013 that he wanted to work in sports.

Several years later, Bozym has landed his first big job in athletics — at Yale.

The Bulldogs hired Bozym, a 2017 Springfield College graduate, in March as an assistant offensive line coach and offensive quality control.

“The history, the tradition, the academic pedigree of the school and just the whole Ivy League, it was a pretty eye-opening opportunity,” Bozym said. “To have the job offered and put on the table was pretty surreal.

“The opportunity I have now at Yale. ... I’m extremely fortunate.”

Bozym, who grew up in Gales Ferry, was a two-way lineman for the Colonels and helped them reach the 2012 Class M final his junior season. He also played defense for the lacrosse team.

Bozym wanted to work involved in athletics in some type of capacity when he began looking at colleges. Then-Ledyard football coach Jim Buonocore, now the athletic director and assistant principal, mentioned Springfield College, his alma mater.

Bozym spent a weekend at Springfield and fell in love with it.

“As cliché as it sounds, it felt like home to me,” Bozym said. “I really believed in the mission statement of Springfield — ‘spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service to others.’ Everything to me was a fit.

“I’m glad I made the decision. It’s definitely been one of the most impactful decisions that I’ve made. I think it set me up to be in the position I’m in right now. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Bozym was an offensive lineman at Springfield and played six games his sophomore year and five as a junior. He started in nine of 10 games as a senior (he missed one start to injury) and helped the Pride’s triple option offense average 297 rushing yards in 2016, fifth in the nation in Division III and 15th across all four divisions.

Bozym was a three-time Liberty League All-Academic Team selection and graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in sport management with a minor in athletic coaching. He then went to Maine Maritime Academy after graduation to become an assistant coach under head coach Chris McKenney, a former Springfield College player and offensive coordinator.

Maine Maritime provided Bozym with a coaching foundation as he coached the offensive line and was even given recruiting duties. It helped, too, that McKenney ran the triple option.

“I always had the intention that I was going to go back to Springfield, be a GA (graduate assistant), get my Masters degree,” Bozym said. “Springfield, they always want you to spend a year away so that you’re not coaching guys that you directly just finished playing with. It gives you an opportunity to start to develop your coaching philosophy. Just go somewhere and coach.”

“I enjoyed my time in Castine, Maine. At times, it seems like it’s on the end of the world, but it was just a great opportunity to go up there and just to start to learn how to become a coach.”

Springfield, as a Division III school, doesn’t have dozens of paid coaches on its football staff like Division I programs. It had three full-time coaches and several graduate assistant head coaches when Bozym returned to work there, so he did a lot of everything over two seasons. He’d work with the tackles and tight ends at practice, broke down film, and even had his own area to recruit players.

“The thing that’s so interesting about the Springfield graduate assistant is you’re really filling a role as a full-time coach,” Bozym said. “And you’re a full-time graduate student at the same time.

“When you (hire) a Springfield guy into a coaching position, you feel more comfortable because you know what they do at Springfield and the amount of work they actually do.”

The graduate assistant life is a lot of grind for little pay. Bozym was given a stipend and had to find a summer job that helped pay the bills. He shared a house with up to seven other people to make paying the rent more manageable. He figured he worked anywhere from 65 to 80 hours a week, depending on the time of the year, both on football and working on his Masters in degree in Athletic Administration.

“You find a way to get things done,” Bozym said. “You just have to be able to manage your time, prioritize your time. As long as you can do that, it’s not really an issue.”

Bozym’s time as a GA was running out when Yale offensive coordinator Kevin Cahill reached out to Mike Cerasuolo, Springfield’s head coach. Cahill was a former Springfield player and coach, and Yale was looking for an assistant offensive line coach.

Cerasuolo told Bozym about the opportunity. Bozym went to Yale for an interview in mid-February and was offered the job the next day.

“I couldn’t say ‘yes’ any quicker,” Bozym joked. “I was just absolutely thrilled. The offensive lineman coach, Al Netter, the opportunity I have to work with him, he’s a guy who was a four-year starter at Northwestern, played in the NFL, he GA’d at Michigan with (Jim) Harbaugh and came to Yale — I get to learn from him.

“(My job is) a testament to Coach Buonocore and Coach Cerasuolo and Coach (Mike) DeLong, (Springfield’s head coach from 1984-2015), Coach McKenney. To be part of (Yale head coach Tony) Reno’s staff, it’s been everything that I could wish for.”

n.griffen@theday.com