Wally Bzdell '94 has been working with Union College student-athletes for 25 years, providing a full range of sport psychology services, mental skills training, and student-athlete well-being initiatives for athletes, high-level performers, and coaches. He moved into the role of Assistant Athletic Director for Sport Psychology and Student-Athlete Well-Being at Union in July 2022. Bzdell provides sport psychology services to Union's 27 varsity teams while serving as a senior member of the athletic department's administrative team. He also oversees student-athlete well-being initiatives, serves as an advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and works with coaches, staff, and campus partners on initiatives related to mental health, wellness, leadership, and a healthy athletic culture.
Bzdell is an applied psychologist/sport psychologist with more than 30 years of applied work helping individuals build upon their strengths, overcome and remove professional and personal barriers to success, and improve their performances. His work spans NCAA Division I and III athletics, professional sports, and Olympic and international competition. He has worked with more than 50 NHL players and 100 AHL players, as well as numerous NCAA All-Americans, professional all-stars, and elite-level athletes. His consulting work has contributed to championship-level success across collegiate and professional athletics, including two NCAA Division I men's ice hockey national championships; four Division I Frozen Four appearances; a final four in Division I Men's Lacrosse; and an NCAA Championship runner up in Division III men's lacrosse.
Bzdell continues to work extensively with high-level collegiate and professional programs, supporting teams that have won conference and national championships and advanced deep into NCAA postseason competition. As well as Union College, his current consulting work includes NCAA Division I programs at the University at Albany, Colorado College, the University of Rhode Island, and Rutgers, as well as the Oshawa FireWolves of the National Lacrosse League. His recent work has included supporting three America East championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances for Albany women's lacrosse, three America East championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances for Albany men's lacrosse, and championship and postseason success in women's basketball, men's hockey, and Division III athletics.
A New York State licensed psychologist, Bzdell co-authored the book, Character and Coaching: Building Virtue in Athletic Programs (2001), and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Siena College and Skidmore College, as well as taught classes at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is the founder of Bzdell Sport Psychology, LLC, where he provides performance enhancement and personal development consulting to athletes, coaches, teams, and organizations. Bzdell is a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing's NCAA-sponsored program and was certified in Mental Health First Aid in 2025. He is also certified to administer, score, assess, and write comprehensive reports using the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Styles Inventory (TAIS), an assessment used to evaluate attentional and interpersonal characteristics associated with performance in high-pressure environments.
A 1994 graduate of Union College and a member of the Union men's hockey team, Bzdell went on to earn a master's degree in counseling and psychological services from Springfield College in 1996 and a doctorate of education from Boston University in 2001. He also earned an associate's degree in physical education from Vancouver Island University while playing junior hockey.
