With the academic year wrapping up, many athletes are set to graduate. Some plan to continue their athletic pursuits, while others are about to hang up their uniform and go into professional fields. Whatever it may be, graduating athletes have big plans for their future.

Golfer Billy Gneiser said he plans to pursue the sport professionally after he graduates, something he said would take years of work.

“It’s a grind,” Gneiser said. 

He explained it would first require roughly $100,000 in sponsorships, all of which would be used to fund his golfing career. He would also need to attend qualifying school, which he plans to do in Europe. Attending school there is less expensive than it would be in the United States. To prepare, he said he would compete in smaller events. 

“That’s Plan A,” Gneiser said. “Plan B would be commercial real estate.”

Gneiser said he wants to stay in Chicago if he becomes a real estate agent because it is “the modern real estate capital of the world.”

Gneiser is graduating with a degree in communication and media, so another option for him is working in sports broadcasting. He said he would like to do play-by-play or color commentary for the NHL. 

Gneiser primarily played hockey until he sustained a knee injury in 2022, ending his hockey career when he was 18 years old. 

As he leaves DePaul, Gneiser said a big lesson he learned was how to build self-confidence, something he attributes to coaches Ryan Jamison and Jeremy Wu. 

DePaul golfer Billy Gneiser talks about his post-graduation plans on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, at the Sullivan Athletic Center. Gneiser wants to continue playing golf after college.
(Bennett Lauer)

“I’m very hard on myself with everything, no matter what I do. It could be work, school, golf,” he said, adding that he wants to continue to strive “to be a way better person” as his coaches have taught him.

Soccer defender Ryan Thomas said he plans to go back home to England to encourage younger athletes there to go to the United States and have the college experience he had. Thomas’ hometown is Peterborough, roughly one hour north of London.

“I feel like a lot of people back home would love the experience as well,” he said.

Thomas said the college experience is much different in England, with athletics being more closely tied to colleges in the United States, allowing athletes to  “experience it being one big thing,” as he put it.

“It was really cool,” he said. “It’s still big in England, but nowhere near as big as it is here.”

Thomas said he had a great time at DePaul, meeting new friends and being in Chicago, a city he’s grown to love after transferring from Eastern Florida State. 

“Coming from a junior college, I knew I needed to settle in quickly, and I felt like DePaul was the right place,” he said. “That’s the best decision I ever made.”

Softball pitcher Kelly Greene already knows she’s staying at DePaul to pursue a master’s degree in occupational therapy. She said that could take several different forms, from pediatric to elder care.

“That’s just working with people from all across the board and different demographics,” she said. “I’m working on rehabilitating them and getting them back into their daily functioning habits.”

For now, Greene said she wants to get into some hobbies she didn’t have time for as a full-time student-athlete. 

“I love going to the lake. I love trying new coffee shops. Honestly anything out and about in Chicago,” she said. “All those kinds of harmless activities.”

Although she’ll be staying at DePaul, Greene said she learned a lot from the four years she’s already had here.

“Being a student-athlete has taught me a lot about time management, taught me a lot about discipline and hard work,” she said. “How to have a bad day and wake up and do it again the next day and learn something from the losses.”

She added that her experience at DePaul taught her not to doubt herself as she moves on to the next step in her career.

“I don’t think I’ll go into my future thinking I can’t do something anymore,” she said. “Because I’ve proven myself I could do some of the hardest things and things I didn’t know I was capable of.”