Monday, June 1, 2009
Sean O'Connor Named Head Men's Basketball Coach at Mercy
College
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Sean O'Connor |
DOBBS FERRY, NY - Sean O'Connor has been appointed head men's basketball coach at Mercy College, Director of Athletics Pat Kennedy announced on Monday. He will take over basketball operations immediately.
"Sean has a clear vision of the high caliber student-athlete that Mercy College is recruiting. He has the respect of local high school coaches on Long Island, in New York City, and Westchester. Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program and Sean is the guy who can get it done," Kennedy said. "His diverse coaching experience will also be an asset to the program and the student-athletes he mentors."
"We have assembled a great young coaching staff and will recruit talented student-athletes," O'Connor said. "We have a great network in the high school and A.A.U. community that we will draw upon to help us build the program into a strong competitor in the ECC."
O'Connor, a St. John's University alumnus, comes to Mercy College with over two decades of coaching experience at various levels. Most recently O'Connor was an assistant coach at Chaminade High School in Mineola, NY. Prior to Chaminade, he rebuilt the St. Mary's High School women's basketball program. In O'Connor's first season at the helm he ended a ten-year drought by making the playoffs and did so every season during his five-year tenure.
O'Connor has also managed many camps and clinics, including Corpus Christi Parish Basketball Clinic in Mineola. He supervised all aspects of the clinic which had over 100 boys and girls. In this role, he started several community outreach initiatives.
He also worked with the Hope Thru Hoops Foundation, specializing in fundraising for athletic scholarships. O'Connor was instrumental in building the St. Andrew's Avellino Catholic Youth Organization boys basketball program. They won six consecutive league championships under his tutelage from 1995-2001 and went to three diocesan finals.
O'Connor was a camp counselor at the Hofstra University Basketball Camp, where he assisted with coaching, refereeing and supervision of camp attendees. He coached the Rising Stars (boys) and LI Xtreme (girls) AAU programs.
He started his coaching career in 1987 for his alma mater, Monsignor Scanlan High School in the Bronx, as an assistant men's varsity basketball coach. He played four years at Scanlan and then moved onto St. John's University where he played for two seasons with the junior varsity-club program.
O'Connor earned his bachelor's of science degree in Biology from St. John's University. In 1998 he received a master's of public administration from Marist College and he graduated from the FBI National Academy in 2003.
About Mercy
College
Mercy College is a New York metropolitan area college of over 9,000
students studying at five campus locations including the main
campus in Dobbs Ferry, plus Bronx, Manhattan, White Plains, and
Yorktown Heights. With over 90 undergraduate and graduate programs,
Mercy College offers a quality liberal arts and professional
education within its five schools: Business, Education, Health and
Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts, and Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Mercy College also offers competitive financial support, making
college affordable. The Mercy College faculty is dedicated to
the scholarship of teaching. Mercy College professors include
Fulbright Scholars, published authors and national authorities in
their fields.
