Kevin O'Connell Retires from South Carolina Athletics
Kevin O’Connell has spent a lifetime as an athletics administrator. In what truly has been a labor of love, O’Connell has had the opportunity to wear many hats while toiling in the profession for nearly four decades.
Kevin O’Connell and Ray Tanner at ’10 Super Regional
Now, after spending the past 35 years in intercollegiate athletics at four different institutions, he is hanging up those hats, but not without a countless number of cherished memories of the people he’s encountered and the events he has witnessed.
Originally from Falls Church, Va., O’Connell graduated from Virginia Tech in 1975 and earned his master’s degree two years later from Ohio University. After working for four years with the NASL’s Washington Diplomats, his journey as a college athletics administrator began at North Carolina State, where he first met current South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner.
“Coach Tanner was a young baseball assistant and assistant ticket manager, and I was a young assistant A.D.,” recalled O’Connell. “We had a lot of fun there. I could tell even then that he was very special. In those days, coaches had to take on a lot of responsibilities outside of their sport. I always had Coach Tanner help me with football bowl travel. When his mentor, Coach Sam Esposito, retired, Coach Tanner was a strong candidate to be the head baseball coach. I wrote a letter to Jim Valvano, the Athletics Director, saying that Tanner was going to make a great A.D. one day and suggested he might want to leave him in the position he was in. Fortunately, Coach Valvano didn’t listen to me and made him the head coach. He went on to a hall of fame career, but I was right too, because he has become an excellent A.D.”
“When I became athletics director, I was hopeful that Kevin would continue his role in making a difference in resources and facilities that impacted the student-athletes at our University,” Athletics Director Ray Tanner said. “He was my administrator when I was the head baseball coach, and his leadership qualities benefited our entire athletics department staff. Kevin is the consummate teammate and one of the most selfless people I have ever known.”
After eight years at NC State, O’Connell went into private business for six years before returning to athletics, first at Miami (Ohio) University for four years as an associate athletics director, then at TCU for six years as the associate athletics director of external operations where he was responsible for the Frogs’ marketing and promotions, the TCU Sports Network, media relations, ticket operations, the community outreach program, and a sport administrator. He moved to Columbia in 2005, reuniting with Athletics Director Eric Hyman, with whom he had worked previously at both Miami and TCU.
At South Carolina, the 67-year-old held the title of Chief Operating Officer, has overseen new athletic construction, facilities, and game operations and has also been the sport administrator for the Gamecock baseball, men and women’s soccer, and men’s basketball programs.
“I have loved being here,” said O’Connell of his time in Columbia. “It’s been an incredible ride, not only with the sports, but being a part of a team that built beautiful facilities for our coaches, student-athletes and staff. I have always been part of the mindset that if we were going to participate in a sport, we should give the coaches and the student-athletes the tools they need to compete for championships,” said O’Connell. “The joy you feel as an administrator watching all of our sports, especially the Olympic sports, compete at an elite level in top-notch facilities is very special.”
O’Connell has had the good fortune to work with great administrators, coaches, and student-athletes at every stop, creating a long list of memories.
“Let’s start with the 1983 men’s basketball national championship with the ‘cardiac ‘Pack’ when N.C. State beat Houston,” said O’Connell. “Coach Dick Sheridan, who coached football at NC State in the late ’80s was one of my mentors. The 1986 Peach Bowl in Atlanta vs Virginia Tech is a favorite memory from my time in Raleigh.
“Wally Szczerbiak played at Miami University when I was there. He was a great basketball player who went on to play many years in the NBA. I was fortunate to be able to watch LaDainian Tomlinson at TCU. He rushed for over 2,000 yards his senior year and is in both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Then you fast-forward to South Carolina, and obviously the two College World Series Championships in 2010 and 2011 stand out,” recalled O’Connell. “There was Christian Walker’s home run in the bottom of the eighth against Coastal Carolina in the Super Regional in Myrtle Beach to send us to the World Series in 2010. In that same year, Michael Roth had the three-hit game against Clemson in the CWS. Whit Merrifield’s hit in the bottom of the eleventh that scored Scott Wingo to win the 2010 College World Series against UCLA. In 2011, Walker broke his left wrist, and we didn’t think he was going to be able to play, but the doctors took great care of him, and he was able to play. That was the year, Florida loaded the bases with nobody out, and Wingo made two great plays to get us out of the inning. Watching Jackie Bradley, Jr., Michael Roth, and Matt Price; there were so many great players on those teams.
“I think God had a plan for me, and I was able to do what I was meant to do.”
– Kevin O’Connell
“The men’s basketball run in 2017 to the Final Four was incredible with Sindarius Thornwell, Duane Notice and PJ Dozier stands out,” continued O’Connell. “I had been to the Final Four with NC State in 1983, and it took 34 years to get back. It’s very, very difficult! That was an amazing run with a great team, led by Coach Martin.”
“One of the great things that has happened to me is working with an administrator like Kevin O’Connell,” Martin said. “He has been on the journey of rebuilding our basketball program step by step with me. His honesty and loyalty make it easy to follow his lead as our oversight. However, the greatest experience for me is that I get to call Kevin a friend. College athletes, coaches and USC will miss you my brother.”
“Of course with football, the back-to-back-to-back 11-win seasons, highlighted by the win over No. 1 Alabama in Williams-Brice Stadium during the most successful run in school history, stands out,” continued O’Connell.
“With women’s soccer, there was the 2009 and 2019 SEC Tournament Championships that were both very special. Beating North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2014 to go to the Elite Eight, and the College Cup run in 2017. Think about that – Frank Martin goes to the Final Four that year, Dawn Staley wins the women’s basketball National Championship, and Shelley Smith goes to the Final Four in the fall. That was a great year! Also, being a part of Mark Berson’s success – the winningest active coach in college soccer – has been tremendous.”
“Kevin has always shown tremendous support for his teams and the coaches and student-athletes he has worked with,” said Smith. “He has always wanted the best for all of us, and we all have a great appreciation for the support he has given. Kevin has dedicated a lot of time and effort making South Carolina Athletics a special place to be a part of, and to help put us on another level with facilities that has allowed us to compete among the best in the SEC and nationally. He has always been invested in the student-athlete experience and was there to support them in-person at every home competition and some away trips as well. Through the good times and the disappointments, he was and will always be a fan. He should be proud of all he has built here and the influence he has had on his coaches and student-athletes at South Carolina.”
While O’Connell has had an up-close look at several of programs as its sport administrator, he has had an impact on every sport at Carolina. He served as the point person in the athletics facilities upgrades over the past 16 years, overseeing the Facilities Master Plan as it came to fruition.
“Sasaki Associates, Inc. assisted us with our Facilities Master Plan. After a lengthy planning process and formal approval from our Board of Trustees, the first step was moving the baseball stadium from Sarge Frye Field to what is now Founders Park,” recalled O’Connell. “That opened up a lot of space for us in the Athletics Village. We built the Dodie (Anderson Academic Enrichment Center) first because it was a statement of how important the academic success of our student-athletes was to our department.”
Among the many other upgrades in that master plan were the Rice Athletics Center, the new softball stadium, the new soccer complex that adjoins Stone Stadium, new indoor and outdoor track facilities, new beach volleyball facility, new tennis stadium, an athletic training facility for spring sports, and the numerous improvements inside and outside of Williams-Brice Stadium, including the Springs Brooks Plaza as well as the Jerri and Steve Spurrier Football Practice Facility and the Long Family Football Operations Center.
“When you go to a university, you try to leave it better than when you got there. I think we did that here. With Eric Hyman and Ray Tanner, we’ve been able to touch every program. Every program has been enhanced. Of all the years I’ve been doing this, these last 16 years have been my favorite and the most rewarding. I’ve loved everywhere I’ve been, but the University of South Carolina is a very special place.”
When asked what he would miss the most, O’Connell couldn’t put his finger on just one thing.
“First off and most importantly, I will miss the personal relationships with coaches and colleagues,” admitted O’Connell.
O’Connell, Ann Derrick, Ray Tanner.
“I will miss talking to Frank Martin after every game. I will miss listening to Coach Tanner’s stories. I will miss high-fiving Shelley Smith when her soccer team has another dominating performance at Stone Stadium. I will miss being around Mark Berson, who has coached men’s soccer here for four decades and is a class act. I will miss talking to Mark Kingston about getting back to Omaha.
“I will miss the planning process that goes into a new facility with Ann Derrick, Jeff Davis, Derek Gruner, the architects, the coaches and staff and then watching the building come out of the ground. I will miss working with Ann Derrick, who is the best Project Manager ever and Jeff Davis, who takes so much pride in his work. I will miss the joy on the faces of our student-athletes when they walk into their new facility. I will miss graduation day for our student-athletes. I will miss the opportunity to mentor young people and to tell them about this wonderful profession that I was blessed to work in for 40 years.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to work in college athletics,” O’Connell surmised. “I think God had a plan for me, and I was able to do what I was meant to do. I’ve loved it. There are a lot of hard days, but I feel very blessed that I’ve been able to work with outstanding student-athletes, coaches, and colleagues. You spend so much time trying to help student-athletes not only win championships but have positive experiences on and off the field. You also try to help coaches with winning championships. It’s very gratifying when the teams have great success and you have had a small part in that.”
Intercollegiate athletics has changed greatly in the four decades since he first began working in the field and, while he may no longer have a sideline view of events, O’Connell still has one hat to wear as he moves into retirement and the next phase of his life – that of a doting grandfather.
“Other than spending more time with my five grandchildren, I don’t have any grand plans at this point,” said O’Connell. “I’ll just figure it out as I go along.”
