Carolyn O'Connell
Sr. Associate Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator, Loyola University

In her 27th year with Loyola University Chicago Athletics, Carolyn Vellos O'Connell is vital to the day-to-day operations of the Loyola Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Her responsibilities as senior associate athletics director include those of senior woman administrator, a position she has held since 1984.

As senior associate athletics director, O'Connell is responsible for supervising various men's and women's sports programs, as well as the spirit program. Her other responsibilities include serving as the departmental liaison to the offices of admissions, residence life, student financial assistance and learning assistance, while also serving as the NCAA compliance officer for Loyola.

A well-respected administrator, O'Connell serves on numerous committees. She is a member of the Horizon League Finance Committee and is the liaison for the Horizon League Women's Basketball Committee.

O'Connell was chosen by the NCAA Public Affairs Staff to serve as a NCAA Champion, a public affairs initiative created to provide important viewpoints that can provide added perspective to issues in higher education which present a more balanced image of the NCAA and collegiate sports. The goal of the program is to help the public and media better understand the commitment to support the academic, athletics and personal goals of student-athletes as well as reaffirm the mission and role of intercollegiate athletics in higher education. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Skokie Little League Baseball and the St. Athanasius School Board.

A former member of the NCAA Initial Eligibility Waiver Committee, O'Connell was recently appointed by the Division I Academic/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet as a member of the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement until 2006.

Prior to 1984, O'Connell also held the assistant athletics director position, the coordinator for women's athletics and the head women's volleyball coach titles. As volleyball coach at Loyola from 1979-83, she compiled an overall record of 173-87 and was named North Star Conference Coach-of-the-Year in 1983, leading her team to the league championship. She was an assistant coach for the Midwest men's volleyball team at the National Sports Festival in Syracuse, N.Y.

Before joining the Loyola staff in 1979, O'Connell spent five years teaching and coaching at Resurrection High School in Chicago. A 1974 graduate of DePaul University, she received her bachelor's degree in education. A standout on the women's volleyball team, she was inducted into DePaul's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993

© 2024 Sports Is Education Foundation