TOWSON, Md. – Pat O'Connell is returning home.
 
A Baltimore native, O'Connell has been named an assistant coach for the Towson University men's basketball team. Prior to working at the University of Southern California (USC) last year as the Director of Basketball Operations, O'Connell served three seasons as the Director of Student-Athlete Development on the Tiger men's basketball coaching staff.
 
During his time at Towson, the 2012-13 team made the largest single-season turnaround in NCAA history and the 2013-14 team won a program Division I record 25 games. Towson also made its first postseason appearances as a Division I program and won two games. Last year, the Tigers won 20 games for the second time in three years.
 
Entering this season, Towson has the most CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) conference victories with 42 since the beginning of the 2012-13 season.
 
"We are thrilled to bring Pat back on staff," Towson head coach Pat Skerry said. "He was outstanding in his three years for us as we helped build the program. He has certainly benefitted from working under coach Andy Enfield at USC and coach Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. He's a local guy and it's good to get him back in Baltimore. He knows our system, our culture and he knows our players."
 
O'Connell spent the two seasons prior to joining Towson coaching staff as a graduate assistant at Florida State. He assisted Hamilton, the 2012 ACC Coach of the Year, and his staff with both practices and individual workouts. At Florida State, O'Connell played a pivotal role in advance scouting, film breakdown and certain aspects of recruiting.
 
"Words cannot express how excited I am to return to Towson," O'Connell said. "Having previously worked for coach Skerry, I know his work ethic is second to none and he is the ultimate competitor.  Coach Skerry and his staff continue to push Towson men's basketball to new heights. I believe the best is yet to come and I'm ready to positively affect this process"
 
O'Connell graduated from Johns Hopkins University where he was a four-year standout for the Blue Jays' basketball team. He was a member of the 2007 Centennial Conference championship team that went 24-5. O'Connell served as the team's captain and earned all-conference honors in 2010.
 
O'Connell ranks second all-time in career steals at Johns Hopkins, the same school where USC head coach Andy Enfield ranks first in career points scored.
 
"Pat is a tireless worker who has an enthusiastic personality mixed with a creative basketball mind," Enfield said. "We will surely miss Pat, but our basketball staff looks forward to following his success and the continued success of Towson basketball."
 
Added Hamilton: "Pat is one of the sharpest, most intuitive and hardest working guys we have had working with our staff at Florida State.  There was never any doubt that he would become a college coach and he is destined to do very well in this profession.  Towson head coach Pat Skerry is an outstanding teacher. Pat will learn a great deal and benefit tremendously simply from being around Coach Skerry every day."
 
O'Connell earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Business Management from Hopkins in 2010. He obtained his Master of Science in Sports Management from Florida State in May of 2012.
 
"Pat will be heavily involved with scouting, recruiting, player relationships, player development as well as other tasks," Skerry said. "He reminds me a lot of other good assistants we've had here in that he can coach, recruit and handle administrative tasks and develop great relationships with student-athletes. He's the total package."