A Baltimore native, O’Connell enters his ninth season with the program. After six years as an assistant coach, O'Connell was promoted to associate head coach for the 2021-22 campaign.
Prior to working at the University of Southern California (USC) 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, the2013-14 team won a program Division I record 25 games and the 2021-22 squad won the program's first-ever CAA regular season title. Towson also made its first postseason appearances as a Division I program, earning trips to the National Invitation Tournament, CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and the Vegas-16 Tournament.
Towson finished the 2023-24 season winning 20-plus games for a school record third straight season and reached the CAA Championship Semifinals for the third straight year. The Tigers will return 81 percent of the scoring and 80 percent of minutes played for 2024-25, including CAA Rookie of the Year Tyler Tejada.
During the 2022-23 season, Towson earned its second-straight 20+ win campaign and finish in the CAA semifinal round, including the best start in program history at 5-0. Three Tigers earned All-CAA recognition, including Nicolas Timberlake and Cam Holden each being named to the NABC All-District Honors. After the season concluded, O'Connell was selected to participate in the Jay Bilas Coaches Leadership Program, designed for current Division I assistant coaches who aspire to be head coaches at the collegiate level.
O'Connell helped Towson earn the program's first-ever CAA regular season title and berth into the National Invitation Tournament during the 2021-22 campaign. The Tigers finished 25-9 and 15-3 in the CAA, with three players earned all-league honors including Cam Holden and Nicolas Timberlake on the First Team. It was the winningest Division I and CAA season in program history.
The Tigers enjoyed a strong 2019-20 campaign that resulted in 19 victories and a third-place finish in the CAA for the third time in five years. In addition, Towson had five players named to the 2020 All-CAA team, the most of any school in the conference. The Tigers won a program record seven CAA road games and had a seven-game winning streak during the month of January.
During the 2017-18 season, Towson won the Florida Gulf Coast Showcase and the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic. In addition, Towson had a 10-game winning streak, which was tied for the third best in program history. The Tigers started the season 10-1, which was the best in Towson’s Division I era, and received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the second time in program history. The Tigers also spent nine weeks in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll peaking at No. 4 on Dec. 19, 2017.
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.
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.
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.
