Aaron Johnson – Sports Editor
Former Southern Connecticut State University women’s soccer and current Fairfield University head coach Jim O’Brien is tied for most wins in program history at 96. A former goalkeeper, assistant coach for the Owls’ men soccer team, and women’s soccer head coach, O’Brien said that he credits three major factors to his coaching success over the past 18 years at the two schools.
“One thing has been the support I’ve gotten from the administration both here and at Southern,” O’Brien said. “Two has been my coaching staff and three has been the quality players.”
O’Brien began his collegiate career at Suffolk Community before transferring to Southern where he was the starting goalkeeper for two seasons. While playing at Southern, O’Brien posted a 35-7-1 record, including 17 shutouts. Behind his impressive play, the Owls’ made it to back-to-back NCAA National semifinal appearances, including making it all the way to the 1982 NCAA Championship game. After his playing career was over and spending several years as an assistant for the men’s soccer team, O’Brien founded the women’s soccer program at Southern.
“It was a great opportunity to start a program from scratch,” O’Brien said.
As the founding coach of the women’s program, O’Brien finished with a 105-56-8 record during his nine year tenure. Under O’Brien, the Owls earned an NCAA Tournament berth and made two appearances in the ECAC Tournament. In 2000, O’Brien was named the Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year in 2000 for leading the Owls to a final national ranking of seventh and an NE-10 crown.
During that season, O’Brien won several awards, including being named the NSCAA Senior College Women – Division II New England Region Coach of the Year and the New England Women’s intercollegiate Soccer Association’s Division II Coach of the Year. O’Brien said that leaving Southern after all the success was a difficult decision.
“Southern had been a part of my entire adult life,” he said. “It was bittersweet to move on but Fairfield U was a good fit for me and my family.”
Although moving on to Fairfield University, O’Brien has not lost his ties to the school he called home for over a decade. Southern and Fairfield University has come together to play exhibition games each of the last two season and even collaborated for a fundraiser, with proceeds going to the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
“I try staying involved because I do have close ties to Southern,” he said.
As the Stags entered into this season, O’Brien had a career mark of 184-112-36, including 11 double-digit win seasons between both Fairfield University and Southern. He set the Fairfield University program-record with 15 in 2008 and a school-record 19 with the Owls in 2000. He was named the MAAC Coach of the Year for the first time last season after leading the Stags to a share of the regular season title.
O’Brien led the Stags to a 8-1-0 record in the MAAC conference and 11-6-2 overall winning the first league crown since 2002. In 2008, O’Brien was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Adidas Northeast Region Coach of the Year. He said that he wants his legacy to be remembered not by the amount of success that he had on the field, but by the relationship that he has developed with his players.
“That more than anything I had a great relationship with my student-athletes,” O’Brien said. “Most important thing [to me] is the influences that I’ve had on my student-athletes at both institutions.”
Photo Credit: Joe Shlabotnik
