William Martin O'Connor or Bill O'Connor is a former basketball coach at Rockhurst University

Early life

William Martin O'Connor was born on January 13, 1950, in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, to John Joseph O'Connor and Martha Fetters O'Connor. Bill attended Rockhurst High School where he played varsity

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. He continued to play at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

Career

O'Connor started his career at Colby Community College as an assistant coach. He later was hired as an assistant coach at University of Texas-Pan American where he stayed for a short time before finding Rockhurst. In 1994 Bill was named head coach of the Rockhurst team, and led Rockhurst to multiple Great Lakes Valley Conference and Heartland Conference champions. He was named coach of the year multiple times in both the GLVC and the Heartland conference. O'Connor retired in 2015 as the winningest head coach in Rockhurst basketball history. He was inducted into the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on April 11, 2019.

Personal life

He lives in

, with his wife Elaine. He has 4 children, Tricia, Chris, Anna, and Caitlin.

References

*https://rockhursthawks.com/coaches.aspx?rc=13 *https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/article10147853.html *https://quhawks.com/news/2014/9/19/MBB_0919142613.aspx *https://drurypanthers.com/news/2009/3/5/MBB_0305094502.aspx *https://www.whig.com/article/20081205/ARTICLE/312059990 *https://wusports.com/news/2012/11/19/MBB_1119121154.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Bill 1950 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from Kansas City, Missouri Benedictine Ravens men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Rockhurst Hawks men's basketball coaches UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball coaches