Jim O’Brien Named Men’s Basketball Head Coach

Jim O’Brien has been named Emerson College’s men’s basketball coach. O’Brien, who was a three-year Boston College letterman during his own undergraduate years while playing for Bob Cousy and Chuck Daly, has previously held head coaching positions at St. Bonaventure University, Boston College, and Ohio State University.

“We are extremely excited to have attracted someone with Jim’s talent and experience to Emerson,” said Director of Athletics Kristin Parnell. “He will help the basketball program build on its many past successes,” she said.

During the past 12 seasons, the Emerson College men’s basketball team has won two Great Northeast Athletic Conference titles (1998 and 1999) and competed in the championship game on six other occasions.

The Lions have appeared in the championship three times in the past five years, most recently in 2010. Albertus Magnus College defeated Emerson in the 2010 game, and advanced in the National Collegiate Athletics Association tournament to the round of 32.

Emerson graduated only two seniors who logged significant playing time in 2011, and will see nine juniors (three starters), two sophomores, and a freshman return to the 2011–2012 squad.

“I am excited to be the next men’s basketball coach at Emerson College,” O’Brien said. “During the past few years, I have become familiar with Emerson while watching other friends coach in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. Emerson is a great school and seems like a great fit for me at this time in my life. It affords my wife and I an opportunity to continue to live in Boston, a city that we love, while allowing me to focus on what I enjoy most: being in a gym and coaching a team,” he said.

O’Brien hopes to continue his work with the basketball coaches of Boston’s public schools. For the past year, through the Boston’s Scholar Athlete Program, he has spent time mentoring coaches.