The Manhattan College Jaspers named Katie McConnell as the next head coach of the Women’s Lacrosse program. BOSS McConnell was an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina last season and prior to that she was an assistant at her alma mater, Lock Haven.
While at Lock Haven McConnell helped the team go 54-7 and make two trips to the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 McConnell was named the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Division II Assistant Coach of the Year as she guided a defense that allowed 129 goals in 22 games. In the above-linked article from the Burlington County Times, McConnell, who is from New Jersey & graduated from Philadelphia’s Cardinal Dougherty High School, reminisced about her early days on the sidelines and where she caught the coaching bug:
In fact, long before she was bitten by the coaching bug, she was making sure her dad, Jerry McConnell, who was the head coach of Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia, was ready to call plays.
“People still laugh that I was the cord girl at Cardinal Dougherty,” McConnell said. “I followed him down the sidelines. Remember when coaches would wear the headsets with cords? I was the cord girl.”
In the Manhattan press release, Manhattan College Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Marianne Reilly welcomed BOSS McConnell with open arms:
"Manhattan welcomes Katie to take the reigns of our Women's Lacrosse program. She is a winner in every sense of the word and we look forward to the positive impact and success she will have with our student-athletes and our program."
McConnell was very happy to join Manhattan’s squad and very excited to get started:
"I would like to thank Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Marianne Reilly, Senior Associate Athletic Director Amanda McEntire and the rest of the search committee for this incredible opportunity. I am extremely excited for the potential of Manhattan Women’s Lacrosse and am looking forward to developing our students-athletes on the field, in the classroom and in the community while upholding the values of this great College."