Karen McConnell was named the second head women’s basketball coach in Lourdes University program history in July of 2013, taking over a program which was set to enter its third year of collegiate basketball.
The 2014-2015 season marks McConnell’s 22nd year of collegiate coaching and second with the Gray Wolves. She spent her first 20 years at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio where she served as the head coach from 1988-2008. McConnell enters the 2014-2015 campaign with a 286-270 career record and a 6-23 mark at Lourdes.
In her first season at Lourdes, McConnell coached an Honorable Mention All Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference selection. Her team was very successful in the classroom, with seven individuals named to the WHAC All-Academic Team. Lourdes was named a NAIA Scholar Team for the first time in program history as well, and she had a pair of NAIA Scholar-Athletes. One of her student-athletes also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District I First Team accolades.
Prior to arriving at Lourdes McConnell set the school record for victories while at Heidelberg and she ranks fifth all-time in the Ohio Athletic Conference with 280 victories.
Heidelberg advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 1989-1990 under McConnell's guidance, finishing third in the country that season. The school also won the OAC regular season and tournament titles that same season. She was twice named the OAC Coach of the Year. McConnell's teams also succeeded in the classroom during her tenure at Heidelberg, earning four WBCA top-25 spots on the academic honor roll.
While at Heidelberg, McConnell also served as the school's senior woman administrator and was an associate athletic director. She also spent time as the intramural director, served as an assistant professor, and also was a track and field coach from 1986-1996.
McConnell also previously taught in the Wooster City Schools in Wooster, Ohio where she was the varsity girls' basketball coach from 2008-2010.
McConnell earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Heidelberg College in business administration and secondary education in 1985 before earning a Master of Education degree with an emphasis in sports science from Ashland University in 1988.
