MONTEVALLO, Ala. – After 15 years at the helm of the Montevallo Volleyball program, Head Coach Katie O'Brien is moving into a new role as the Assistant Athletic Director for Academics and Compliance, as announced by Director of Athletics Mark Richard, Thursday.
O'Brien will assume the role on Jan. 3, 2023, and in the meantime, Associate Head Coach Jason McCown has been named Interim Head Coach.
A national search for a head coach will begin immediately.
In her new role, O'Brien will oversee compliance and academics along with serving as the department's human resources liaison.
"Katie has been an excellent volleyball coach throughout her career and at Montevallo," said Richard. "Her teams have always exceeded expectations on the court and in the classroom. They have won the Falcon Cup several times, which considers a team's successes both on and off the court. She is a natural fit to move into our administration team and help move the department forward."
O'Brien has been involved with volleyball for 34 years - 11 as a player and 23 as a coach. She was named the Head Coach at Montevallo in 2008 after serving as the Head Coach at Piedmont from 2000-2007. While at Piedmont, O'Brien also served as the Senior Woman Administrator from 2004-08, National College Athletic Honor Society Chapter Advisor from 2000-08, Student Athlete Advisory Committee Sponsor from 2003-06, and the Sports Information Director from 2001-02. Prior to starting her coaching and administrative career, O'Brien played four seasons at the University of Iowa where she earned her bachelor's degree. She graduated with her masters from Piedmont in 2001.
"I am thankful for all the assistant coaches and student-athletes that I've had throughout the years," said O'Brien. "I am grateful for all the experiences, memories, and friends made through volleyball. Hopefully in this new role I can continue to positively impact others. I want to thank President Stewart, Athletic Director, Mark Richard, and Senior Associate Athletic Director, Dawn Makofski for this opportunity. I will still be cheering for our Falcons!"
O'Brien wraps up her career as the Montevallo head coach with a 273-198 overall record, the second most wins all-time in program history, and a 115-90 mark in conference play. While on the bricks, O'Brien has led the Falcons to a plethora of accomplishments including seven Peach Belt Conference Tournament appearances, five Gulf South Conference tournament appearances, an NCAA Division II Southeast Regional appearance in 2010, back-to-back GSC Championship Final appearances in 2020 and 2021, and received a ranking in the NCAA Division II Southeast or South Region Rankings in eight seasons.
O'Brien coached many student-athletes at Montevallo that achieved innumerable awards and accomplishments such as, two AVCA Division II All-Americans, one D2CCA All-American, nine AVCA Division II All-Southeast Region selections, one AVCA All-South Region selection, one D2CCA All-Southeast region selection, four D2CCA All-South region selections, 17 All-Peach Belt Conference selections, 11 Gulf South Conference selections, three Libero's of the year, two setters of the year, one PBC Player of the Year, one Montevallo Hall of Famer, two COSIDA Academic All-Americans, seven COSIDA Academic All-District selections, 33 PBC All-Academic Team selections, 27 GSC All-Academic Team selections, one NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, two GSC Champion Scholar athletes and two PBC Team Sportsmanship awards.
During her time at UM, the Falcons have thrived not only on the court but in the classroom as well. O'Brien's teams have earned the AVCA/USMC Team Academic Award for 14 consecutive seasons and were ranked in the top-25 in 2019. Additionally, from 2019-21 the team ranked in the top 20 percent of team GPA's in all of NCAA Division-II. Throughout 23 years of coaching, O'Brien's teams have averaged a 3.5015 grade point average.
In 23 years of coaching at both Piedmont and Montevallo, O'Brien recorded a 452-306 record and totaled 20 wins or more in 14 seasons. Her teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2010.
In addition to O'Brien's move, there have been other staff changes throughout the department. Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator Dawn Makofski will assume responsibility of the day-to-day business operations while continuing to oversee athletic training, cross country, track and field, women's lacrosse and softball. She also serves as the advisor to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and The Hidden Opponent. In addition, Makofski is the university's Deputy Title IX Coordinator.
Makofski, who has served as the academics and compliance coordinator since 2008, will pass those duties along to O'Brien.
Additionally, Barbara Holcombe has been promoted to Business Manager and Dusty Roper is now the Facility Manager. Holcombe has been part of Montevallo athletics since 2016 as an Administrative Assistant. While continuing some of her previous duties, she will now assist in the preparing and submitting of bid materials for all NCAA postseason regional and national tournaments, oversee the purchasing of apparel and equipment, as well as being responsible for financial aspects of concessions and ticket sales. Roper previously served as the Head Groundskeeper but will now oversee all outdoor athletic facilities.
