Bill O'Connor begins his 14th season as the head coach of the Rockhurst Hawks. He has been coaching basketball on the high school, junior college and college level for the past 34 years.

O'Connor is the third winningest coach in the history of Rockhurst basketball with 194 victories. Eight of his teams have won 15 or more games in a season.

The Hawks earned their second trip to the NCAA Division II Championship under O'Connor last season. Rockhurst won five of its last six regular season games and finished 17-12 overall in 2006-07.

In 2001-02, he guided the Hawks to a 24-6 record and into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Championship.

Rockhurst came within one game of earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship in 2004-05. The Hawks reached the finals of the Heartland Conference Tournament at St. Mary's (Texas). O’Connor was named the Coach of the Year in the Heartland Conference in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

A graduate of Rockhurst High School, O'Connor received a B.S. in history from St. Benedict's
College (now Benedictine College) in 1972. He earned his master's in education from Emporia State University.

O'Connor runs a year-round program for Kansas City area youth, including camps, clinics and leagues.

Before being named the head coach at Rockhurst in 1994, O'Connor was the head coach at

Colby (Kan.) Community College. He was an assistant coach at Rockhurst from 1982-86 and coached at Texas-Pan American.

He also served as a coach on the high school level for 10 years in the Kansas City area.

O'Connor and his wife, Elaine, live in Kansas City, Mo. They have four children: Trish, Chris, Anna and Caitlin.