Joplin, Mo. – Missouri Southern Women’s Basketball Interim Head Coach Ronnie Ressel announced today the addition of Jordon O’Brien as assistant coach to his staff for the 2016-17 season.
“I am extremely excited to welcome Jordon to our staff,” said Coach Ressel. “When putting together our staff, I wanted to hire high energy coaches who have high character and excel in both player development and recruiting and I feel that Jordon combines both of those characteristics that I was looking for. More importantly to me, Jordon will serve as great mentor for our student-athletes. She has done an outstanding job at Iowa Central and has had success as both a head coach and as an assistant coach. She will be a tremendous addition to our program and I am thrilled to welcome her to the Southern family.”
O’Brien comes to the Lions after two seasons as the head coach at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa. While at ICCC, O’Brien led the Lady Tritons to a 36-20 record including a 16-8 mark this past season and a second straight trip to the Region XI semi-finals.
Prior to being named head coach at Iowa Central, O’Brien was an assistant at ICCC for two years under then head coach Craig Carlson. During her two seasons as an assistant at ICCC she helped the Tritons to a 51-16 record, highlighted by a 2013 trip to the NJCAA DII National Tournament. O’Brien spent the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach at Independence Community College where she helped the Lady Pirates to a 24-6 record and a No. 20 ranking in the final national poll of the season. Jordon also spent one season (2010-11) as a graduate assistant at Western Illinois following a four year career at WIU as a guard for the Fighting Leathernecks. While at WIU, O’Brien earned honorable mention All-Summit League honors during her senior season and was a three time Academic All-League selection. O’Brien set the Western Illinois record for most games played in a career with 119 career games played.
After completing her eligibility at WIU, O’Brien played one year for the Chicago Steam of the American Basketball Association.
O’Brien was a four year starter at Labette County HS, a three time first team All-Conference selection, and first team All-Area selection. In 2006, O’Brien was a first team All-State selection and was named to the All-State All-Class second team and was named the All-Area Player of the Year by The Joplin Globe. O’Brien and the Lady Grizzles had back-to-back Kansas State High School Athletic Association trips to the Final Four finishing third in 2005-06 and runner-up in Class 4A in 2004-05.
O’Brien is a 2010 graduate of WIU with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a native of Parsons, Kansas.