Janell O'Connor (Howland) was named the Lamar University women's golf head coach on July 30, 2019.
Returning to the Southland Conference, The 2022-23 season would see the Cardinals record top 10 finishes in all but two of their 10 tournaments. For the second year in a row, the Cardinals won their home tournament in the Cardinal Challenge while Alessia Trebbi Tindall earned her second straight first place finish. By the end of the season, the Cardinals would finish sixth in the Southland Conference Tournament and Grace Connelly would become LU's fourth ever SLC Newcomer of the Year and the first one for O'Connor.
The 2021-22 season not only saw Big Red in the Western Athletic Conference, but also saw improvements for the Cardinals as they earned six top 10 finishes. Their best finish would be a historical one as LU won their home tournament in the Cardinal Challenge by 20 strokes. Golfer Alessia Trebbi Tindall led the way by claiming first place overall in the tournament and she would also be named Western Athletic Conference Female Golfer of the Week. The Cardinals finished sixth place in the WAC Tournament.
The 2020-21 campaign saw the Cardinals compete in six tournaments, but finished in the top 10 in five of them. Their best finish was at the UTRGV Invitational where they placed third. Trebbi Tindall had a strong third round to claim a tie for fifth place overall. She earned third team honors in the Southland Conference while Brooke Duzan and Carson Racich were named Women's Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholars.
O'Connor, a 2000 graduate from Lamar, returns after spending the previous six years as the head coach at UNC Greensboro. Prior to being named the head coach at UNCG, O'Connor spent four years as the Associate Head Women’s Golf Coach at the University of Mississippi. Besides coaching, O'Connor played eight years professionally.
Over the last two years under Howland’s leadership, UNCG had three student-athletes named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team in Tara Bettle (2018), Keri Kenkel (2018) and Hailey Joy (2019). During the 2018-19 season, UNCG finished in the top 10 seven times including a program-best second-place finish in the team’s annual home fall tournament, the Starmount Fall Classic. Additionally, UNCG finished tied for fourth place at the Pinehurst Challenge along with another top-five finish in the SoCon Championship.
During her time in Oxford, O'Connor helped the Rebels to three NCAA Regional appearances in four seasons. During her last season, Ole Miss sent an individual to the NCAA Regionals as Abby Newton finished 36th in Tallahassee. The Rebels had three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Regionals during O'Connor’s first three years, heading to Daytona Beach in 2011 (14th place), Columbus in 2012 (13th place) and Auburn in 2013 (18thplace).
While at Ole Miss, O'Connor has handled a variety of aspects of the program and specializes in the short game area of women’s golf. She created a Big Break Rebel Style short game competition for her student-athletes and is a certified AimPoint Putting Green Reading Instructor. Additionally, she has served as the Tournament Director for the Rebel Intercollegiate Tournament. Prior to Ole Miss, Howland worked for a year as a volunteer assistant coach at UNC-Wilmington, helping Sofia Hagsund to an NCAA East Regional appearance.
O'Connor started her collegiate career at Trine University (Tri-State University) and led the squad to the 1997 NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship. She won individual medalist honors at the 1998 Manchester Championship and posted a runner-up finish at the Tri-State Championship. After two seasons at Trine, O'Connor transferred to Lamar University and continued to enjoy success on the links. She won the Sam Houston State Championship and the Springlake Championship in 1999. She earned her degree in business administration marketing in 2000 from Lamar.
After college, O'Connor won the 2001 Bermuda Match Play Championship. She also dominated women’s amateur golf in Idaho, winning both the Women’s Stroke Play and Match Play Championships in 2001 and 2002 before turning pro in October of 2002. She was a leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) on the Duramed Tour from 2004-2010.
O'Connor is married to Kevin O'Connor and has two bonus daughters, Hailyn and Ella, and a son Cameron.
