Induction Video
(Written: July 2018)
Frank O’Brien is the longest serving Director of Athletics in the history of Pointer athletics – assuming the role for 22 years beginning in 1991. During his tenure, the Pointers won 82 conference championships, seven NCAA Division III team titles, the WIAC Men’s All-Sports Award nine times, the WIAC Combined All-Sports Award four times, and in 2005, they secured their first WIAC Women’s All-Sports Award.
UW-Stevens Point finished in the Top 10 of the Directors’ Cup Standings eight of the first 16 years, including a pair of fifth-place finishes. He also served as the President/Commissioner of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association for six years and was instrumental in the development of women’s hockey as a varsity sport in the West Region. The WIAC Women’s Ice Hockey Postseason Tournament trophy is named in his honor – “O’Brien Cup”.
O’Brien served nine years on three different NCAA Ice Hockey Championship Committees and was a member of the NCAA championships committee for the inaugural Division I women’s ice hockey championship in 2001 and first four Division III tournaments from 2002-05. In 1995, he served as the Training Camp Coordinator for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaquars inaugural training camp in Stevens Point.
O’Brien has received the UW-Stevens Point Academic Staff Excellence Award and is a three-time recipient of the Campus Leadership Award, as well as his department’s service award twice. He is a two-time recipient of the NACDA Athletics Director of the Year Award and was inducted into the UW-Stevens Point Hall of Fame in 2012.
O’Brien also served as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corp. He earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in psychology from James Madison University (Va.) and masters of business administration from UW-Oshkosh. O’Brien resides in Stevens Point, Wis.