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Coach O’Connell receives “Coach of the Year” honors

Huntington- Recalling his own high school basketball career, Michael O’Connell (Gateway High School Class of ’92) has fond memories of playing in the old ‘Gator Pit’. “The atmosphere was amazing; the screaming, yelling…there was nothing like it anywhere. It’s what made our team love to play at home and other teams hate about playing at Gateway.”

“It’s what made me want to return as a coach.”

That, and the influence that his own coaches had on his life: people like his father (Mike Sr.), Bill McVeigh, Tim Gamble, and Jeff Fisk.

O’Connell returned to the Gator Pit as the Assistant Coach to his own former high school coach Tim Gamble in 1996.  And this summer, after his tenth season, it earned him the Western Mass Assistant Coach of the Year honors. The Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association announced the award last summer and the award was presented on November 19th at the College of Holy Cross.

On Monday, November 27th, Coach O’Connell and Coach Gamble led twenty-two Gateway athletes through the first day of try-outs for the 2006-2007 season. 

(Assistant Coach Mike O'Connell with Varsity Coach Tim Gamble)

The ironic twist to the story is that O’Connell didn’t even want to play basketball his freshman year of high school.  But he was tall for his age and was encouraged to try out.  He played three years of J.V. and a year of Varsity.

In humble fashion, he says he really became a basketball player in college—not playing in a school uniform, but playing pick-up games with other students.  They played daily, sometimes several times a day. The experience fueled his understanding of the game and his interest in developing young players.

In addition to coaching boys’ basketball, O’Connell has been the Assistant Coach for the girls’ soccer program at Gateway for 9 seasons, and teaches physical education for the Chesterfield/Goshen, Williamsburg and Westhampton elementary schools.

(Assistant Coach Mike O'Connell reviews drills with Co-Captain Tim Mayhew)