Alicia O’Brien served as Western’s head softball coach for 17 years. She also held the position of associate director of athletics/senior women’s administrator.
During her coaching tenure at WCSU, the softball program went 423-213-3 and made 13 post-season appearances. From 1999 to 2002, WCSU had four consecutive 30-win seasons, captured three straight conference titles and appeared in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
In 2002, the softball program ended the season ranked ninth in the country and competed in its first NCAA Division III College World Series where it captured the NCAA New England Regional Championship and completed the year with a 34-9-1 record. In 2004, O’Brien led the Colonials to a 26-16 overall record and 9-5 finish in the Little East Conference. Crowned LEC Tournament champions, the team earned a seventh bid to the NCAA Tournament. In 2005, Western advanced to the championship game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Championships, finishing the year with a 24-16-1 record — the12th straight season in which the team accrued 20 or more wins. O’Brien celebrated her 400th career win in March 2006. She was inducted into the Connecticut Softball Hall of Fame as collegiate coach in 2002.
In 2008, she was inducted into the Danbury High School Hall of Fame. She is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and the New England Intercollegiate Coaches Association. O’Brien also is a member of the NCAA Regional All-American Committee, directed the Western Connecticut Softball Camp and served for five years as for the Danbury school system as a Title IX consultant.
She earned a B.A. in Anthropology in 1983, and master’s degrees in Community Counseling (1986) and Guidance and Counseling (1995) — all from Western.