Longtime Minnesota coach and administrator Dan O'Brien was named Saint John's University's interim athletic director on April 23, 2025. He replaced Bob Alpers '82, who announced his retirement April 16 following nine years in the role.
O'Brien stepped down this winter following two years as head football coach and director of charitable gaming at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria, Minn. Prior to Holy Family, O'Brien served as the interim director of athletics, head football coach and director of community outreach and partnerships at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minn.
O'Brien spent nearly nine years at the University of Minnesota, where he served as the Division I Gophers' defensive backs coach/special teams coordinator/special assistant to the head coach from 2016-17, senior associate athletics director from 2014-16 and the assistant athletics director for football operations from 2008-14.
Prior to Minnesota, O'Brien was the director of athletics at another member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Hamline University – for six years from 2002-08 and served the same role at Concordia University-St. Paul from 1998-02. He spearheaded the Golden Bears' move from NAIA to NCAA Division II and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 1999, while also serving as head football coach.
He was inducted into CSP's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.
O'Brien started his high school coaching career at Benilde-St. Margaret's from 1987-89, then went to Lakeville (1989-93) and Bemidji (1993-95). He was the defensive coordinator at Lakeville when it won a state title in 1992.
O'Brien earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of St. Thomas, where he was an All-MIAC defensive back and a two-time team captain.
