Kathleen McCann, assistant athletic director, will retire April 15. She has served UND as an athletic administrator since Aug. 1, 1986. A reception in her honor will be held at the Alumni Center Thursday, April 10, from 3 to 5 p.m.
“I think everybody in the athletic department will miss Kathy, from administrators to coaches,” Athletic Director Roger Thomas said. “Everybody with whom she's come into contact during her time at UND has enjoyed their relationship with Kathy. She certainly helped UND's athletic programs, but in particular the women's sports. Many of those have progressed to the point where they are now competing at the national level. In her role as intramural director Kathy has also had a positive impact on thousands of UND students who have used the intramural programs to add to the quality of their time here.”
The Mandan native graduated from Minot State in 1960 and taught and coached at Hughes Junior High in Bismarck until 1963. From 1963 to 1967, McCann worked at Valley City State, where she coached volleyball, basketball, softball, and track and field. She won state championships in volleyball, basketball and softball.
After receiving her master's degree from UND in 1967, McCann moved back to Minot State where she began a distinguished 17-year coaching career, including 12 years of basketball, seven years of softball, five years of track and field, four years of volleyball and three years of both golf and tennis. McCann started the volleyball and basketball programs at MSU and won four state titles in basketball and two in softball. She also won two conference titles in volleyball.
In 1983 she went to the University of North Texas where she was a teaching assistant while working on a doctorate in higher education administration.
McCann was hired at UND in 1986 as the intramural director, facilities coordinator and coordinator of women's athletics. In 1991 McCann was named assistant athletic director for facilities and recreation as well as the senior women's administrator.
McCann was named to the North Dakota Softball Hall of Fame in 1983 and was a three-year president of the North Dakota Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. She was inducted into the Minot State Hall of Fame in 1995.
