Brittany C. Fennell was promoted to Director of Athletics and Recreation in July 2024. She began her Maryville tenure in 2016 as the Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator under previous AD Lonnie Folks. Fennell directs the university's 24 NCAA Championship-sponsored sports as well as the department's active club sports.
In Fennell’s first year as Director of Athletics, she helped lead Maryville to one of the most successful seasons in history. The Saints finished a program-best second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s Commissioner’s Cup Standings, involving the league’s core sports, and fourth in the GLVC’s All-Sports Trophy. Additionally, Maryville finished an all-time best 46th in the Learfield NCAA Division II All-Sports Rankings in 2024-25.
Fennell oversaw a department that earned five NCAA tournament bids (bowling, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, women’s soccer) and three GLVC titles (bowling and men’s and women’s lacrosse). Individually, the Saints saw two wrestlers earn NCAA Division II national championships in Ryan Herman and Cole Ritter, as Maryville was the only school to garner multiple individual national titles in 2025.
Academically, Saints athletics tied a program record as 17 squads earned the Team Academic All-GLVC Award and nearly 300 student-athletes garnered Academic All-GLVC Distinction. Ryan Herman was voted the 2025 GLVC Wrestling Student-Athlete of the Year, and six individuals were elected as CSC Academic All-Americans.
As Associate Athletic Director, she oversaw the NCAA compliance efforts for the athletics department and served as the liaison to financial aid, academic support, and the university’s Title IX office while serving as sport administrator for the women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s lacrosse programs. She also served on the NCAA Division II Regional Men's Golf Committee and several conference committees.
Fennell previously served on the NCAA Division II Regional Women's Golf Advisory Committee from 2018-20, the Division II Men’s Golf Regional Advisory Committee from 2021-24, and the GLVC Steering Committee from 2020-22. Outside of direct athletics involvement, Fennell was a member of the 2017-18 class for Leadership Chesterfield.
She is currently active on the Great Lakes Valley Conference Pay-Per-View Committee and the Scheduling and Competition Committee.
Prior to her tenure at Maryville, Fennell was at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where she was hired as Assistant Director of Monitoring and spent two years in that position. She was promoted to Associate Director of Compliance and had direct oversight of eligibility for more than 500 student-athletes. Before her time at UCF, she was a compliance assistant at Eastern Michigan University during the 2011-12 academic year, and preceding that, she was an intern at the University of Michigan.
Fennell, a native of Dayton, Ohio, earned her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Michigan and later her master’s degree in higher education-student affairs from Eastern Michigan University.
