Brittany C. Fennell was promoted to Director of Athletics and Recreation in July 2024 and had her position recast as Vice President of Athletics and Recreation in April 2026. She began her Maryville tenure in 2016 as the Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator. Fennell directs the university's 25 NCAA Division II championship-sponsored sports, the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey program, and the department's active club sports.
Since assuming leadership of the department, Fennell has guided one of the most successful stretches in Maryville history. The Saints climbed to a department-best No. 28 in the 2025-26 LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings after also setting a then-school record the previous year. Maryville also finished second in the 2025-26 GLVC All-Sports Trophy standings and recorded its highest-ever finish in the GLVC Commissioner's Cup, involving the league’s core sports, standings in 2024-25.
During her tenure, Maryville has earned 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and six GLVC championships. The 2025-26 season featured a national runner-up finish in women's lacrosse, while the previous year saw two Saints capture NCAA Division II individual national championships, making Maryville the only institution with multiple individual national champions that season.
Academically, Maryville had advanced in all major GLVC academic awards, while tallying four GLVC Student Athlete of the Year distinctions and one GLVC Paragon Honoree. On the national stage, the Saints have seen 12 CSC Academic All-Americans during Fennell’s tenure.
In 2026, Fennell was honored by the St. Louis American Foundation with the Salute to Young Leaders Award, honoring outstanding African Americans under the age of 40 for their career achievements and community service.
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.
