by JOHN FEY
Maggie O’Brien accepted a scholarship offer to play softball at UNO in March 2021. The following July, the coach who recruited her stepped down, and a month later Mike Heard was hired not knowing much – if anything – about most players on his roster. Heard quickly discovered he had a gem in Maggie O’Brien, who helped lead the Mavericks to three straight NCAA tournament appearances.
Arriving from the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights, O’Brien said she “took a chance” on UNO. Heard is grateful she did.
“Maggie moved to campus not knowing who her head coach was,” he said. “I always thought that was probably a pretty stressful time for a freshman, moving away from home and moving somewhere not even knowing who your coach was. She ended up being my starting shortstop every game that I’ve coached here.”
O’Brien remembers the range of emotions she wrestled with before her UNO career began.
“I got to UNO in August, and no coaches were hired,” she said. “I had not heard of (Heard), because, obviously, I wasn’t from the area. I’m like, ‘We’ll see how it goes,’ and Mike and I clicked right away.”
O’Brien completed her career as one of the most-decorated players in UNO softball history – both on and off the field. She capped her senior season by being named the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and made the Academic All-League team for a third straight year.
Balancing the academic side and athletic side of college wasn’t easy, she said.
“It was challenging,” she said, “but I feel like I’ve been used to it my whole life.”
O’Brien played a key role in UNO reaching the NCAA tournament three straight seasons, but she doesn’t take credit for that.
“I genuinely think each year we had better players and more talent,” O’Brien said. “It was just a really cool experience to grow a program from kind of square one with four years of really impressive seasons. I think that’s one of the coolest things I’m going to take away from my college career.”
She’ll be remembered for her .310 career batting average over 207 games played, not to mention her leadership during her final season.
Said O’Brien: “I think leadership came pretty natural for me, and I do like to lead. I like to guide the younger girls and teach them how we do things at Omaha softball.”
Her coach was just as impressed with O’Brien outside the softball diamond.
“She does community service and spends a lot of time with that,” Heard said. “She serves from the front. She doesn’t serve from the back.”
O’Brien capped her final season with the Connie Claussen Senior Career Achievement Award in recognition of UNO’s top female athlete. Claussen, the founder and first coach of UNO softball, followed the team closely during O’Brien’s career under Heard.
“Mike has them doing everything the right way,” Claussen said. “I can’t say enough good things about Maggie, just the person she is. She’s the best.”
O’Brien can’t wait for the next chapter of her life, but, meanwhile, she’ll cherish the memories from her four years at UNO.
“The biggest thing I’m going to take away from sports is just the work ethic and the drive,” she said. “I want to go into leadership and management one day in the business world, and I think that these experiences that I gained as a leader on the softball team are going to be really helpful to my future career.”
