Cathleen 'Cathy' Coakley enters her second year as Coordinator of Student-Athlete Development.

Coakley will spearhead a comprehensive educational program to enhance the personal development and welfare of UNH's student- athletes. Coakley will work with several other areas of student-athlete development including the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), first-year student academic mentoring program, community service activities involving UNH student-athletes, and various other programs geared toward student-athletes. In addition, she will establish networks and act as a liaison with campus departments and constituencies.

Coakley has an extensive career in both athletics and higher education. Most recently, she was an instructor in the sports marketing department and the coordinator of practicum and internships at James Madison University. In this position, she was responsible for teaching personal development to all students in the sports management major including student-athletes the department's student-athletes. She had similar responsibilities while at Northeastern University, as assistant women’s basketball coach. 

She also served as a sports marketing instructor and assistant field hockey coach at James Madison University from 2005-08 and helped guide the Dukes to a CAA field hockey championship in 2006. Prior to her tenure at JMU, Coakley worked in collegiate basketball. She started her collegiate coaching career at UNH as an assistant under Cecelia DeMarco from 1977-79. She moved on to become head coach at Fordham University from 1979-84 and served as an assistant under Joy Malchodi at Northeastern University from 1996-2000.

Coakley earned her bachelor of arts in earth science and her master of arts in education administration at UNH.