Brian O’Connor will embark on his 21st season at the helm of the University of Virginia baseball program in 2024. O’Connor and the Cavaliers are coming off a 2023 season that saw them reach the 50-win mark for the fifth time since 2010 while advancing to the College World Series for the sixth time in program history, which have all been during his tenure. The Cavaliers captured their first national championship in 2015.
Since taking over the program in 2004, O’Connor has amassed an 839-353-2 (.703) career record, earning both Atlantic Coast Conference and ABCA Regional Coach of the Year honors on five occasions.
The Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of O’Connor’s first 14 seasons at Virginia and have advanced to 17 NCAA Tournaments over his 20 seasons. Following the Cavaliers’ 2015 title run, O’Connor was selected as the ABCA NCAA Div. I National Coach of the Year. They were national runners-up in 2014.
In 20 seasons, he has coached 90 players to All-ACC honors. Three Cavaliers have earned ACC Player of the Year honors and two have earned ACC Pitcher of the Year honors, including two-time winner Danny Hultzen (2010 and 2011).
The Cavaliers have had 98 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft with O’Connor at the helm, including 15 in the first round. Of those, 30 have reached the majors, including former Washington Nationals All-Star and Rawlings Gold Glove third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and two-time All-Star reliever Sean Doolittle.
O’Connor arrived at Virginia after having served as associate head coach and assistant coach at Notre Dame under ABCA Hall of Fame coach Paul Mainieri from 1995-2003. During his nine years, the Fighting Irish compiled an overall record of 399-160-1 (.713), won six conference championships and made six trips to the NCAA Tournament.
O’Connor was named the 2001 National Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America and was the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2003.
Mainieri and O’Connor joined forces in the summer of 2018 on the staff of the U.S. Collegiate National Team. Serving as pitching coach, O’Connor’s staff sported a 2.06 ERA and recorded three shutouts as Team USA went 12-3 on a three-week international tour that included games against Cuba, Chinese Taipei and Japan.
A Lifetime Member of the ABCA, O’Connor has been a longtime member of the ABCA NCAA Div. I All-America and Coach of the Year Committee.
The Council Bluffs, Iowa, native was inducted into the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 2017. O’Connor pitched collegiately at Creighton University and was a member of the 1991 College World Series team.
