U.Va.‘s baseball coach wants fan support to grow

CHARLOTTESVILLE In the aftermath of the greatest season in the history of University of Virginia baseball, the accolades keep coming for coach Brian O'Connor.

Three days ago, CollegeBaseballInsider.com honored O'Connor as its national coach of the year. O'Connor, a native of Omaha, Neb., sat down that afternoon with a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter at Davenport Field to look ahead to 2010 and to reflect on Virginia's magical season.

U.Va. (49-15-1) set a school record for victories, won the ACC championship, captured an NCAA tournament regional in Irvine, Calif., and a super regional at Ole Miss, and became only the second team from this state to advance to the College World Series. The Cavaliers went 1-2 in Omaha, beating Cal State Fullerton and losing to eventual champion LSU and Arkansas.

In six seasons at Virginia, O'Connor, 38, has compiled a 265-104-1 record. He's guided the Wahoos to the NCAA tournament in each of those seasons.

What was the CWS experience like for you?

It was just an amazing run to get there. That's what I will always remember, going 4-0 in the ACC tournament and winning that title. Going out to Irvine and winning our first regional and then going to Ole Miss. Our road to Omaha was as challenging as it gets.

And then when we were in Omaha, for me personally it was great, being back there, being home, seeing so many families and friends and supporters that I've had in my career. . . . But really, I just wanted our players to experience it. I think the hardest thing about getting to Omaha is getting there the first time. Because for so long it's something that's talked about, it's like a distant dream, and until it becomes a reality, it's just a word. And now that we've made it happen, our players in the program understand what it takes to get there.

What must U.Va. do to keep progressing as a program?

From our players' standpoint and our team standpoint, I think that we're right there. We've proved that in winning two of three at Ole Miss, and we were right there in the LSU game. And that's just baseball. Sometimes you win those games and sometimes you don't. But as far as what we're doing with our personnel or what we're doing with our team, there's really no difference between any of those programs and ours.

To make our program grow, this is the biggest thing, in my opinion: Our fan base needs to grow with our program. I know it can be cold at times, but I'm talking the February-March games, the early ACC schedule. I've heard from so many people how excited they are about what we did this year and how they're looking forward to next season. We need to turn that into greater fan support. That's what these perennial powers have. Now, the numbers came out for this year, and I think we were top 25 in attendance, but there's a next level that we have to get to on a consistent basis.

How long will you be able to hold on to your top assistants, Kevin McMullan and Karl Kuhn?

I think this is one of the really big keys to the success we've had here. To keep my two assistant coaches - we're now going into our seventh year - is really rare. I think that speaks a lot to the community of Charlottesville and what this university has done for those two coaches. As much as I like it here, I know they like it here just as much. It affects the consistency of recruiting, it affects the consistency in player development. When you're rotating assistant coaches all the time, it's tough to develop any consistency in those areas. So those guys being here and being committed to being here has been as critical as anything to our success.

Have you watched a tape of the Arkansas game? (The Razorbacks rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game and then won 4-3 in 12 innings.)

I have not gone back and watched one game yet. I haven't watched one game in the ACC tournament, regional, super regional or World Series. But I will at some point this summer.

U.Va. is likely to be a top-5 team in the preseason polls next year. Have you talked to your players about the expectations they'll face?

[After Virginia returned from Omaha], I had a team meeting, and I addressed what we accomplished this year. So much can always be put on the last game that I wanted them to reflect on what we did the entire season and what we accomplished the last four weeks of the season, and feel good about that. But then I also turned the attention to next season. There are going to be enormous expectations on this team, within our own community and nationally. So I started to address with them how we're going to handle those expectations.

Most of your starters will be back next season. Can fans expect the 2010 lineup to look like this year's?

You can quote me on this: It is going to be open competition, and it is going to be the most competitive fall that we've ever had here. We've got some really legitimate position players coming in here. And it has to be that way. You don't forget about what players did for you in previous years, and that factors into the decision, but in all fairness to our incoming group, it has to be open competition. And players have to be willing to move to different positions. Just because you played a certain position on the team that went to Omaha doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to play that position or you're going to play every day next year."

Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or .