Brian O’Connor reveals why he left Virginia for Mississippi State

After 21 years of being the head coach at Virginia, Brian O’Connor left Charlottesville to be named the new head coach at Mississippi State on June 1st.

During his time with the Cavaliers, he led the program to an 885-370-2 (362-234-1) overall record. In that time, he was named ACC Coach of the Year five times, helped the Cavaliers to two ACC titles, made seven total trips to the Men’s College World Series and won a National Championship in 2015. O’Connor will now head to Starkville, replacing Chris Lemonis who was fired after a 7-14 start to SEC play.

During O’Connor’s introductory press conference on Friday, he revealed why he left Virginia for his new job.

“Well so much goes into that,” he responded. “That’s a long answer probably that we don’t all have time for but this is an incredibly special place here in Starkville. Certainly the program is supported at the highest level, in the history and tradition behind this program. But [Mississippi State AD] Zac Selmon was a big part in this. I felt like if I was going to leave this place that I loved and worked at for 22 years, it had to be the right partnership. And then it had to be the place you felt like you could be successful as possible.”

O’Connor believed heavily in Zac Selmon

UVA was O’Connor’s first head coaching opportunity after he served as an assistant at Notre Dame from 1995-2003. That came after he was the pitching coach at his alma mater, Creighton, from 1993-95 after a brief stint in the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league system.

“I poured everything into that program in Charlottesville and the timing was lined up from the standpoint of where I was at in my career and where my family was at,” O’Connor continued. “Yes there’s been a lot of schools over the years that have reached out about their jobs, but make no mistake about it, this was the right one for Brian O’Connor to take a different path in his career.”

Selmon, who took over as Mississippi State‘s Athletic Director in 2023, swung big and hauled in one of college baseball’s greatest coaches. He discussed the decision to fire Lemonis following a losing weekend at Auburn earlier this season.

“A change in leadership is what’s best for the future of Mississippi State Baseball,” Selmon said in a statement. “We have not consistently met the standard of success that our university, fans and student-athletes expect and deserve. I want to thank Coach [Chris] Lemonis for his work and the time he gave to our program, including a national championship in 2021. We appreciate his efforts and wish him and his family all the best moving forward.”

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.