Mississippi State lands Virginia's Brian O'Connor as next head baseball coach

Zac Selmon went big game hunting, and the Mississippi State Athletic Director got his man.

The Diamond Dawgs have a new leader, and they’ve landed one of the best coaches in college baseball: Virginia’s Brian O’Connor. The news has been gaining traction andit is now official.

The highly successful head coach replaces Chris Lemonis, who was fired last month after seven seasons at the helm. Pitching coach Justin Parker had been serving as the interim head coach.

O’Connor leaves behind a tremendous legacy in Charlottesville after spending the past 22 seasons coaching the Cavaliers. During his time as head coach (2004–2025), O’Connor amassed a 904–385–2 record, including a 375–242–1 mark in ACC play. He led Virginia to 18 NCAA Tournaments, nine Super Regionals, seven College World Series appearances, two national title games, and one National Championship (2015).

The Cavaliers missed the tournament this year but finished 32–18 overall, with a 16–11 record in ACC play. UVA ended the regular season strong, winning 12 of their final 14 games.

O’Connor comes to Starkville after building UVA into college baseball monster

Prior to his arrival, the Cavaliers had made just three NCAA Tournaments and had never advanced past a Regional. Under O’Connor’s leadership, the program won two ACC regular season titles and two ACC Tournament championships. He is a five-time ACC Coach of the Year, a two-time National Coach of the Year, and was twice named National Assistant Coach of the Year during his tenure as pitching coach at Notre Dame.

O’Connor quickly changed the culture at UVA, leading the team to a 44–15 record in 2004. The 18 conference wins that season were the most in school history at the time. That year ended with Virginia hosting its first-ever Regional, and O’Connor would go on to reach the postseason in 18 of the next 21 seasons. His teams won 50 or more games five times, including a 56-win season in 2011 that culminated in a College World Series appearance.

UVA made two trips to the national championship series under O’Connor, starting in 2014 when the team went 53–16 and won 22 ACC games. Interestingly, the Cavaliers’ 2015 national championship team finished just .500 in league play and ended the year 44–24. Most recently, O’Connor guided the team to back-to-back CWS appearances in 2023 and 2024. Last year’s team defeated Mississippi State twice in Charlottesville to advance to a Super Regional, and then clinched a trip to Omaha with a home Super Regional win.

O’Connor has a strong track record of developing top-tier talent, having produced 13 first-round MLB Draft picks and 11 First-Team All-Americans. Before his arrival, UVA had only three All-American honorees and two first-round draft picks in program history.

A Creighton graduate and former pitcher, O’Connor has a strong background in coaching pitchers and is expected to be involved in that aspect at Mississippi State. However, sources indicate he is expected to hire a pitching coach in the coming days.

O’Connor joins a proud tradition of baseball excellence in Starkville. The Bulldogs won their first-ever National Championship in 2021 but have since endured four consecutive seasons without postseason baseball at Dudy Noble Field. While they did make back-to-back Regional appearances the past two seasons, the program is looking to return to national prominence.

Mississippi State boasts 41 Regional appearances, 10 Super Regionals, and 12 College World Series trips. The Bulldogs have won the SEC title 14 times, including seven SEC Tournament championships. However, they have claimed just one regular season title since 1989 (in 2016).

The Bulldogs finished this season in Tallahassee, Fla. with a 5-2 loss to Florida State in the Regional final. MSU was 36-23.