June 8, 2009

Cavaliers Coach Heading Home to Meet Old Friend

By Sean Ryan

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

Brian O’Connor (left) doesn’t remember the first game he saw at Rosenblatt Stadium.

And even though he watched many a College World Series game, the Virginia baseball coach doesn’t recall having a favorite player, but he does remember following the Texas Longhorns because they visited Omaha so often.

“My dad started taking me and my brothers at a very young age,” said O’Connor, who grew up just across the border from Omaha in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and pitched for Omaha-based Creighton University. “I’m sure I have some very old game programs from the mid-70s. It’s more the experience of going to the game…taking your glove to the game and trying to catch a foul ball.”

O’Connor is heading home this week after leading his Cavaliers to their first trip to the College World Series. He’s sure to encounter countless friends, family and well-wishers.

But there’s one close friend he’d rather not see: LSU coach Paul Mainieri (right).

“We were hoping this day would never come,” O’Connor said. “But if it has to happen, there’s no better place than Omaha.”

O’Connor spent nine seasons (1995-2003) as Mainieri’s top assistant at Notre Dame, joining the Fighting Irish when he was all of 23 years old. Together, they helped Notre Dame reach the College World Series in 2002.

“He gave me my big break,” O’Connor said.

When Mainieri took over the LSU program three years ago, he and O’Connor agreed not to schedule each other and would play only in the NCAA tournament.

On Saturday, it goes beyond pupil against teacher. It’s friend against friend.

“When you work with someone for nine years and you do everything together, you develop a very close relationship,” O’Connor said. “My friendship with him is the best relationship I have in baseball.”

The coaches talk three or four times a week, and when the Tigers advanced to their second straight College World Series by beating Rice, O’Connor placed a congratulatory call. After Virginia knocked off Ole Miss on Sunday to reach Omaha, the friends talked again.

They agreed to meet for a steak dinner when they arrive in Omaha.

O’Connor likely can offer plenty of choices.

Besides growing up a short drive across the Missouri River from Omaha, O’Connor spent his college days pitching for the Creighton Bluejays.

He was on the mound when Creighton lost to Wichita State 3-2 in the 12th inning in the 1991 College World Series – a game the Omaha World Herald ranked as the third-best game in CWS history.

“At that time, people called it the best college game in history,” said O’Connor, who went 20-13 with seven saves at Creighton and was a 29^th-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies.

And now he returns to Rosenblatt Stadium with a gritty group that captured the ACC Tournament title, beat the nation’s top pitcher and twice beat the nation’s top-ranked team in the NCAA Regionals and won on the road at Ole Miss in the school’s first Super Regional.

“When you grow up around town, you kind of take it for granted,” O’Connor said of the College World Series. “When you come back, you see what a great event it is.”

(photo by Jimmy Jones)