Last week, Virginia's athletic program got its best news of the summer. No, it wasn't another award for women's lacrosse or another preseason top 25 football ranking. The most important news of the summer was that something wasn't going to happen.
It was a non-event really, a report that someone wasn't leaving, a major change from our basketball program's revolving door. Virginia found out that baseball coach Brian O'Connor was not going to pursue another job opportunity.
Baseball has never been high on my list of sports I like to watch. I follow the major leagues during summer to pass the time between May and the first signs of football season. I knew the basics, but the nuances of the game escaped me.
So when I got word that I'd be covering the home opener for the Cavaliers this year against Maryland-Eastern Shore, I approached it with guarded optimism. Live baseball wasn't that bad -- I'd been to a few Durham Bulls and Norfolk Tides games, and enjoyed them for the most part. When I arrived at Davenport field, though, I found exactly 147 people there. Sure it was a mid-week game, under overcast skies, against an overmatched opponent, but it was the home opener all the same. Where were all the people?
Then O'Connor and his scrappy, tough team began to reshape my understanding of baseball.
It wasn't a game for the Barry Bondses of the world, who sometimes seem to care more about personal statistics and paychecks than finding a way to win. It was a game for guys that wanted to play hard and put themselves in the best position to win. Only two players, the now-departed Mark Reynolds and Joe Koshansky could legitimately hit for power on last season's team. But by employing a small-ball approach focused on bunt singles, hit and runs and backed up by great defense, O'Connor tailored his approach to his team's talents and strengths.
And slowly but surely, those 147 people who saw that 15-2 win against the Shorehawks grew to the capacity 2,530 who witnessed the season-ending defeat at the hands of Vanderbilt in the Charlottesville NCAA Regional in early June.
Somewhere within the season, through covering games and then attending some on my own, I began to appreciate the game's finer points and the coach that made that possible. O'Connor knew what he wanted from his team and usually got it, as they finished 45-17 and advanced to the NCAA tournament in his first season, setting multiple records along the way. The team was exciting to watch, orchestrating many comebacks throughout the season, stringing together runs for big innings and getting contributions from everywhere in the lineup at one time or another.
O'Connor was always available and polite, and even thanked reporters at the end of the Vanderbilt game's press conference for playing a major part in helping him change the direction of the Cavalier program. He made you feel wanted rather than a nuisance even when you were the only reporter at a mid-week game from the student newspaper, with a baseball knowledge left uncultivated by years of playing lacrosse.
So when I read that O'Connor was considering interviewing for the job opening at Auburn, I was concerned that Virginia was about to lose the most important addition to its coaching community since the Al Groh hire in 2001. Auburn has a decorated baseball history, and has produced players like Frank Thomas of the White Sox and Oakland Athletics' ace Tim Hudson. There was a noticeable allure to the SEC team, something that could possibly take O'Connor south, away from the improving Virginia program.
But he didn't leave, and instead, withdrew his name from consideration for the job. He showed dedication to his talented incoming recruiting class, the players on the team and the Charlottesville community that supported him during the best season in Virginia history. O'Connor completely changed one reporter's approach to baseball, and between covering that season opener and the NCAA tournament, I found a way to appreciate baseball and all it has to offer.
If O'Connor had left, he would have left a job unfinished -- that of changing the mentality of Virginia baseball players, fans and opponents. Sure, it's really a non-event, because nothing changed. But it's the most important thing that didn't happen to Virginia baseball in years.
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