He said he is so appreciative of his more than two decades in Charlottesville. O’Connor said he’s proud of the way Disharoon Park grew from when he initially arrived as an assistant from Notre Dame for his first season at UVa in 2004 through this spring, and even more proud of how fans continually kept filling the ballpark.

The Bulldogs retained Justin Parker as the pitching coach. The news was announced just hours before O'Connor's introduction at Dudy Noble Field on June 5. Parker was the interim MSU coach after Chris Lemonis was fired on April 28. He led the Bulldogs to a 9-1 finish to the regular season and an NCAA tournament at-large bid.