U.Va. task force proposals served as a call to arms
By Jeff White
Published: June 12, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Eight years later, as the University of Virginia baseball team prepares for its first appearance in the College World Series, Dennis Womack has the benefit of perspective.

“I tell you what, that report might have been the best thing that ever happened,” said Womack, the Cavaliers’ baseball coach from 1981 to 2003.

At the time, though, Womack’s reaction was different. It was April 2001, and the Cavaliers were in Winston-Salem, N.C., for a weekend series with Wake Forest when they heard the news. Back in Charlottesville, a U.Va. task force, alarmed by the rising cost of college athletics, had recommended that the university split its 24 sports into four tiers, with each tier to be funded differently.

The sports in the bottom tier, including baseball, would lose their scholarships. Athletes in those sports would receive only need-based financial aid. The teams would have limited travel budgets and coaching staffs.

If implemented, these recommendations would have saved U.Va. millions of dollars. But they also would have made it extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for teams such as baseball to survive in the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference.

“It was traumatic,” Womack recalled.

The recommendations, as U.Va. fans know, never became reality. The university’s Board of Visitors rejected the task force's proposal and responded with a plan to adequately fund and strengthen sports that were struggling, such as baseball.

“Now look where we are,” said Womack’s successor, Brian O’Connor, whose team opens play in the CWS tomorrow against LSU at Omaha, Neb.

Athletic Director Craig Littlepage recalled yesterday that the board essentially said, “We don’t feel that the University of Virginia has to do something in less than a first-class and ambitious way. And rather than to cut sports, rather than to tier sports, we would like for the university to have a nationally competitive program across all sports.”

And that’s what has happened. U.Va. is likely to finish in the top 10 of the Directors’ Cup competition, which reflects schools’ performances in NCAA championships each academic year.

Of the six sports that would have made up the fourth tier in the task force’s proposal, three (baseball, men’s tennis and men’s cross country) won ACC championships in 2008-09. U.Va. shared the conference title in men’s outdoor track and was ACC runner-up in wrestling. In the sixth sport, men’s golf, Virginia has made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championships for the first time in school history.

Littlepage noted the irony that “the bad news, or the possibility of the bad news of cutting sports or tiering sports, in fact ends up being a facilitator for the programs, kind of a call to arms.”

Terry Holland, now the AD at East Carolina University, was an ex-officio member of the task force. At the time he was U.Va.’s athletic director, and Littlepage was No. 2 in the department.

“It was decision time,” Holland said in an e-mail yesterday. “The university had to make a commitment to those sports or allow them to become even less competitive than they were at the time. The BOV and the university made that commitment and outstanding coaches have made the investment pay huge dividends for the university and everyone concerned, particularly the student-athletes on those teams.”

The task force, which had been formed in December 1999 by U.Va. President John Casteen, reported that the athletic department might face an annual deficit of more than $10 million within 10 years if dramatic changes weren’t made.

Jack Ackerly was the Board of Visitors’ rector in the spring of 2001. Ackerly, an attorney in Richmond, said yesterday that board members took this position: “If we don’t have enough money, let’s devote our resources to raising more money.”

U.Va. increased student fees for athletics, which were less than those at most other public universitites in the state, and, more significant, ratcheted up its fund-raising efforts.

In June 2001, donors pledged $2 million for a renovation of the Virginia’s decrepit baseball stadium, and another $3 million in donations followed for the project. By the 2002 season, Davenport Field ranked among the most impressive parks in the ACC.

Moreover, starting with the 2003-04 academic year, all 25 sports at U.Va. – women’s golf had been added – received the full allotment of scholarships allowed by the NCAA. That’s another reason why U.Va. baseball, which was not fully funded during Womack’s tenure as coach, has soared to unprecedented heights under O’Connor.

In 2001, Shooter Starr was a sophomore pitcher for the Cavaliers. He’s now an assistant director with the Virginia Athletics Foundation, which raises money to support the school’s teams.

“A big reason why I do what I do today,” Starr said, “is that I saw [in 2001] how people getting behind something and supporting it can really make a difference on the kids and the community.”

Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or jwhite@timesdispatch.com.
 

Architecture student helps build U.Va. Cavs into champions
Posted to: Sports
The Roanoke Times
© June 12, 2009
By Doug Doughty
CHARLOTTESVILLE

At 7, he learned to play the piano. At 8, he taught himself to switch-hit.

University of Virginia catcher Franco Valdes isn't the type to wait for things to happen. The only Cavalier who began his college career at a junior college didn't take long to make his presence felt once he got to Charlottesville.

"This time of the year, there's nobody I'd rather have our back than this kid," said U.Va. coach Brian O'Connor, whose team is preparing for its first College World Series. "He's got a ton of energy. He's our emotional leader. He's got a lot of pride.

"He's not going to come through every time, but this kid's proven to us that he's going to come through most of the time."

Valdes, a 5-foot-11, 210-pound junior, was named most outstanding player at the Irvine regional. Valdes has gone 8 for 23 in the NCAA tournament and has raised his average from .278 to .288. Four of his eight hits have come with two out.

Valdes' single scored the go-ahead run in Sunday's 5-1 victory over Mississippi that sent U.Va. (48-13-1) to Omaha, Neb., and an opening game Saturday against LSU (51-16).

"It's been a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Valdes said. "I didn't even believe it until two days ago. That's when it settled in that we were really going to Omaha and would be playing under the lights at Rosenblatt Stadium.

"The last two weeks have been like nothing else - going to California and beating the No. 1 pitcher in the nation (Stephen Strasburg) and beating the No. 1 team in the nation (UC Irvine) in their own ballpark, then playing Ole Miss in front of 10,000 heckling fans and beating them two out of three."

Valdes is taking it all in because 2006 U.Va. signee Devin Mesoraco was drafted by Cincinnati in the first round of the 2007 first-year player draft.

"We were kind of in scramble mode," said O'Connor, who had projected Mesoraco as a three-year fixture at catcher. "We didn't anticipate (Mesoraco's early selection), and Franco was the best fit as a player and a person."

Detroit had selected Valdes in the 15th round of the 2006 draft but hadn't offered much money. Valdes, a senior at Miami's Monsignor Pace High School, decided to attend Broward (Fla.) Community College for a year to improve his stock.

A sore arm led to throwing problems that kept away the pro scouts.

"Sore arms heal," O'Connor said.

"Tell you the truth, the chips fell in the right spot," said Valdes, who originally had signed to attend Florida International. "I told myself that I needed to get out of Miami for a little bit and experience somewhere else."

Valdes' parents came to the United States from Cuba about five years after he was born.

Since he's bi-lingual, Valdes might have some advantages over his fellow Spanish majors at U.Va., but he's also working on an architecture degree.

"After baseball, I'm really counting on being an architect," he said. "I love building stuff. I've always been around it. That's my plan."

The increase in Valdes' batting average has been accompanied by an occasional home run, and there's never been a question about his handling of pitchers.

"Franco, defensively, is one of the best catchers I've ever seen," U.Va. senior pitcher Andrew Carraway said. "He's a thick guy, but somewhere in him, he's able to block anything you throw out there."

Valdes was eligible for the draft for a third time this year and thought his play in the regionals might have attracted some attention, but it would take a sweet offer to pry him from U.Va.

"I love this place with everything I have," he said, "so, coming back for another year and having another chance for a great run with (almost) the same team, you wouldn't want to pass that up."
 

His turn now
By Norm Wood | 247-4642
June 12, 2009

Danny Hultzen's first up-close-and-personal taste of the College World Series came in 2003, when he was a 13-year-old seam-head gazing through the dust and glaring sun in Rosenblatt Stadium.

Sitting in the stands by virtue of a ticket given to him by the father of one of his friends, Hultzen studied future major-leaguers like Stanford's Ryan Garko and Rice's Jeff Niemann. Hultzen was awe-struck. Six years later, the tables have turned. Now, kids will watch with stars in their eyes as the seemingly unflappable Hultzen takes the mound for the University of Virginia in the College World Series. It's more than he ever imagined happening while sitting in those Rosenblatt bleachers.

"It was incredible," said Hultzen, whose team will play at 7 p.m. Saturday against LSU (51-16). "I didn't think that one day I'd be playing in it, but it's an unbelievable experience even just watching."

Only a 19-year-old freshman, he's already U.Va.'s ace, compiling a 9-1 record with a 2.09 earned-run average while striking out 95 and walking 27 in 86 innings. Opponents are hitting just .242 against him, and he has surrendered 16 extra-base hits, an average of one every 5.4 innings (leading all U.Va. pitchers who have started a game this season).

He's the first Atlantic Coast Conference baseball freshman of the year in school history, and he made first-team All-ACC as a utility player. Why utility and not pitcher? When he's not pitching, he plays first base, and he sports a .333 batting average with three home runs, 33 RBI, 40 runs and eight stolen bases in eight attempts. He has just two errors.

"I didn't really have the confidence in myself to be able to hit (for U.Va.)," said Hultzen, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound left-hander from Bethesda, Md. "(U.Va.'s coaches) had to ask me when I was being recruited whether I thought I could hit here or not, and I actually said no. I really did not have the confidence as a hitter, but I worked hard throughout the fall and winter, and I kind of proved to myself that I was capable of hitting."

While a change-up set up by a fastball that tops out at 92 miles per hour has been his best friend on the mound, his calm demeanor and expressionless exterior also have helped him play up the intimidation factor. Nothing seems to rattle him.

"Just watching him on the mound — the confidence that he has as a young guy," U.Va. senior pitcher Andrew Carraway said. "I know he gets nervous. Everybody gets nervous out there, whether you're at the plate or on the mound, but every time he's been on the mound, he's gotten the job done. In every single start he's had this year as a freshman, he's put our team in a position to win."

Carraway added he doesn't know where Hultzen gets that confident streak. By comparison, Carraway said when he was a freshman, he was interested in just making U.Va.'s travel squad, much less logging wins against No. 1 UC Irvine, No. 4 Miami, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 14 Florida State — all of which Hultzen has accomplished this season.

"This kid Danny Hultzen has really been a difference-maker for us all year long," said U.Va. coach Brian O'Connor, who was still uncertain regarding which of his pitchers would start the LSU game.

"You've got to not only have great stuff, great ability, but you also have to have all the intangibles. This kid has that. That's what separates him from other people. It's not just his talent."

So impressed was O'Connor that he slotted Hultzen as U.Va.'s Friday night starter — the most coveted night to start for college pitchers — by Feb. 27, the second weekend of the season.

U.Va. is fortunate Hultzen had a burning desire to go to college. He doesn't have to be in Charlottesville right now. He could be in South Bend, Ind.; Yakima, Wash.; or Visalia, Calif. — all homes of the Arizona Diamondbacks' Class-A minor-league affiliates.

Last year, the Diamondbacks selected Hultzen in the 10th round of the draft after he went 13-0 with a 0.74 ERA and 140 strikeouts in 73 innings as a senior at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. No amount of money could have interested Hultzen in signing a contract with Arizona. He was committed to U.Va., and the Cavaliers have been the grateful beneficiaries of Hultzen sticking to his word.

"College was really important to me," Hultzen said. "Getting my education was one of the big factors of me deciding to come (to U.Va.), and just the experience of getting to go to college. You grow up, you get your education, and on the baseball side you get that experience of getting to play in front of 10,000 people. You get that experience of getting to play against guys that are not high school hitters or that kind of thing. I just thought the whole experience of college was really important before I kind of thought about professional baseball."
 

Expectations fulfilled
By Jay Jenkins
Published: June 12, 2009

OMAHA, Neb. — Emotionally speaking, Louisiana State coach Paul Mainieri was spent.

Getting to the College World Series, regardless of expectations, takes a toll on a program’s skipper.

Consider that top-ranked LSU, a national powerhouse, was on the heels of a trip to Omaha, Neb., and considered a lock for the sport’s ultimate stage and it becomes understandable how the pressure built before the first pitch of the season was thrown.

Given that, Mainieri allowed himself to take a huge sigh of relief when his veteran-laden squad rolled through regional and super regional action with six games of perfection.

“I don’t know if I feel great or relieved,” said Mainieri, who was the head coach at Notre Dame before taking the job at LSU. “It’s been a real grind to get to this point. There was so much promise for this season. We had a lot of veterans back from a College World Series team.

“We were ranked No. 1 in the country. We were going into a new stadium. These kids were under the microscope, but they showed consistency, poise and composure. People questioned how they would handle the expectations. I think they answered it.”

LSU (51-16), the No. 3 national seed in the NCAA tournament, awaits its next test on Saturday. The pitching-rich Tigers open with sixth-ranked Virginia (48-13-1) at Rosenblatt Stadium at 7 p.m.

Mainieri’s current crop has dominated this season in Virginia-like fashion on the mound. The Tigers rank ninth nationally in earned run average (3.99), just six spots behind the Cavaliers’ ACC-best figure of 3.14.

“LSU has a host of great arms,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Paul has always treasured great arms and pitching depth and that is evident again within his program.”

The Tigers plan to start Anthony Ranaudo (10-3, 2.95 ERA) on the mound against Virginia. The New Jersey native played travel ball with Cavaliers closer Kevin Arico before the two headed in separate directions for college.

Ranaudo, who has 147 strikeouts in 109.2 innings, was a third-team All-American and pitched in the College World Series, albeit one inning, last year against North Carolina.

Offensively, LSU scores runs in bunches, ranking 12th nationally in scoring and 13th in hits, using homers as the favored weapon of choice. The Tigers have hit 94 home runs and have three players in double digits.

A mainstay in Omaha in recent history, Rice coach Wayne Graham said LSU has what it takes to bring home title from the College World Series.

“I think LSU is good enough to win it,” he said after being ousted by the Tigers in a super regional. “Their three starting pitchers are probably among the top 20 in the country. Then they have good left-handed hitters that can go left and right. There are a lot of ingredients. LSU is a good ball club.”

More importantly, perhaps, LSU has experience on its side. While Virginia is making its first trip to Rosenblatt Stadium, the Tigers have won five national titles, the last of which came in 2000, and advanced to Omaha last year after failing to make the NCAA tournament in 2006 and 2007.

“Nothing you can do can totally prepare them for it,” Mainieri said. “I’m convinced of it.”

Extra bases

While the team visited Rosenblatt Stadium on Wednesday after arriving in Nebraska, Virginia held a practice session on Thursday at Creighton University, O’Connor’s alma mater. ... Today at 1 p.m., the Cavaliers will practice at Rosenblatt for an hour. UVa is also slated to take a team photo this morning and an autograph session will be held at the stadium from 2:30 to 3 p.m. ... O’Connor said Thursday that freshman LHP Danny Hultzen will get the start against LSU.
 

The road to Omaha
By Jay Jenkins
Published: June 12, 2009

He is a father, friend, husband and mentor.

Luckily for Virginia, Brian O’Connor is also the head coach of the best baseball team in program history.

An average guy in appearance and more importantly in demeanor, O’Connor has all but single-handedly built a national powerhouse at a school that once discussed disbanding its program.

During his six-year stint that rolls into the College World Series on Saturday against top-ranked Louisiana State University, Virginia’s skipper has reeled off 264 wins with a never-say-die mentality.

It all started in a humble abode in cozy Council Bluffs, Iowa, a place where his father raced home from work daily for family meals or practices on the diamond or hardwood.

“That’s when I became what I am,” O’Connor said. “I feel so fortunate that I was brought up in a loving family that raised myself and my brothers the right way. We were taught to treat people the right way, we are up front and honest

with people and I learned at a young age that if you are honest with people that you never have to remember what you said.”

Years before O’Connor landed the job at Virginia, he proved his worth during an impromptu meeting with current pitching coach Karl Kuhn, then a former assistant at the University of Arkansas Little Rock.

Kuhn was told to introduce himself by the head basketball coach at UALR, who attended Creighton University at the same time as O’Connor.

“It was in between games at a showcase and there were 35 to 40 coaches behind home plate and I said, ‘Which one of you dudes is Oak?’ He said, ‘I am.’ I told him my buddy said hello,” Kuhn recounted. “He got up, we talked and we got to know each other.”

Something clicked.

“What was the first thing? You are looking at a regular guy,” Kuhn said. “That’s what he is. He was at Notre Dame, a big institution, they are in regionals, super regionals and he is befriending a guy who is at Arkansas ‘Last Resort’ just because he is a regular guy.

“He doesn’t see colors, he doesn’t see big names. He sees people and he sees who you are. I think that he really respects people that are real.”

A day onto the job at Virginia in 2003, O’Connor picked up the phone to call a prized recruit headed to Virginia for a special workout.

Sean Doolittle, now with the Oakland A’s at the AAA level, answered.

A young, eager coach with a savvy swagger about himself coaxed the youngster to grab a meal and a tour around Grounds.

Who was touring whom?

“He was showing us around the university and the baseball stadium and he might have needed a map but the passion that he had from the start was unbelievable,” said Doolittle, a former ACC player of the year under O’Connor. “He tells it exactly like it is. He does not sugarcoat it. I think guys that look back on their time there are most appreciative of that.”

Doolittle, a two-way player in college, said it was the same way with associate head coach Kevin McMullan and Kuhn.

“They don’t sugarcoat anything either, but stuff like that comes from the top. It rolls downhill,” he said. “That’s the way they run their program. A lot of the time you will leave the field pissed off, you will leave the field let down but you always knew where you stood.

“Oak treated us like men. By the time we left there we were that much better for it.”

Now rising the through minor league food chain and knocking on the door of professional baseball, Doolittle has heard the horror stories about head coaches.

Happily, he does not have one to share.

“Climbing this ladder in pro ball, playing with so many guys that went to different programs, so many schools of different levels from Division I down to NAIA, I can probably count on one hand how many guys that I played with that will openly say positive things about their head coach,” Doolittle said. “The list goes on and on but I never really will be able to say a bad thing about coach O’Connor. I loved playing under him.

“I will always have that bond with him. I was the first guy that he ever picked up the phone to call. I am proud to say that with all the success that Virginia has had since he has been there.”

It was in that Midwestern town a few miles from Omaha, Neb., that O’Connor learned to take the high road.

As this season has proven for Virginia, things have a way of working themselves out.

“There is not a better job in the country. I feel that way and will continue to feel that way,” O’Connor said. “As for me, I have always enjoyed being around people and I have enjoyed creating relationships with people and I try to get that across to our players.

“Our players are not better than anybody else, they are just different. I think that is important. We wear Virginia across our uniforms and we are proud to say it.”
 

Cannon, Packer chosen
By Jay Jenkins
Published: June 12, 2009

With their price tags known, the stock of Virginia juniors Tyler Cannon and Matt Packer dropped in the eyes of Major League Baseball scouts. That was evident Thursday in the draft.

Packer, a left-handed pitcher, slipped to the 32nd round, where he was selected by the Cleveland Indians.

Nine rounds later, Cannon was taken with the 1,225th overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The two joined senior pitchers Andrew Carraway (Seattle Mariners, 12th round) and Robert Poutier (San Diego Padres, 29th) and junior pitcher Jeff Lorick (Atlanta Braves, 20th) as Virginia players that were drafted this year.

“It is a great honor for Tyler and Matt to have been selected by a Major League Baseball team,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Both of those guys have done great things at the University of Virginia and have been unselfish from the day that they arrived.”

Based on where they were selected and the slot money pegged for the corresponding round, it is expected that Cannon and Packer will return to Virginia for their final year of eligibility. MLB teams have until Aug. 15 to ink high school seniors and third-year college players selected.

Packer, who served as a starting pitcher and a reliever, is 3-4 on the season with a 3.95 earned run average.

Cannon, Virginia’s starting shortstop, was a first-team All-ACC selection and enters the College World Series with a .339 batting average, 50 runs, 37 RBI and 17 stolen bases.

The Cavaliers (48-13-1) open play in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday against LSU (51-16) at 7 p.m.
 

It’s mentor against protege in Omaha
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: June 12, 2009

When the starting lineups for Virginia and LSU are introduced ala all-star game style on Saturday night, Brian O’Connor and his mentor, Paul Mainieri, will be standing side by side.

The emotions of the two opposing coaches will be off the charts as they collide in the College World Series.

O’Connor, who has skippered UVa to an improbable ride to Omaha, has already described the impending encounter as the most emotional episode he will have gone through as a player or coach. Mainieri, whose Tigers have been college baseball’s No. 1 team throughout most of the season, said he feels like the proud father or big brother watching the heights that O’Connor has climbed.

You see, the Cavaliers’ coach was 23 years old when Mainieri plucked him from out of nowhere to become his assistant coach at Notre Dame. They spent nine years together building the Irish program before O’Connor took the Virginia job and Mainieri eventually left for the Bayou.

Jump-starting a career

“This guy means everything to me,” O’Connor said of Mainieri. “He took a chance on me to be his top assistant at Notre Dame. I’m forever grateful for that.”

However, it was more than just a coaching relationship. The families lived four blocks from one another in South Bend, and the Mainieris helped raise O’Connor’s two daughters.

“It was a nine-year working relationship, but a lifetime friendship,” the LSU coach said this week in a telephone interview. “I remember the day that Ellie [O’Connor’s oldest daughter] walked into my house and announced that she was out of diapers for the first time.”

If you get the impression that the Mainieri and O’Connor deal is a mutual admiration society, you would be correct. If you think they should be at the top of one another’s references on their resumes, you’d be years behind.

Quite a reference

Mainieri remembers the day that Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage called him, looking for a new baseball coach for the Cavaliers.

During the 45-minute conversation, Mainieri, then at Notre Dame, told Littlepage “that his reputation as an AD will be made if he hires O’Connor to be his baseball coach.

“Pretty bold comment, right?” Mainieri asked this columnist.

“After I got off the phone with Craig, I knew it was the right opportunity for Brian, so I called him ... he was out in Nebraska recruiting ... and I said, ‘Brian, I just talked to your new boss.’

“He said, ‘What?’” Mainieri chuckled.

Obviously, that thought became reality and Virginia has won at least 39 games every year since under O’Connor’s direction.

The two talk to each other all the time, so much in fact that the LSU coach laughingly wondered if there have ever been two coaches in CWS history that have talked so much during the week leading up to the game.

“Without question, he’s my mentor in this game,” O’Connor said. “The reason that is, did a I learn a lot from him in managing style? No question. What I’m grateful for from learning from him is nobody does it classier than Paul.”

The UVa coach said he learned how to deal with players the right way — how to treat them like men, how to handle them, how to develop them.

To this day in his six seasons in Charlottesville, O’Connor has not conducted one bed check for curfew violations and hasn’t had a single problem with a player not showing up ready to play the next day.

When UVa got home late from Oxford, Miss., last Sunday after eliminating the Rebels and advancing to Omaha, after learning that the Cavs’ CWS opener would be against his old coach and LSU, O’Connor spent a sleepless night.

He said he couldn’t stop thinking about the way teams are introduced for their first game in Omaha, as previously mentioned. Like an all-star game, they line the base paths and meet at home plate.

“Then, those two managers shake hands and I can’t imagine the emotion that I’m going to have,” O’Connor said. “Here is the guy who has meant everything to me in my coaching career that I’m shaking hands with, or it might be hugging him at home plate, on the biggest stage of my coaching career.”

The two have agreed to put the friendship on hold for three hours or so and will try not to even look at each other during the game. Afterwards, everything returns to normal.

“In a perfect world, we’d be in separate brackets and we’d meet for the national championship,” the LSU coach said. “Brian and I agreed six years ago when he took the Virginia job that we’d never play each other unless the NCAA made us, because neither of us would gain any satisfaction by beating the other.”

That time has come and as Mainieri said, if they have to play then what better place than Omaha, an indicator that both had good years.

When Mainieri was named Notre Dame’s baseball coach back in 1995, the first thing he did was get on the phone with Jim Hendry of the Chicago Cubs. The two had coached high school together, and it so happened that Hendry had been O’Connor’s coach at Creighton. Mainieri and Hendry have been best friends for years.

“The first phone call I made was to Jim and I told him I needed a new pitching coach and he said, ‘I’ve got the perfect kid for you,’” Mainieri said of the conversation.

Obviously, O’Connor was the guy Hendry had in mind, and O’Connor drove from Omaha to South Bend to have dinner and talk about the job.

“I knew five minutes into that conversation that Brian was the right guy for me,” Mainieri said. “It was the greatest decision I’ve ever made on a professional basis.”

The two coaches were on the same wavelength for nine years. Never had a disagreement. The coach gave the assistant a lot of responsibility and the assistant was as loyal as they came.

“I have to be honest,” Mainieri said. “The day Brian decided to take the Virginia job was very traumatic for me personally. I had grown to be so dependent on him and we worked together so well, that it was very difficult for me to deal with not having him around any more. It was almost as if somebody had cut off my right arm.”

Both coaches went their own way and continued to win in South Bend, Charlottesville and Baton Rouge.

Now, the only thing that matters — at least for three hours on Saturday night — is winning in Omaha.
 

Hogs, Eagles, Cavs took long route to Omaha
BY CHRIS COCOLES
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE - The Travel Channel could probably pitch in and help ESPN with its coverage of the College World Series this year.

Arkansas, Southern Mississippi and Virginia took the "road to Omaha" catchphrase literally when it came to advancing to Omaha, Neb. All three won their NCAA regional and super regional tournaments on the road.

Never have so many teams reached the eightteam College World Series this way since the super regional format began in 1999.

"It's funny in sports how momentum and the mind works," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.

The Razorbacks weren't considered much of a serious threat going into the NCAA Tournament. Playing a tough nonconference schedule, a veteran lineup and the presence of a gritty ace pitcher in Dallas Keuchel made Arkansas capable of beating anyone. But no one expected the Razorbacks to get through the Norman (Okla.) Regional and the Tallahassee (Fla.) Super Regional without a loss in five games.

Arkansas dropped 14 of its last 22 regular-season games, but it rebounded to beat Oklahoma and Florida State twice on the road in the postseason.

"It kind of made it fun just seeing if we can quiet those [fans down]," Razorbacks outfielder Chase Leavitt said. "Of course, sometimes they get a little bit loud. We've always had the opposition rooting against us.

"It was a big disappointment not to have a regional or super regional here. But now that we've gone through the road, it's going to help us in Omaha. We faced people yelling this and that at us. I think teams like us, Virginia and Southern Miss, we're a little bit more prepared."

Compared to Virginia, Arkansas had it easy with its a fourhour bus ride to Oklahoma and flying to Florida State.

The Cavaliers, the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champions, had to travel across the country to the regional hosted by national seed California Irvine. Then it drew San Diego State in the first round and its phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who was taken No. 1 overall Tuesday in the major league baseball's amateur draft.

The Cavaliers toppled Strasburg and defeated Irvine twice in what was tabbed as one of the most competitive of the 16 NCAA regional sites with defending national champion Fresno State being the No. 4 seed.

From there, Virginia flew to Oxford, Miss., where it lost its super regional opener to the Rebels. But the Cavaliers won the next two games to secure the school's first trip to the College World Series.

"Winning on the road, however you've got to win them, is a great quality of our team," Virginia Coach Brian O'Connor said. "It's a quality that some teams don't have, and that's why they don't get to this point."

Southern Mississippi is riding its own wave in honor of its head coach. In April, Coach Corky Palmer announced that he would retire at the end of the season, his 12th with the Eagles and his 31st overall.

Apparently, the Golden Eagles want to delay Palmer's retirement as long as possible.

Southern Miss, playing as a No. 3 seed, survived the Atlanta Regional hosted by Georgia Tech, then swept Florida in the Gainesville (Fla.) Super Regional to advance to Omaha for the first time.

"It's been a great ride," said Palmer, who grew up in Hattiesburg, where Southern Miss is located. "We just grew up each week. We've earned everything that we have got."

Cal State Fullerton Coach Dave Serrano's team, which opens against Arkansas in Omaha on Saturday, is one of the favorites to win the CWS after cruising through the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament at home. But Serrano understands what Southern Miss, Virginia and Arkansas have endured and how tough it is.

In 2007, Serrano led California Irvine to road victories at the Round Rock (Texas) Regional and past Wichita State in a super regional. The Anteaters kept plugging away at the College World Series, but after a loss and two extra-inning victories, Irvine finally succumbed 7-1 to champion Oregon State.

"We ran out of gas," Serrano said. "It caught up to us. We were riding an emotional high, and we were just drained. When that last out was recorded, there were a lot of tired young men and tired coaches."

At this point, that really doesn't matter to Arkansas, Southern Miss and Virginia. They are determined to ride it out as long as they can in Omaha.

"There is no pressure on us, just go out and play," O'Connor said. "Our players will be loose, and that's how I want them to look at it."

O'Connor prepares to face mentor Mainieri
By SCOTT HOTARD
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Jun 11, 2009
Comments (0)

Growing up in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Brian O’Connor could get to the College World Series in 10 minutes. He, his father and his brothers often did.

His sophomore season at Creighton, O’Connor found himself again in Rosenblatt Stadium, this time as a closer for the hometown Cinderella story.

Eleven years later, as the top assistant on Paul Mainieri’s coaching staff, O’Connor arrived with a Notre Dame team making the school’s first appearance since 1952.

All rich plots, sure. But nothing like this.

To finish his sixth season as Virginia coach, O’Connor becomes the first man to lead the Cavaliers onto college baseball’s biggest stage.

And wouldn’t you know it, none other than Mainieri — his mentor — waits in the other dugout.

Mainieri will shake O’Connor’s hand, or even hug his neck, before Saturday’s first pitch. Then, the LSU coach will try to beat him.

And vice versa.

“I can’t imagine the emotions I will have,” O’Connor said.

Years ago, Mainieri and O’Connor made a pact never to schedule each other. Their teams would meet only if the postseason forced them to.

It has.

LSU got back to the CWS in Mainieri’s third season as coach, sweeping through its regional and super regional competition; Virginia escaped the “Regional of Death” in Irvine, Calif., then beat Ole Miss in a super regional.

At home Sunday in front of his television, Mainieri watched the Cavaliers close out Ole Miss with mixed emotions.

“My heart is pounding 100 miles per hour in the ninth inning,” Mainieri recalled, tapping his chest.

Speaking of his reaction to the final out, the coach raised his arms as if he’d won a race. Then, the smile disappeared. His arms fell.

“Oh no,” Mainieri remembered saying. “We have to play these guys.”

And yes, this coach.

A winning tandem

Jim Hendry, the Chicago Cubs general manager, has always had an eye for talent. Always.

On Aug. 25, 1994, the day Mainieri got the Notre Dame job, he phoned Hendry — a longtime coaching buddy — to talk shop.

“I need a pitching coach,” Mainieri told him.

Hendry, the former Creighton coach, recommended a certain pitcher from his CWS team. The one he called on to finish games that season.

Within a week, Mainieri and O’Connor met for dinner.

“Five minutes in,” Mainieri said, “I knew he was the right guy. I knew he’d been schooled by Jim Hendry. He thought like Jim and acted like Jim. It seemed like a match made in heaven.”

O’Connor — 23 at the time, with one year of coaching experience — accepted the former Air Force coach’s offer in short order.

“The way he thought about the game and the way he believed in treating the players and running a program is the same way I learned from Jim Hendry,” O’Connor said. “I knew then I wouldn’t want to work for anybody else.”

He never did.

In nine seasons at Notre Dame, O’Connor helped Mainieri bring the Fighting Irish into the national spotlight.

“It was the most special relationship that I’ve had in my coaching career,” O’Connor said. “I bet you could count the number of arguments we had in nine years on one hand.”

Following the 2003 season, O’Connor left Notre Dame for an opportunity to run his own program.

By then, he knew the blueprint by heart. He learned it first-hand.

“What I learned as a coach,” O’Connor said, “I learned from Paul Mainieri. And I believe he’s the best in the business.”

Mainieri spent three more seasons at Notre Dame, then accepted the LSU job.

The coaches maintained their friendship. During the baseball season, they talk about four times a week.

“Maybe just three times this week,” Mainieri said with a smile.

Road to Omaha

O’Connor’s parents remain in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha. His wife’s parents remain there, too.

Certainly, the fans back home — the same ones who cheered for him as a CWS pitcher — will roar when O’Connor walks out of the dugout for Saturday’s game. Certainly, they will be proud of him.

But they aren’t alone.

“I’ve been telling everybody for six years he’s one of the best coaches in the country,” Mainieri said. “This validates it.”

Getting to Rosenblatt Stadium is simple enough for a kid who lives 10 minutes away. It’s quite the challenge, however, for a coach inheriting a program whose teams have never been.

In his first five seasons, O’Connor led Virginia to five NCAA tournament berths. But never the CWS — or even a super regional.

This year, O’Connor had the youngest team of his tenure.

And one heck of a draw.

College baseball’s bracketologists cringed when Virginia was shipped to Irvine, where the regional field included San Diego State — with Stephen Strasburg, the nation’s best pitcher — as the No. 3 seed and UC Irvine, the team ranked atop the national polls, as the No. 1 seed.

The Cavaliers had swept through the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, eliminating Clemson, North Carolina and Florida State along the way. Maybe they deserved better.

But Virginia, the No. 2 seed, handed Strasburg his first loss in the regional opener. Two wins over Irvine followed.

On to Oxford, Miss., where the Cavaliers rebounded from a Friday loss — on a 12th-inning homer — to win the next two games.

“What this team accomplished,” O’Connor said, “takes a great deal of mental toughness.”

Soon after Virginia punched its CWS ticket, Mainieri picked up his cell phone and pulled up his buddy’s number.

One text message:

“Who you pitching?”

A later one:

“I might have taught you everything you know, but I didn’t teach you everything I know. I had to save some secrets for this inevitable day.”

That day is here.

It comes in Virginia’s first CWS appearance. It comes on college baseball’s biggest stage.

The best story in Omaha, to be sure.
 

Baseball: Fans flock to Omaha for CWS
Tiger faithful make yearly trip to Nebraska
David Helman
Contributing Writer
Updated: Thursday, June 11, 2009

Not many people would consider the Great Plains the premier summer destination.

But LSU students and fans will forsake beaches, mountains and foreign lands this weekend for Omaha, Neb., and the No. 1 LSU baseball team’s 15th trip to the College World Series.

“If I take a vacation, it’s to go to Omaha,” said Jim Burke, an LSU alumnus. “If I don’t go to Omaha, I don’t take a vacation.”

Burke and his son, Clint, are two of many LSU fans who started making the trip during the Tigers’ run of seven College World Series trips during the 1990s.

“I started going in 1997, right after Warren Morris’ home run in 1996,” Burke said. “I wished I had gone the year before — I came close but didn’t, and it’s just a heck of an experience.”

The tradition of trekking to Omaha dates back further for many.

Chris Guillot, an alumnus and the team’s unofficial cheerleader at every game, started going to the College World Series in 1989.

“I called my brother and told him I wanted to go to Omaha, and he said ‘You must be on crack,’” Guillot said. “But if you think love is hard to describe, that’s baseball. It’s my passion.”

Guillot has gone to Omaha every year since — regardless of whether the Tigers make the trip — making friends with residents, bar owners, umpires and Major League Baseball scouts along the way.

“Basically it’s a home away from home,” he said. “When my son was born, I got boxes of chocolates from Omaha.”

As Guillot and any seasoned veteran can attest, LSU fans are welcomed as World Series royalty upon arrival in Omaha.

“When you get to Omaha in purple and gold, they welcome you like a king,” Guillot said. “They roll the red carpet out because they know we bring style, excitement and we don’t just watch the game, we make the game.”

The LSU fanbase has earned quite a following during the past two decades in Nebraska. Some Omaha residents and establishments have chosen the Tigers as their favorite team when the Nebraska Cornhuskers don’t make the tournament.

Karen Barrett, owner of Barrett’s Barleycorn Pub and Grill in Omaha, has seen her share of purple and gold since “adopting” LSU as her bar’s team in 1991.

“My sister met some LSU fans at a hotel and brought them down here, and now it’s just kind of intermingled,” she said. “[LSU fans] like to party, and they like to eat. So basically they like to do all the things we like.”

One of Barrett’s managers even went as far as to marry a Tiger fan and move to Baton Rouge. The bar, situated “about 10 minutes” from the World Series’ home in Rosenblatt Stadium, is adorned year round with LSU banners and flags sent from Louisiana.

“Over the years people just send me stuff,” Barrett said. “They call me to let me know how the team’s doing, if it looks like they’re going to make it [to Omaha] ... I was literally just in my basement digging out more LSU stuff to hang up.”

Sadly, many LSU fans won’t get to see Barrett’s banners, or any of Omaha for that matter. A trip to the College World Series spans 972 miles, and 11 days if your team wins the national championship or a minimum of four if it’s eliminated early.

“If my boss would give me time off, I’d go,” said Beau Leibner, a Baton Rouge native. “With the format the way it is now, you need about two weeks off to do it.”

LSU students run into similar road blocks, even if they can find the time to slip away.

“I’m leaving Friday, but we’re sleeping in a tent because we’re broke ... I guess we’ll get a fan,” said Eric Bastoe, business sophomore. “But even then, we’re only going for the weekend. We can’t afford to stay up there for 10 or 11 days.”

To Guillot, these are all minor details. LSU is going to Omaha, and the Tiger faithful will follow.

“I graduated in engineering from LSU. I’ve faced harder problems than getting off to go to Omaha,” Guillot said. “Life’s too short. Go.”


 

Mainieri to face former Notre Dame assistant coach O’Connor in first round match
Andy Schwehm
Updated: Thursday, June 11, 2009
 The Daily Reveille & Virginia Media Relations

LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri will face former assistant coach Brian O'Connor of Virginia in the Tigers' first game of this seasons' College World Series.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri has been in the college baseball business a long time – since 1976 to be exact.

As one would imagine, Mainieri has a lot of friends in the business. It just so happens that his closest friend is Brian O’Connor, the sixth-year head coach at Virginia, LSU’s opening round opponent in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday night in the College World Series.

Mainieri hired O’Connor at the ripe age of 23. He was born in Omaha and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa, right across the Missouri River from Rosenblatt Stadium, and he attended the College World Series every year as a child since he was four years old.

O’Connor was a year removed from his playing days at Creighton University — where he helped lead the Bluejays to an improbable 1991 hometown run to the College World Series — when Mainieri hired him.

After assisting Mainieri for nine years at Notre Dame, he was hired by Virginia when then-coach Dennis Womack retired after the 2003 season.

“What I learned as a coach, I have learned from Paul Mainieri,” O’Connor said. “That’s the professional side of it. The personal side of it is, he’s one of my best friends. Paul and I talk three, four times a week during the season and a couple times a week in the offseason.”
Mainieri said he text messaged O’Connor immediately after the Cavilers defeated Ole Miss to advance to Omaha.

“I had some profound words for him — ‘Who ya pitching?’” Mainieri laughed. “Then I put, ‘P.S. I love you, I’m proud of you and I’m happy for you ... But remember, I taught you everything you know — but not everything I know.’”

Apparently, O’Connor took in everything he learned from Mainieri, as he boasts the type of balance Mainieri loves in a ballclub — speed, power and pitching.

The Cavaliers (48-13-1) are ranked No. 5 in the nation in hits (728), No. 6 in triples (27), No. 13 in stolen bases (116) and boast a team batting average of .327.

However, those stolen bases don’t worry LSU’s pitchers.

Freshman closer Matty Ott said the Tigers can’t fear their opponents.

“Sometimes, they have to fear us,” Ott said. “You have to have the same mindset no matter who you are playing.”

Virginia’s pitching staff isn’t too shabby either, as it’s ranked among the nation’s elite as No. 3 in the nation with a 3.14 ERA and No. 2 with 7.75 hits allowed per nine innings.

The Cavaliers probable first game starter, freshman southpaw Danny Hultzen (9-1), is tops on the team among regular starters with a 2.09 ERA, 86 innings pitched and 95 strikeouts.
The adage this season says LSU can’t hit left-handed pitching, which is why opponents have started 30 lefties against the Tigers, compared to 20 last season.

While the saying is somewhat true — LSU is batting .299 against southpaws with a 17-13 record and .325 against righties with a 35-14 record — the Tigers went 3-for-4 against Rice’s best southpaw, freshman Taylor Wall, in Friday night’s 12-9 victory against Rice.

LSU sophomore catcher Micah Gibbs said that outing against Wall was a confidence boost, as he is tired of hearing the naysayers talk about LSU’s lack of production against left-handed pitching.

“It gives us an edge where we want to shut up the critics,” the Pflugerville, Texas, native said. “But at the same time, we have faced them all year, so we have been practicing.”

The Tigers do have one major advantage against Virginia — the “been there, done that” factor. This is the first trip to Omaha for the Cavaliers, while LSU was there last year and 13 times before that.

“Last year, we were just happy to be there,” said LSU sophomore second baseman DJ LeMahieu. “This year, we have the experience that will help us a lot.”


 

Mainieri, O'Connor have long history
By Glenn Guilbeau
gguilbeau@gannett.com

BATON ROUGE — Air Force baseball coach Paul Mainieri went to Omaha, Neb., in 1991 to see his old buddy Jim Hendry coach Creighton in the hometown school's first appearance in the College World Series.

While visiting his past via Hendry, one of his coaching mentors who helped him get his start, Mainieri caught a glimpse of his future.

Hendry, now the general manager of the Chicago Cubs, coached Mainieri in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 1978 and was the head coach at Mainieri's alma mater Columbus High School in Miami in the early 1980s with Mainieri as his assistant.

Before Mainieri watched Hendry and Creighton's game on Saturday, June 1, he took in the Friday night game that featured his former school, which was coached by a friend of his dad, Demie Mainieri, a vastly successful coach at Miami-Dade North Community College who won his 1,000th game the summer before.

LSU, where Mainieri played outfield in 1976, and coach Skip Bertman, who as a high school coach in Miami in the 1970s would feed players to the elder Mainieri, defeated Florida 8-1 that Friday night. LSU and Bertman would go on to win their first of five national championships a week later.

Fifteen years later, Bertman, who graduated from the dugout to athletic director in 2001, would hire Mainieri from Notre Dame to be his baseball coach.

"Jim Hendry and my dad are the reasons I'm in coaching," Mainieri said this week. "And Skip Bertman is the reason I'm at LSU. Skip and my dad were friends. I remember when I was in ninth grade (in 1971), Skip and his family came over to eat dinner at our house, and he worked with me on my hitting in the backyard."

The next day, Mainieri went back to Rosenblatt and saw Creighton defeat Clemson 8-4.

In addition to Hendry in the Creighton dugout that night was a relief pitcher whom Mainieri did not know at all and would not meet for another four years. But he would become one of Mainieri's closest friends and his pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame from 1995-2003.

This Saturday, that man, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor, will be in the opposing dugout when the third-seeded Tigers (51-16) play the Cavaliers (48-13-1) in the College World Series.

"The whole thing is so intertwined," O'Connor said this week. "Jim Hendry is the reason I'm in coaching. Paul Mainieri has been my mentor as a coach and is my best friend in the business. It just so happens that Paul and Jim are best friends, too."

Mainieri returned to Colorado Springs, Colo., where he would coach Air Force for three more seasons. That Monday night on television, Mainieri watched Hendry and O'Connor and the rest of the Bluejays play what was known then as one of the greatest college baseball games ever played. Wichita State beat Creighton won 3-2 in 12 innings in front of 18,206, which at the time was the largest CWS crowd in history.

O'Connor was the losing pitcher in relief.

"That was my only appearance in the College World Series," said O'Connor, who was born in Omaha and grew up across the Missouri River a few minutes away in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Until Saturday.

"I was the losing pitcher in what people called the greatest game in College World Series history at that time," O'Connor said. "It was a winner's bracket game, so we could've won the national championship. Of course, LSU may have had something to say about that."

Creighton was eliminated two games later by Wichita State, and LSU defeated Wichita State 6-3 in the championship game. Hendry was named national coach of the year and went on to become a special assistant with the Florida Marlins before joining the Cubs in 2002. O'Connor pitched for two more years at Creighton, finishing in 1993 with a 20-13 record, seven saves and 3.78 ERA. After a brief pro career and a coaching stint at Creighton, O'Connor got a call shortly after the 1994 season from a guy he'd never met in his life.

It was Paul Mainieri, who had just left Air Force to become Notre Dame's coach and who had just called Hendry for advice on hiring a young coach on the cheap. Hendry recommended the 23-year-old O'Connor. O'Connor drove from Omaha to South Bend, Ind., to meet Mainieri for dinner.

"Five minutes into the conversation, I knew he was the right guy," Mainieri said. "I knew he had been schooled by Jim like me. He talked like Jim. He acted like Jim. I thought it was a match made in heaven."

O'Connor took the job for $25,000 a year. He helped Mainieri sign future first rounders Brad Lidge and Aaron Heilman in 1998 and 2001. In 2002, Notre Dame reached its first CWS since 1957.

"I've got mixed emotions about this game," said O'Connor, who left Notre Dame for Virginia in 2004 and has the Cavaliers in their first CWS appearance in history. "What I've learned as a coach is from Paul Mainieri, and I think he's the best in the business."

LSU fans should know, though, that Mainieri did not teach O'Connor everything.

"I taught him everything he knows," Mainieri said with a chuckle, "but not everything I know."