U.Va. notes
By Staff Reports
Published: July 15, 2009

O'Connor staying put
Schools have tried but failed to lure baseball coach Brian O'Connor from Virginia. Expect to see him in Charlottesville for years to come.

"It's a great community," O'Connor, a native of Omaha, Neb., said in a recent interview. "My kids love their school. I think it's a wonderful place to raise a family. We've always been Midwest people, born and raised there, worked there. This is really our first time on the East Coast, and we love it. The people here in this community have just embraced our family and our assistant coaches' families."

O'Connor, 38, is 265-104-1 in six seasons at Virginia. Under O'Connor, the Cavaliers have advanced to the NCAA tournament every year.

Blessing in disguise
Despite winning the ACC tournament, U.Va. was not among the 16 schools selected to host regionals on the first weekend of the NCAA baseball tourney. O'Connor said he hasn't been told why the Cavaliers were spurned.

"Haven't at all, and haven't cared about it too much," he said. "I'd be interested to know why decisions are made, but it actually ended up being the best thing for us. Now, I'd still like to find out what goes into the decision, because you never know in the future. Had we not made Omaha, then we'd be looking at it and saying, 'How does this happen?' But for this team, it was the best thing that could have happened to us."

Virginia, which finished 49-15-1, won the regional in Irvine, Calif., and then a super regional at Ole Miss to reach the College World Series for the first time.

Live and learn
Virginia finished the season with 119 stolen bases, by far the most of any team in the ACC. But in the College World Series, baserunning blunders contributed to U.Va.'s season-ending loss to Arkansas.

O'Connor acknowledged recently that those mistakes bothered him. However, he added, "I don't look back and regret it. I look back at it and say, 'What a great teaching point.'

"Every year, we spend so much time fundamentally on teaching the guys baserunning and baserunning reads and decisions. Now, they're going to listen. They're going to see that at the most important time of the year, possibly in the history of the baseball program, we didn't do a read right that cost us an opportunity to go to the semifinals of the College World Series."

Moses headed to FUMA?
No official announcement has been made - and there may not be one - but signs continue to point toward a detour to Fork Union Military Academy for offensive tackle Morgan Moses, who signed with U.Va. in February.

A Parade All-American, Moses had a strong final semester academically at Meadowbrook High, but he's expected to enroll in FUMA's postgraduate program to further bolster his credentials.

The other players who signed with the Cavaliers in February are in summer school at U.Va.

Colley service set for Friday
A memorial service for Michael Colley will be held Friday at 3 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. Colley, an assistant director in U.Va.'s athletic media relations office, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack in Virginia Beach. He was 46.

Colley, born and raised in Charlottesville, graduated in 1985 from U.Va.'s McIntire School of Commerce. He had been a full-time employee at his alma mater since 1991 and worked primarily with football and men's lacrosse.

A beloved character in the athletic department, Colley was the chief statistician at U.Va. home games in football, men's lacrosse, men's basketball and women's basketball.

Sign of the times
U.Va. announced Friday that it had sold 30,140 season tickets for football. At a comparable point last year, Virginia had sold 35,274.

The poor economy has contributed to the decline in sales. So has fans' lagging interest in a program that has finished 5-7 twice in the past three years.

Whatever the cause, Virginia is "not unique compared to many schools around the country," Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said in a release last week. "That's why we're trying to be creative in these difficult economic times by offering ticket packages that provide fans the opportunity to see Virginia football." - Jeff White
 

Remembering Michael Colley
Jeff White
Jul 13, 2009

CROZET – My friend Myron Ripley called the house Friday night, checking in from his vacation in Virginia Beach. After a few minutes, Myron passed the phone to another friend, Michael Colley, who quizzed me on my career plans.

A little after noon Saturday, the phone rang again. It was Myron, with devastating news: Mike had collapsed during a walk that morning and died of an apparent heart attack.

And now one of my favorite people is gone, long before his time. Mike was only 46 years old. From all accounts, he’d been in good health and great spirits during his stay at the beach.

“I don’t understand this whole thing,” George Welsh said Sunday during a phone call in which he shared some memories of Mike. “I don’t understand what’s happening to these people who are so young.”

Neither do I, Coach, and it’s still hard to accept that Mike won’t be around for me to pester at Klockner or Scott Stadium or in his paper-strewn office at John Paul Jones Arena. I called his work number early this morning—not hoping against hope that he’d pick up, but just to get his answering machine and hear that unmistakable voice again.

He delighted in playing the curmudgeon and could be cantankerous – tell Mike it was sunny outside, and he might argue that it was actually raining – but any hard feelings never lasted. Without characters, this would be a dull world, and Mike was a true character.

I knew him only casually before I took over the U.Va. beat at The Times-Dispatch in the summer of 2000. Given that his main responsibilities in the athletic media relations office were football and men’s lacrosse, though, Mike quickly took on a prominent role in my professional life, and we became friends as well.

We were about the same age, and we shared several interests—Springsteen and the Redskins among them—and a love for Charlottesville. He worked home games in men’s basketball, too, as the statistician, so during the school year it wasn’t uncommon for me to talk to Mike in phone or in person – or both – nearly every day.

A long football season can be a grind for those who work with or are part of the media, especially if the team is struggling on the field. When the losses start to mount, most players lose interest in being interviewed, and coaches can get testy, too.

When I saw that Mike was stressed out, I’d always ask him, “Is it lax season yet?” And some years he’d respond by telling me exactly how many days remained until lacrosse practice started.

Mike loved the Orioles, but his favorite team was probably Dom Starsia’s. Mike enjoyed his interactions with U.Va. lacrosse players, and he was fiercely loyal to Starsia, who treated him with the utmost respect. Starsia spoke Sunday about his relationship with Mike.

“He’s one of those guys who’s been a friend of the program and a friend of mine as long as I’ve been here,” said Starsia, whom U.Va. hired after the 1992 season.

“He was someone you could depend on, and personally, too, I always felt like he was out protecting us. He always had the best interests of the lacrosse program in mind and at heart, and he was always one of those guys that was taking care of us quietly in the background.

“We’re going to miss him tremendously. I’m not quite sure how you replace guys like Mike Colley.”

In the end, of course, you can’t. And those who knew him, and U.Va. athletics as a whole, are poorer for Mike’s passing. Rest in peace, my friend.