NIL
Bulldogs poach Brian O’Connor from UVA
Mississippi State has finalized a blockbuster hire to replace fired baseball coach Chris Lemonis. Shortly after the Bulldogs were eliminated from the Tallahassee Regional at the hands of Florida State on Sunday, the program announced that it is hiring Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. The winningest coach in the history of the Cavaliers program, O’Connor has […]

Mississippi State has finalized a blockbuster hire to replace fired baseball coach Chris Lemonis.
Shortly after the Bulldogs were eliminated from the Tallahassee Regional at the hands of Florida State on Sunday, the program announced that it is hiring Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. The winningest coach in the history of the Cavaliers program, O’Connor has been the head man in Charlottesville since 2004.
O’Connor took over a program that had never won a regional in its history and took Virginia to seven College World Series, winning the national championship in 2015 after finishing as the national runner-up the prior season. The Cavaliers reached the College World Series in each of the last two seasons under O’Connor but missed the postseason entirely in 2025 for the first time since 2019 after finishing with a 32-18 record.
“Mississippi State represents everything I love about college baseball — tradition, passion and a relentless pursuit of excellence,” O’Connor said in a release. “I’ve coached against this program and followed it closely for years. The atmosphere at Dudy Noble Field is nationally recognized as the best in the sport. I’m incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity to lead a program with this kind of legacy and fan base. Mississippi State has set the standard in college baseball, and I can’t wait to get to work, build relationships and compete for championships in Starkville.”
Mississippi State is set to formally introduce O’Connor with a press conference at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, the Bulldogs are set to make him one of the SEC’s highest-paid coaches with a competitive NIL budget.
He replaces Lemonis, who coached in Starkville for seven seasons and found immediate success after coming in from Indiana. MSU reached the College World Series in his first campaign in 2019, and after the 2020 season was canceled, the Bulldogs won the national championship under his guidance in 2021.
However, things deteriorated quickly after that campaign. Mississippi State missed the tournament in 2022 and 2023 while finishing 9-21 in SEC play both seasons, and it was eliminated in the Charlottesville Regional final last season. Lemonis was fired on April 28 after a 25-19 start to the 2025 season.
The Bulldogs are one of the top brands in college baseball and have reached the College World Series 12 times in their history. With a splashy hire of one of the most successful coaches of the last two decades, the program will look to return to competing at a national level.
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