For Virginia baseball coach Brian O'Connor, all roads have led to Omaha

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ??As a child, Brian O'Connor could look out the window as the family car rolled up I-29 through the Missouri countryside, back into Iowa, and see the signs telling him he was heading toward Omaha, Neb.

His entire life, all roads have led to Omaha.

He was born there, grew up across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and played college baseball for hometown Creighton. This weekend, his Virginia Cavaliers are back in Omaha for their second College World Series, where they will open against California on Sunday at 2 p.m.

In the late 1970s and early ?80s, O?Connor?s father, John, would take his three boys on the three-hour drive down to Kansas City where they watched the Royals in their heyday.

?I grew up a Royals fan,? O'Connor said, his face lighting up in a smile as he stood along the third baseline at Virginia?s Davenport Field, not far from where the Cavaliers dogpiled in celebration a few days earlier.

?My dad took us to Kansas City all the time for games. We watched players like George Brett and those clubs that they had, but at that age I never thought I?d be in the position that I am.?

Maybe it was done subconsciously then, but three decades later O?Connor, who turned 40 in April, is the head coach of a Virginia Cavaliers program that?s become one of the best in the nation. It?s a ballclub not unlike the Royals of his youth, a team built for a home park with a deep fence and spacious power alleys.

The Cavaliers (54-10) don?t hit many home runs ??24 this season ??but boast a staff of gutty, cerebral pitchers and the lineup sprays timely hits all across the outfield.

And wouldn?t Brett have been impressed Monday when Virginia used three singles up the middle in the bottom of the ninth Monday to beat UC Irvine and advance to the CWS?

As O'Connor got older, the College World Series became a bigger part of his makeup. He?d cross the bridge into Omaha and buy a seat at Rosenblatt Stadium. Cliff Gustafson?s Texas Longhorn teams played in the CWS 12 times between 1972 and 1989 and O'Connor was in the stands, taking mental notes.

?I really admired the Texas program,? he said. ?At that time they were the model of consistency. In putting our plan together to have success at Virginia, you look at programs like that.?

BOARDROOM OR FILM ROOM

Even after pulling off his blue baseball cap, O'Connor hardly ever has his salt or pepper hair out of place. When he was studying marketing and business at Creighton, people thought maybe he?d become an executive at Berkshire Hathaway and today even in a baseball uniform he looks and sounds the part.

?Brian never came to me and said he was going to be a coach,? Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. ?But I can tell you one thing, after a short period of time in the dugout it was clear he was going to be really good at something down the road. He was, to me, the can?t-miss kid.?

Hendry will be in Omaha this weekend not only to watch his friend and prot?g? go for a national championship, but also to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Creighton?s only CWS team. Hendry was the Bluejays? coach, O'Connor the closer.

Story Continues ?

View Entire Story

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sports-TheWashingtonTimesAmericasNewspaper/~3/u_G9mOi6m3U/

hawaii five o direct tv somaya reece weather san diego teresa giudice l.a. noire vector