Brian O'Connor: 500 Wins & 1 Great Coach

In his 11th season at the helm of UVa baseball, Coach O'Connor has already reached 500 victories. Unfortunately there is no massive stat database for college baseball, but he has to be one of the fastest to reach the milestone.

When Craig Littlepage hired Oak in the summer of 2003, do you think he thought he would have one of the greatest baseball coaches in the country? Sure. But I don't even think he expected the meteoric rise that Coach O'Connor has lead the program on since then.

If the season ended today, the Virginia Cavalier program would have averaged 45 wins over Oak's tenure. With at least ten more games still to play this season, it's likely that number will rise even further. To put that in perspective, most programs dream of 45 win seasons. 45 wins in a season almost assures a team of hosting a regional. It probably even puts them in national seed conversations. This program has AVERAGED it over the last 11 years. Let that sink in.

Thanks to the baseball media guide (mainly SID Andy Fledderjohann), we do know that coming into the season UVa already had the most wins in the country since 2009. The Cavaliers are tied with Louisville and Cal Poly for 2nd most this season, so that ranking isn't likely to change this season.

Entering the season, Oak was 3rd among active coaches with highest winning percentage. Thanks to a stellar season from UVa, and a subpar season from the Tar Heels, (if my math is correct) Oak is now the active leader among coaches with a .746 winning percentage. Mike Fox is down to .743 and Mike Martin is up, but only to .744.

It also needs to be said that even though Coach O'Connor is the head coach, none of those victories could have been achieved without Coach Kuhn and McMullan. Those two are two of the best assistant coaches in college baseball, and Coach O'Connor would be the first to tell you that. Every season I expect one of them to get a head coaching opportunity, and every season I am relieved to find out that schools are too stupid to hire them.

As someone who was fortunate enough to be a part of the program for 133 of those 500 victories, I can tell you that UVa should count its blessings every night that they have this team of coaches. No matter what the price might be in the future, Coach Oak, Mac, and K's should get whatever they want. Keys to the Rotunda, I don't care. Make it happen.