Ty Grisham, John’s son, grew up going with his famous dad to the old Dudy Noble Field, sitting in the Left Field Lounge, gorging himself, he says, on “barbecue, crawfish and college baseball.”
“I thought that was the way college baseball everywhere,” Ty Grisham says.
Years later, Ty Grisham played baseball for Brian O’Connor, the new Mississippi State baseball coach, during O’Connor’s first two seasons at Virginia. Ty Grisham, who graduated from law school at Ole Miss, still lives and works as a lawyer in Charlottesville. So, yes, he seemed the perfect guy to talk to about State’s new baseball coach.
“Brian’s a first-class individual, savvy, intelligent, extremely thoughtful,” Ty Grisham said in a phone conversation Tuesday morning. “I live in Charlottesville, love college baseball and pull for Virginia, so I really, really hate to see him leave. It’s a tough loss for us, but at the same time it’s a home run hire for State.”
In this case, the numbers — and O’Connor’s resume — do not lie. In 22 years with O’Connor at the helm, Virginia has made the NCAA Tournament 18 times, won nine NCAA Regionals, played in seven College World Series, and won a national championship (2015). O’Connor’s overall record: 917-388-2, a winning percentage of better than 70%. Little wonder, at age 54, he already has been inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
“He’s just an incredible baseball coach,” Ty Grisham says. “He’s top five in the country if he’s not No. 1.”
Ty Grisham, an outfielder, was inherited, not recruited, by O’Connor. Dennis Womack, O’Connor’s predecessor, recruited the younger Grisham to Virginia from St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, where Grisham was a standout baseball and football player. Womack had a losing record over 23 seasons at Virginia. Things changed quickly under O’Connor, who had been an assistant under Paul Mainieri at Notre Dame.
“Things changed quickly. There was instantly an expectation to win,” Ty Grisham says. “You could just feel things shifting in the locker room. Brian was a gifted motivator. He was very thoughtful, but he was all about making us tougher and more competitive. I well remember the early morning wind sprints.”
That was 2003. O’Connor was 32. Ty Grisham was 19. Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and Georgia Tech were the teams to beat in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia was a middle-of-the-pack ACC team. That changed abruptly. In 2004, O’Connor’s first season, the Cavs won 44, lost 15, finished 18-6 in the ACC and hosted an NCAA Regional.
“He was definitely a players’ coach,” Ty Grisham says. “I would describe him as savvy, extremely intelligent, just very impressive all around. You don’t get a ton of coachspeak from him. He’s genuine and thoughtful in everything he says.”
I will echo that last part about “thoughtful.” O’Connor brought his 2009 Virginia team to Oxford for a memorable Super Regional. Ole Miss won game one 4-3 in 12 innings. Virginia won by the same score in a second game nail-biter and then clinched the series 5-1 the next day. I approached O’Connor after a press conference for one more question that turned into a 15-minute give-and-take. A week later after a College World Series press conference, he was every bit as engaging and interesting. Put it this way: I have not been surprised by his success in the decade and a half since.
Ty Grisham says he doesn’t know why O’Connor chose to leave Charlottesville for Starkville.
“I can’t speculate,” Grisham said. “He was here 22 years. He’s a legend. I would guess maybe he just wanted a new challenge. The facilities at UVA are good, but not the Mecca you have at Starkville. I don’t know… We haven’t talked since the change.”
So I asked Ty Grisham how he thinks O’Connor will fare in this new age of NIL and the transfer portal. After two consecutive CWS appearances in 2023 and 2024, Virginia faltered to 32-18 (16-11 in the ACC) this past season, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
“Brian was really, really good at finding transfer guys well before NIL and transfer portal opened up,” Grisham said. “He was gifted at evaluating talent, spotting lower level guys who came to UVA and contributed. I will be shocked if he doesn’t win big at State.”
