The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Brian O'Connor Joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller Live On "The Jerry & Jerry Show!"

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

Head UVA Baseball Coach Brian O’Connor joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller live on “The Jerry & Jerry Show!” “The Jerry & Jerry Show” airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to “The Jerry & Jerry Show” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. Fantastic to connect with you wherever you get your content. We're live on every social media platform known to mankind, every podcasting platform known to mankind, long-form content without commercial break, where we encourage you, the viewer and listener, to join us with the discussion. On this particular Tuesday morning, grab your cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy a guest that needs no introduction. Brian O'Connor is in the house, in the studio, the skipper for the UVA men's baseball team, a Hall of Famer, a national champion, and a man that is one

of the best in the country at what he does. Judah Wickhauer is the man behind the camera. We always give props to team members, and he is the glue guy, the Elmers of this team here, the director and producer, Mr. Consistency, Mr. MVP, as Hootie Ratcliffe has dubbed him. If we can go to the studio camera and welcome the gentleman to the show, Hootie Ratcliffe, a hell of a guest you have scored this Tuesday morning. Well, it's our pleasure to do so and somebody I've admired ever since he stepped foot in town and his reputation preceded him and gotten to know him really well over the years and gotten to know some of the people that were responsible for helping him get here, like Paul Manieri, Hall of Famer.

I know a guy that you look up to with a lot of admiration. But, I mean, Brian O'Connor is one of the best things that's ever happened to Charlottesville, in my opinion. And we're just so pleased to have him on set this morning. Brian, thanks for coming thanks jerry i really appreciate the opportunity we've known each other for over 20 years and just appreciate all those opportunities of you covering our program and virginia athletics and when you reached out last week about doing this i wouldn't have missed it. It's really special, and I appreciate you inviting me and being here. Also, with the other legendary Jerry here.

It's awesome. Excited to be here. Excited to talk. Virginia baseball, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, everything. I love the show. My wife and I have frequented tuning into it, and so it's great being here on set. Thanks. It's our pleasure.

20 years and counting, Hootie Ratcliffe. You and I were sitting next to each other in the newsroom at the Daily Progress when we get a message from the Virginia Sports Information Office that a press conference would be had at the Baseball Diamond at the University of Virginia, and a young buck, a 32-year-old Brian O'Connor, was in the house, and was going to be named the head baseball coach at UVA. My friend, I'll let you take it from there. At this point of the day, you assign me to drive to the diamond to cover this presser. Hootie. That's true. I think I was tied up in meetings all day and I couldn't get away.

And so I entrusted you to bring home the scoop and you did a great job with it. The rest is history. The rest is history. What do you remember of your first day in the job, Coach O'Connor, and that press conference that still is vivid in my memory. Well, what I remember is standing there at the baseball stadium talking about what I felt and was passionate about that could be done in the baseball program at the University of Virginia and looking out over that beautiful stadium that was just a year old and what the potential was in this baseball program at this great university. And, you know, Jerry, anytime you combine elite-level academics, which we have here at the university, great high school baseball in the state,

an outstanding conference for baseball, and a fan base that is hungry for success, you put those things together, and I believe you have an opportunity to have an elite-level baseball program. Now, I will tell you it does help when you inherit a team that has major leaguers like Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds and Joe Koshansky. You know, you walk in with a roster like that, immediately you have a chance to be successful. So I just, you know, I was a 32-year-old, never been head coach.

I'm forever grateful to Craig Littlepage for taking a chance on somebody that had not been a head coach. And was just really excited about getting started and developing a winning program. Yeah, we had Craig sitting in your seat a few weeks ago here, and he was telling stories about initiating contact with you and how – I don't think it was – was it Coach Muniri that called him back and said, hire him? No, Coach, that's exactly right.

Coach Muniri, because I kind of pushed Mr. Littlepage on this. I said, give us the dynamics. And then Craig goes, Coach Muniri said, no, you don't understand, Craig. You're going to hire this guy. Hire this guy. And then Brian O'Connor comes over here. Memory serves the pitching coach, right? And then you come with no head coaching experience, and you take over a program.

And these are my words here. You take over a program that had seen some better days, and you huff young life into it, new life into it. You obviously had Zimmerman and Koshansky. Koshansky is, I believe, a project manager with Craig Builders in town. Mark Reynolds, of course, and Zimmerman had fantastic Major League Baseball careers. But, Coach, you brought a level of League Baseball careers. But coach, you brought a level of excitement to the program out of the gates. Put that transitionary period into

perspective. What was keeping you up at night and what was exciting you in that period? Well, what was exciting me initially was just instilling the standards of what I believe that it takes to have an elite level baseball program, and then holding the players to that standard every day. That was exciting. You could see the look on the players' eyes of, this is what it takes. This is the commitment that it takes every day. This is how you have to think to be a successful player and have a successful team.

And then to see that come to fruition in year one, that we played great out of conference before we started conference play, went down to Georgia Tech the opening weekend of the ACC and swept them at Georgia Tech. And that had never been done in our program's history, and then followed that up with sweeping Clemson at home the second weekend of the ACC, and off to an unbelievable start. So when you instill something in a program and standards and expectations of what it takes for them to go about their business every day, and then the players actually realize it and it translates to wins on the field, then you've got them, right? It sticks. And then you have a chance to build on that for

consistency from year to year. Because what happens is then the players pass it on to the next group of players. You know, when they're in a fall practice and it's kind of mundane and challenging, they remind the new players, this is how we do it here. And then it just starts to roll and then you get recruiting classes coming in. Hey, listen, our first recruiting class at Virginia that we were selling of what was going to happen in this program ended out being a number of guys that

played in the major leagues. Sean Doolittle, Brandon Guyer, Michael Schwimmer, other guys were in that first initial recruiting class. You know, I'll never forget my first recruiting trip as the coach at Virginia. I went to the Commonwealth Games, an annual event that showcases the best players in the state of Virginia. And I'll never forget having a conversation with John Grisham when I was down there, and we were talking about something with regards to the program. I said, John, I just saw this phenomenal player that I want to get in our uniform. And he says, oh, yeah, who is it?

I said, it's this outfielder by the name of Brandon Guyer. And boom, he was one of our first recruits that we got and guys like that helped change our program to put it at an elite level brandon went on with everyday player force for three years and played parts of six to eight years in the major leagues. And he is now actually, Brandon's now actually our mental performance coach on our staff. So, you know, it's just, it takes a lot, you know, and it's just to see that to come to fruition. You know, what keeps you up at night, Jerry, is like, you know, are you going to have enough pitching? Do you have enough to really do it? And everything that you're putting into it every day, I believed it was going to translate into a championship team, but you just don't know for sure. But I'll tell you, when you look across a young man and you

share with them every day of this is what it takes. This is the commitment it takes. This is how you do it. And you see their eyes light up and nod and say, yes, sir, you know that it's got a chance to all come together. I got goosebumps over here. He's got his fans giving him some props right now. John Blair and Stanton. Coach O'Connor is the finest representative of UVA today,

just a class act all around. This is from Stephanie Wells Rhodes. Stephanie and her husband, Larry, are Little League coaches at Monticello Little League in town. This is the best baseball coach ever, Brian O'Connor. We are so blessed at the University of Virginia to have him as one of our awesome coaches. Logan Wells, Clay Lowe, hello. Welcome to the broadcast. TV station down the road watching the show. Paper and Richmond watching the program right now. Thank you guys for. Welcome to the broadcast. TV station down the road watching the show. Paper and Richmond watching the program right now. Thank you guys for joining us on the broadcast. Talk to us about the transitionary period with infrastructure, the stadium, the fan base, coaching staff.

Just give us that flip book as you built the program. Yeah, boy, that's been incredibly rewarding, Jerry. And, you know, that happens, you know, our stadium over 20 years, as great as it was when I first came here 21 years ago, and it was a monumental decision for the university to make 22 years ago to build that facility. And there were a lot of people that were influential in that happening that said i'm proud of our university our athletic department that every step of the way as we've continued to build this and get more of a fan following and have success and make trips to omaha the university has decided we need to do more. We need to add more seating, right?

We need to make the seating amenities better for the fans. We need to add some things for the players. So that facility that we have, Dishroom Park, Davenport Field, has continued to grow. Something's been done up there every year to enhance the experience for the fans and the players. And that is incredibly rewarding. How does it happen? It happens from committed donors and the university committed. But it starts with our fan following, right?

Nobody's interested in adding seats if nobody's in the stadium, right? But our success from attendance have grown and grown over those 20 years. And so we've needed to do more. And the fans and their support of our baseball program is the background, you know, backbone of the success that we have in our program. Because great talented players across this country, they don't want to go to a place where they're not playing in front of anybody. And to be in the top 10 in attendance almost every year the last decade is impressive and is a testament to what these people in this community have done and rallying around our baseball program and the young men that wear our uniform. So it's been incredible, you know, to see our coaching staff grow

and the facility grow and the amenities grow, commensurate with the level of success on the field. That's what I think is important. Yeah, and you mentioned that attendance. Most of those other schools are SEC schools where, you know, baseball is part of growing up but uh it's amazing that you guys are ranked in the top 10 almost every year and i i think a lot of that goes back to you and just getting into the grassroots of this community i know you've flipped pancakes at breakfasts for various clubs around here.

You go to Little League events. It's amazing how you've reached out to the community and made them feel important and part of your program. And I think that's a tribute to your hard work. Well, thanks, Sherry. I appreciate it. It's a lot of hard work from a lot of people. There's a lot that goes into it. It's not just one individual, but I believe in the saying, Jerry, it takes what it

takes. If you want to be successful in whatever it is, you can't leave it to somebody else. It takes the extra hours. It takes driving through the night to new jersey to get this impactful recruit that is going to make a difference in your program it takes going into the nursing home in charlottesville and visiting with fans and you know uplifting their spirit it takes flipping the pancakes it takes you know doing everything you can to get youth into your ballpark for free, you know, that has been a big boost to our attendance. And so I look at, you know, being a baseball coach or any coach that there's so many tentacles of it for it to be successful. It's not just practice today, right? It's not just recruiting. It's not just marketing your program

and having relationships in the community. It's all of it for it to be successful. And if you decide not to do one part of it, you have a chance for it not to be successful. And so it takes what it takes, whatever it is. And I use that saying with the players all the time. You know, whether it's 35 degrees and you have to go out and win the game, or it's 95, right? No matter, it's still a win or a loss. And whatever the situation is, you know, and I believe the players have learned this in our program,

that it takes whatever it takes to be successful. Questions are coming in. We'll highlight some of the props you're getting here. Olivia Branch says, go Hoos. Phillip Dow in Scottsville has given you some props. Olivia, of course, is watching in Keswick. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Renee Pettiford is watching on Hootie Rackliff's Facebook page.

Hootie, your Twitter account is going viral right now with viewers and listeners here. Twitter, jump in with Coach O'Connor and offer him some perspective. I'll throw the better half into the mix. And Lauren is my partner, my better half, my wife. And she's often, she has the heavy lift of watching our two boys and raising our two boys. And as a stay-at-home mom, she has the challenging personalities of a six-year-old

and an 18-month-old that every single day can be very different. And I get to come to work and do a job that I created and love doing. And I look forward to Mondays a lot of times. And that's not that I don't love my family, but I just love coming to work. Make your passion your profession. You don't work a day in your life. Same thing that you've done here. I'd like to give an opportunity early in the interview

to highlight your partner, your wife, your better half, because for every successful business person, baseball coach, there's a partner that is the foundation for this. Well, Jerry, thank you for bringing that up and bringing Cindy into this interview. You're exactly right. It doesn't matter what you do. You know, the wife, the husband, the partner that you choose, I believe is critically important to being successful in whatever it is, right? I'm so fortunate that many years ago, Cindy and I had a conversation and that was, I want to coach. This is my passion, but we need to understand what that looks like, right? There's going to be a lot of days away from home. You know, there's going to

be things that I'm going to miss out on, right? To be, to be successful and to have somebody by your side that says, I'm in, you know, if that's what it takes, we're going to do it and we're going to figure it out, and has remained consistent and loyal to that approach throughout my coaching career, couldn't do it without her. You know, for example, my son is a high school baseball player. He's a junior at the Miller School and plays for Billy Wagner over there. And this week is the first time I've had a chance to see his high school team play, right? I mean, the whole season, I'm going to have an opportunity to see only two of his games.

When you're a coach and you're in this profession, there's sacrifices that are made. Yes, do we have three children? We do. But I also have 38 in a clubhouse at the stadium. And that's how we have always chosen to approach this job and this lifestyle is, sure, the three at home, well, only one's at home anymore, but the three of our children are always going to be first and foremost, but I also have 38 young men that I'm in charge of. I'm responsible for their development as men that their parents have entrusted them to me for a three or four year period, and I take that very, very seriously. So no question, whatever it is we do, that partner at home is vital to understanding the relationship, understanding the job, and understanding what it takes to, you know, not only be successful, but to be happy, like you said. And, you know, I couldn't be where I'm at without her. And, you know, I can go home and bounce ideas off of her and thoughts with her. And, you know, one thing I have learned, guys, is that this took me some time. You know, it took me 10 or so years

of being the head coach here to understand this, that when you go home and you pull in that garage or pull in your driveway and put that car in park, you need to leave it in that car. I struggle with that. I did for a long time. And I still do. I'm still challenged with it. You turn it off? Yeah. When you turn that ignition off, like, try the best you can to leave it there.

Because guess what? You're a 6-year-old, 18-month-old, or when my kids were young, they really don't, in the end, they really don't care whether we won or lost. Right? They just want their dad. Yeah. Right? And I think it's a challenging thing that we're all challenged with with young families that we have to learn that, okay, I need

to be present when I'm there because I'm not present that often. But when I'm there, I need to be there. And, you know, there was a period of time that we went through some tough times because of that, right? But eventually I was able to understand. Now I'm still going to take a recruiting call at nine o'clock that I have to take and things like that. But when we're at the dinner table or, you know, we're discussing homework or whatever, I need to be present. And it took me a long time to figure that out. So advice I would give to young professionals out there or young coaches is do the best you can. When you turn that ignition off, leave it in the car.

There you go. I've got a follow-up for him on this. Sure. No, you're good. This is a question. This is not even really tied to baseball. This is a dad question here. Our 6-year-old is showing some, you know, he loves sports.

Dad loves sports. How, as a dad, do you not push it where it's like, you know, let me show you how to, you know, keep your elbow up, or this is how you swing a racket, or this is your stance for golf, or this is how you want to throw a football. This is how you kick a soccer ball. I'm so type A and like almost OCD pursuing perfection that it can be a biggest strength, but also the biggest weakness at the same time, where I just know I need to have fun and just make it about fun. It's six years old, right? But at the same time, winning is fun. Doing things the right way is fun. You know, hitting a golf ball or a ball anyway is fun when you do it the right way. You see where I'm going

with this? Yeah, I see where you're going with it. It's a challenging balance, Jerry, because the fundamentals are important because as he progresses year after year, you want to make sure that, whether it's the golf swing or the batter's stance or how to shoot a basketball, whatever it is, I think it can be done fundamentally the right way with having fun with them, right? And so it's a challenging balance. I'm the same way that, hey, if we're going to do something, we're going to do it right,

okay? But we're all challenged with what is the right age for that, right? And I don't have the answer on that. I think it's their willingness and their aptitude to, depending on where they're at at that time and that age, but we can still get those fundamentals and the right way to do it as part of still having fun with it. We can teach our young people how to shoot a basketball in the driveway with the hoop, you know, how to technically do it the right way with making it fun as well. So, you know, I was certainly challenged with that when my kids were younger. You know, hey, my son and I had a

conversation late last night about, you know about his pitching mechanics and some adjustments that he needs to make. And so it never stops, right, with your children. And that's part of the fun is trying to figure out, okay, how do I get this across with still them enjoying it. And listen, I wish I had the answer to it, but doing it the right way is important, right? Winning is important. How we handle when we don't win might even be more important, right, than actually winning the game. That's a great answer.

I totally agree with that. I don't know how many times over the years I've talked to your players, and this goes all the way back to the beginning through last year, when we've talked to so many of them and they said that their dads or their granddads or their moms or whoever brought them to Virginia games as a kid. I want to salute you for the program. I don't know if you came up with it a year or two ago, but letting kids in free to Disharoon Park to watch you guys play.

I mean, can you imagine how many kids you've influenced? A lot of them wore the Virginia uniform or went on to wear the Virginia uniform. I imagine Henry Ford was one of those guys on this current team. Corey Hunt. Corey Hunt, yeah. Monticello shortstop. Yep.

How important is that as part of the fabric of this community and your baseball program just for building toward the future? Yeah, Jerry, I think it's really important. Certainly it's important for our baseball program to have success, right, because you want as many people in the stadium. And so that part of it's important. And I am proud that we decided a couple of years ago to let everyone that's 18 and under

into our stadium for free. One, it boosts our attendance. But two, you want young people growing up and having heroes, right? And having the right heroes, right? And I think our players are young men that young baseball players, young kids in this town should try to emulate, right? Because I do believe they carry themselves the right way. I do believe they represent the university the right way. So having young people come out is, you know, now they grow up, they see it the right way. So having young people come out is, you know, now they grow up, they see it the right way. They see the game being played the right way. On every Sunday in our season,

they get to come on the field after the game, win or lose, and our players get to interact with them and sign autographs and have conversations. Yes, does it then translate sometimes into a Henry Ford? It does, right? That's pretty rare, but then it does. You have a young man that grew up going to Virginia baseball games and watching Ryan Zimmerman play and other great players play. And then if they're good enough, then it comes to decision-making time. They say, I want to do that. And what an honor to be able to do it in the hometown where I grew up in. That's happened a couple of times.

It's pretty rare. And oh, by the way, Henry Ford is, I mean, what a year that he's had. Oh my gosh. Incredible. But really at its core, it's done to help young people and give our families in this town a chance to come out and have great family entertainment for relatively inexpensive. I love when we started that initiative, and I just think it's been a real difference maker in a lot of areas, right? And we are at its core responsible, I mean we, all of us, for the young people growing up and doing things the right way to ultimately when they get to be adults, make positive contributions to society. And if we can give them a platform, a place that they can go and have fun and see things done the right way, it's a win. Questions are coming in.

Let's take questions about this specific team. This is a good one for right down the road in my stopping grounds, Williamsburg. Is this Coach O'Connor's best offensive team ever? And would he compare it to another offensive team of significance? Yeah, that's a great question. I've been asked that. It's a very, very special offensive team because it's got depth throughout the entire lineup. It's got an ability to score runs in different ways, the home run, the stolen base, move runners. Whatever it takes, this offensive team has the ability to do it. Last year's offensive team was incredibly special.

I think it's pretty similar to that. You know, certainly it's easy to look at the national championship team in 2015. That was a special group. Our 2014 team, where we lost in the title game, was a really, really special one as well. But I'll tell you, this one's right up there in that special group. Now, they've got to finish, Jerry, right? We've got two key weekends coming up in ACC play and then our postseason. But up until this point, it's been really special and reminds me a lot of last year's team.

Well, speaking of this year's team, 21-5 at the Dish. That's a pretty outstanding record and a chance to do some great things in the closing weekends. You got NC State coming in this weekend for a set, and then you close with Virginia Tech coming in. Both of those teams, as good as they are, they've struggled a little bit on the road. So there's a chance for you guys to make up some huge ground on the Tar Heels in your division. There is. You know, first tomorrow afternoon at 1 o'clock,

we've got our last non-conference game in George Washington and then move into NC State who has a really good club they beat Florida State last Thursday night at Florida State you know and so and they're playing very well and ranked in the top 25 this weekend y'all it happens to be a hero's weekend at ballpark. Military appreciation on Friday night. First responders on Saturday. And then Mother's Day on Sunday. It's a great weekend at the ballpark. But great team in NC State.

And then obviously the rival, Virginia Tech, on the final weekend. And so you're right. We're in a great position right now going into these last two weekends. Fortunate that they're both at home and to really make some headway in this league and put ourselves in a great position. You know, if we do really good things these last two weekends, now we talk about starting to have the potential to host the NCAA regional, maybe a super regional, which we were able to do both times last year and filled our stadium for all those games. So we need our, you know, Charlottesville,

we need this community to come out and support this team in its final seven home games in the regular season. And I imagine the dish is going to be a great atmosphere for that. And, you know, we're, our pitching has gotten healthier over the last couple of weeks, which I believe is going to be a really big boost for us going into this final stretch run. And I know the boys are ready for it. You know, we've been in final exams there. We've been practicing a little bit. They got their legs back underneath them and ready to go for this final push. We have to talk transfer portal and NIL. I mean, it's changing athletics across the board. Why don't we start open-ended.

Your thoughts on the portal, your thoughts on name, image, likeness, Coach O'Connor. Yeah, sure. You know, obviously both of them connected at the hip because they happened both times, NIL and the transfer portal. You know, there can be a lot of bad talk about it, right? And I got to tell you, as a coach, I'm all for it, okay? You know, it was the case in the sport of baseball that if a player wanted to go to another school, previously they'd have to sit out a year and things like that. And, and now somebody's immediately eligible. And, um, you know, if a young man decides that it's in his best interest, uh,

to take his talents and get his schooling at another institution, well then, you know, who am I to judge that? That's, that, that's, that's their choice. Right. And, um, you know, that am I to judge that? That's their choice, right? And, you know, that hasn't impacted our program much. We have been the benefit of the transfer portal pretty well. But specific to NIL for baseball, this is what I want everybody to understand, Jerry's, right, is that in the sport of baseball, we have 11.7 scholarships for 40 players. So our average scholarship in our baseball program is 40 percent, okay? And so with the adoption of NIL, if our players are able to receive it, it allows them to supplement the difference between

their scholarship and the cost of attendance. Okay, so now all of a sudden, if a player can pick up a little bit through NIL, now maybe his total package goes from 50% to 60 or 70%, right? We still do not, we don't have a player in our program that any kind of combination of any kind of resources that they're receiving, whether it be NIL or baseball scholarship, is more or anywhere close to the full cost of attendance. So actually something that everybody has been complaining about for 40 years in the sport of baseball. Why does baseball only have 11.7 scholarships for 40 players? NIL actually allows us now to compensate players better than they have been.

It's different than maybe in other sports where they're full scholarship sports and now it's an add-on to it. The stories we hear about athletes out there getting a million dollars, two million dollars, a condo and cars and things like that. Yeah, that's crazy. But that's less than 1% of the people out there. Our players being able to be compensated a little bit more just actually takes away a little bit of their debt of what they have to pay to go to the University of Virginia. Imagine a great player, an all-American player at the University of Virginia playing baseball that ends out being a first-round draft choice that's out of state is on here on a 50 scholarship that means he's him and his family are still having to fund 40 000 a year to go to school here well nil has now allowed it

that maybe that gap can close a little bit from the cost of attendance and what he used to be able to get. So I can tell you from our sport, I love it because it allows our players to kind of close the gap between what a full scholarship is and what previously they've been able to receive. How do we make it, and that's a fresh take, and I think that's a fantastic take. I like looking at it at the lens through 11.7 scholarships for 38 or 40 players. I think that's brilliant. How do we deepen the resources tied to NIL to help whittle that gap down even more for your student athletes? Yeah, well, I mean, it's certainly people in our community and, you know, donors and things like that, understanding the story of why it's important and why closing that gap between the cost of attendance and what their scholarship is, why it's important.

Listen, we don't always do things just because somebody else does it. In some conferences, there's a lot of NIL money being thrown around. And we're not saying that we would ever want to compete in those waters, right? But to have enough to be able to, as I call, close that gap, you know, is important. How we do it, you know, I'm not sure. I don't have all the answers for that, right? But I just think if a young man is worthy of, you know, whatever it might be in the NIL space, I'm hoping that we can do whatever we need to do to try to make that happen. Did I read the other day there's a proposal on the table or about to be put on the table

that would fully fund every position on the baseball field? Well, there was an article written, and there's some court stuff, legislation out there now that potentially would allow all 40 members of a baseball team to be on a full scholarship. That would be incredible. It would be. But what we have to remember is that even if that was allowed, who's funding it? Because what most people don't know is there's 300 Division I college baseball programs out there.

Over half of them don't even have 11.7 scholarships because their university decides not to fund it at the 11.7 rate. So even if the court did rule and say, well, every baseball player could be on a full scholarship, that would take $2 million more a year to fund. So, you know, all of it sounds great in theory, and I would be all for it, but, like, where's the money coming from, right? And so, like all of this stuff, it ends up coming down to that, you know?

And so, you know, it would be great because our players in our game deserve it, but it would need to be looked at to say, okay, now how does it happen? How would you characterize the state of college baseball right now? I mean, we're fortunate in that we have your program here in Charlottesville, so the level of excitement and engagement. I've been in this community for 24 years. I went to UVA here. It's at an all-time high, and I think that's a testament to you, knowing you. You're going to pass that praise around to the team, the athletes, the support staff, but frankly, this is a testament to you. How would you characterize baseball across the board here with minor league baseball becoming more of an option, with other sports competing for athletes, with screens.

I mean, I'm watching this Gen Z generation and younger, not even into sports as much as they were. When we were kids, my parents were like, you go outside, you come back at dinnertime, you have football, you have a basketball, you have a bike, you have a glove, you have a bat, you have clubs, you have a racket, go play sports, come back at dinner time, you have football, you have a basketball, you have a bike, you have a glove, you have a bat, you have clubs, you have a racket. Go play sports, come back at dinner time. Now they don't even want to do this. Yeah, well, you know, not only what the screen, you can watch every college baseball game on this screen.

So why go to the stadium, right? I don't believe our baseball program has been impacted on that, right? We're still getting a lot of people in great attendance. And we're about to break our attendance records again this year, right? So I don't believe watching games on this has impacted our program specifically. But I'll say, Jerry, college baseball is at an all-time high. The resources being poured into college baseball are the best it's ever been. They're the stadiums that are being built across this country, watching games on television and

seeing the crowds that were, hey, we played Wake Forest at home in the middle of March in Virginia, and we had 15,000 people there over the three-game series. It is exploding, and the investment in college baseball is as big as it's ever been. And why? Well, one, for the student athletes to have the best experience. Two, that you can actually turn a buck, right, if you have the right kind of program and the right facility. And also, two, what's great about baseball is when June rolls around,

we're the only sport in college athletics still playing. You think about it, the six times that we have made Omaha for the College World Series, we have played on ESPN for basically four straight weeks. The coverage that that gets. Incredible brand exposure for the University of Virginia. 100%. So it is, I believe, incredibly important to be good in baseball because the entire month of June, there's not another college sport being played. So it's the only thing college athletics has going on television.

That makes it incredibly important to be good in this sport. That's another great fresh take right there that I had not considered. That is a great take right there. Yeah. And that's that. I mean, we're going to use that as the foundation to further drive more resources behind the baseball program community. That's a great take right there. We're mindful of the gentleman's time here is a busy coach.

A couple of questions. And who do I know? You have a couple. I want to get some that the viewers and listeners, I promised that I would get to. Coaches that you admire outside the program, does not have to be tied to baseball, and coaches that you admire within the university athletic department. Well, that's a tough one because there's so many of them, Jerry. You think about the success this athletic department has had.

There's so many coaches that I look up to, you know, current coaches and former coaches. I think about, you know, when I was a young 32-year-old, never been head coach and was fortunate enough to be in this office in the MECU Center and right next to Dom Stargia, you know, our legendary lacrosse coach, you know, and to be able to pick his brain about, you know, how do you get things done around here and things like that.

You know, current coaches, you know, obviously Coach Bennett, the guy is a model of consistency, how he interacts with his young men, how he, you know, runs his program, who wouldn't want to emulate that as a coach. And, you know, listen, the wins and losses are going to happen, the championships happen. When the day is done, ultimately, I believe you are judged as a coach on how you treat young men and young women. How do they develop as people in your program? Because if you attract the right people and the right players, the wins are going to happen. But in the end, our responsibility is to prepare them for the rest of their life. And people like, you know, Coach Bennett and many others in our department, the job that they do is awesome. And I just admire it and

love watching it. You know, my mentor in this game is Paul Maneri, who has recently retired as the head coach at LSU, but he was my boss at Notre Dame, and I learned everything from him about how to run an elite-level, first-class baseball program and how to treat young men. And I'm forever indebted to him because I had the opportunity for nine years to sit in an office next to him and to see how hard he worked, how intentionally he was, how detailed he was, that he didn't miss anything. And I learned that from him and candidly was able to take that

blueprint and move it over here to the University of Virginia. And you know, guy that I look to and still talk to regularly that I admire in the game of baseball. I love that. I love that, Hootie. My friend, the grand finale. Yeah, well, let's make it light on the way out. Yeah. All this pressure and intensity and all that that goes with it most of the year what what does brian o'connor do in the off time in the down time to repressurize and enjoy yourself yeah thanks jerry

i appreciate that um those opportunities don't happen very often i can tell you you know the other day i ended out and go i went outside and weeded for three hours. And I loved it, right? Just some good hard work. That's how I grew up. It was just a way to distract my mind and get to do something else. For me, it comes down to, you know, this is a 24-hour day, seven days a week, every day of the year type job. Again, it takes what it takes if you want to be successful.

That said, there's points that open up that we can spend quality time together with my family. That's what I do with my time, whether it's to take a trip with them or go see my son's high school baseball game or go see my oldest daughter down in Gainesville, Florida and spend Thanksgiving down there. You know, I'm so looking forward to going to graduation in two weeks. My daughter, our second daughter, Maggie, is going to graduate from the engineering school from UVA. I'm so excited about that day. Because like we talked about earlier, there's so many days that are missed in this profession or in whatever we do.

So it's spending time with them because this kind of job takes everything. And so when you do get those pockets, it's about family time and just helping our children grow and learn and to be the best young people that they can possibly be. So that's what we do. Fortunate in the sport of baseball that our downtime is from thanksgiving to new year's and what a great you know uh time of the year to be the slowest time of the year over the holidays so we spend a lot of time together during that time and you know that's that's what i do spend time with the family you uh you are awesome i mean you're an interviewer's dream. This was just a, I'm working right now, but it doesn't even feel like work. Brian O'Connor, the Virginia baseball coach. We do want to get this out.

It's Heroes Appreciation Weekend. We also have Mother's Day on Sunday. NC State is in the house. Friday, Military Appreciation Day. 7 o'clock, first pitch. First, Military Appreciation Day. Seven o'clock, first pitch. First Responders Appreciation Day on Saturday, four o'clock, first pitch. And then Mother's Day, I mean, fantastic Mother's Day outing, one o'clock, first pitch on Sunday with the Wolfpack in Charlottesville. Coach O'Connor, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks, Jerry. Thanks,

Jerry. I appreciate it. It's going to be a great weekend at the stadium think about those three groups of people that we're honoring this weekend military yeah right so incredibly important the the sacrifice that they they make for us all to sit at this table today the first responders the people on the front lines, the police officers, the firemen, you know, EMT people and what they do, right? You know, we have a habit as people of not paying too much attention to it until we get into a position. I think about what firemen do, right? They're the only people in the world that run into something that everybody else runs away from, right? And to give them appreciation is important. And mothers, we couldn't do it without them, right? So thanks, guys, for having me on.

This was a lot of fun, and I look forward to the next opportunity. Absolutely, Coach. Thank you, guys. Brian O'Connor, guys, we are fortunate to have him in the house, the head baseball coach of this Virginia baseball program. Hootie Ratcliffe, this interview was absolutely fantastic. Thank you, my friend, for lighting this up. Love you, man.

Love you, too. All right. All right. Go to practice. Appreciate you. Absolutely fantastic interview right there, Hootie Ratcliffe. See you. See you.

It doesn't get any better, and we truly appreciate him taking time out of his incredibly busy schedule at this particular time of the year to spend some time with us. Absolutely. Judah Wickhauer, behind the camera, thank you for that. If you want to put the lower third on screen for basketball, we have a tremendous

amount as we switch gears from baseball to basketball, a tremendous amount of news to get to. And of course, jerryracliff.com is the website for anything Virginia athletics related. His website, the metrics are on fire right now with transfer portal commitment after commitment after commitment. It's three and the headliner is a former dukey a guy that we just found out off air

was a six foot nine left-handed pitcher at one time um where do you want to begin do you want to start with tk that was a great story that's a great story o'connor actually looked at him as a recruit and in high school as a baseball player. T.J. Power is a special kid. I mean, he was a, I think, I may be wrong, I have to look this up, but I think he right now is the highest ranked player to ever come to UVA since they've done the rankings. It's a four-star and five-star by some people coming out of high school in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. And, of course, he broke a lot of Wahoos' hearts a year ago when he chose Duke over Virginia

and a host of other schools, including North Carolina, Kansas, etc. Went down to Duke, and just, I mean, there was so much talent in that program that he didn't get much playing time. He averaged 6.7 minutes per game, which is not very much. Played in 26 games. Didn't get a whole lot of playing time in one of the premier programs in the country, one of the Blue Bloods. And obviously, I think Duke was surprised

and disappointed that he decided to leave. They've lost 11 players, either going to the NBA or through the portal, including a couple of starters. That's an important tidbit right there. Duke lost 11 players from last year's team. Yeah, including a four-year starter, Jeremy Roach, who's going to Baylor, and the Mitchell kid. I'm not sure where he's going, but he was a two-year starter. Shocking to me that I think it's unprecedented that Duke is

and I know we're in unprecedented times, but still the fact that two starters left a program like that somewhat mind-boggling. They had a lot of plans for T.J. Power to develop into a premier player over the next three years down in Durham, and now he's going to be wearing a different shade of blue up here in Charlottesville. Huge get by Tony Bennett and his staff.

He's a stretch four. He's a guy who I think 42 of his 51 field goal attempts as a freshman all came from the three-point line. He's definitely a stretch four and a guy that's going to help spread the floor in Tony Bennett's offense. A big pickup. What a difference a week makes. Last week at this time, Virginia fans were on the ledge, I think, in a lot of places. I was on the ledge.

You were on the ledge. I was absolutely on the ledge. And, you know, since then they've gotten three players. They only have one scholarship remaining. Double impact yesterday with T.j power uh signing on i actually had to write this next story about elijah saunders during my daughter's birthday dinner at uh at a rest local restaurant really you busted out the computer i busted out my telephone and wrote the story on my phone. I love this. Elijah Saunders, a 6'8 forward who was projected as a starter for San Diego State, who was in the Final Four two years ago when his kid was a freshman,

and he had an impact on that team, became the second commitment of the day for Tony Bennett's team last night. He has two years of eligibility remaining. Power has three, by the way. Saunders, originally from Phoenix, started 21 games for the Aztecs. Before getting moved to the bench, I think he was feeling a little bit of pressure starting, and he was struggling a little bit as a starter.

And so the coach there who had great plans for this kid the next couple of years at San Diego State put him on the bench, and his stats improved immediately over the last 16 games of the season. His scoring went from six points to 6.4. His field goal percentage went from 40.4 to 44%. And his three-point shooting went from 29 to 36% over the final 16 games of the season he was uh being courted by a lot of schools he visited washington just before he got to charlottesville over the weekend he was supposed to go to clemson yesterday i don't know if he ended up going or not but uh

decided by the end of the day that he wanted to be a Wahoo. And that was the third transfer for Virginia in the last week. The other was the kid from Florida State. Six-foot-seven combo guard from Florida State, Jalen Worley. Worley, yeah. Yeah. Three years' experience as a point guard in the ACC. guard from Florida State, Jalen Worley. Worley, yeah. Yeah. I mean. Three years experience as a point guard in the ACC. So he knows the conference well.

He's got good size. That's a big guard. Huge guard. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about these three guys. It's 6'7", 6'8", 6'9". He's got a good feel for the game. He can guard multiple positions. He's got a good feel for the game. He can guard multiple positions.

He's not a perimeter shooter. Right. He doesn't have much of a touch. But the rest of his game is spot on. And what a, again, what a difference a week makes in Virginia basketball. I want to, very well covered. JerryRackliff.com. I'll say covered, jerryrackliff.com. I'll say it again, jerryrackliff.com for all Transfer Portal news.

6'9", stretch four, TJ Power. 6'8", Elijah Sanders from San Diego State. And a 6'7", point guard, combo guard, Jalen Worley from Florida State here. You're talking significant size added to what could be three starters right here um so i want i want to unpack it this way i noticed with the the portal commitments sanders and power they have multiple years of eligibility remaining sanders has two power has three worley only won. Did Coach Bennett make a strategic effort or commitment to try to go after portal players that could grow with the program, which has been different, which is what we saw this past season,

with Groves and Miner one and done? I think he probably preferred that because, again, Tony's program is known as a developmental program and he likes to work with players and bring them along and help them improve their games to where they have a shot to get in the nba and he's done a good job of that and certainly it it takes time to fit into a program particularly one that is a little bit different with the pack line and a little bit more deliberate offense,

although we've heard rumors that he's tweaking his offense to make it perhaps a little more up-tempo. Don't know how much truth there is to that out there on the grapevine, but certainly he knows he has to do some things to tweak that offense to make it more lethal. But, yeah, I think he would much prefer having guys with multiple years of eligibility remaining

instead of a one-and-done guy who is just here for a cup of coffee, and you really can't develop or change their game that much in one season, I don't think. What is the – are these three guys starters? I mean, is the starting lineup looking like this? You've got the Florida State kid at the point, Jalen Worley, at the two, IMAC, Isaac McNeely. Are you going to put the Powers kid, TJ Power, at stretch four? He looks like a clear-cut starter to me.

Is Elijah Saunders a bench player or a starter? Where does Gertrude play in the mix? How does Buchanan get in the mix here? Yeah, I think Buchanan, if he's able to put on the bulk that Mike Curtis is well known for, to be able to bring a body along like that. He's your five? He's probably your five. Saunders could be the three.

They have multiple guys that could work that position. Gartrude could even play three. No question about it. With his explosiveness and leaping ability. Yes, And so I think he's going to have multiple choices at least at that position if not several positions. And so

they could all end up being starters will remain to be seen but certainly within the realm of possibility. One scholarship left. Do you go after experienced point guard to fill that spot? Well, that's a good question because, you know, you've got Christian Bliss coming. He's on the way.

He's a redshirt. He redshirted last year. He's a redshirt freshman. Yeah. They had a couple other guys that visited, the kid from Campbell University, I assume he visited. We never heard any confirmation that he was here. And then yesterday, Day Day Ames from Kansas State, a 6'1 point guard with three years of eligibility remaining, was supposed to be here. I assume he showed up.

He has some pretty nice rankings. Number 51, so he'd be essentially a top 50 player or a top 70 player, depending on what service you believe. But he played in 31 games as a freshman for Kansas State. He was their top recruit. And he started 16 games and shot 35% from the field, 33% from threes, and averaged a little over five points a game. He's a four-star prospect coming out of high school

and got better as the year went along. In an opening round loss to Iowa in the NIT, he had 16 points, made six of eight shots, four of five from the arc. So that's another possibility in the backcourt for Tony Bennett's team. Do the, me included on this, the fan base that was getting extremely restless with how long the transfer portal commitments were taking to materialize. I was leading this charge in a lot of ways,

wondering what the heck was going on. Are we now saying, hey, Coach Bennett did this right. These three commitments we have so far are pretty darn good, especially with two of them with extended years of shelf life in Charlottesville. Yeah, and I understand fans want to push the panic button when they don't get maybe the first couple of guys that take a visit, but I think there were extenuating circumstances around a couple of those guys. NIL got involved in a couple of occasions.

As we've mentioned on this show many times in the past, sometimes a kid's credits won't transfer to the University of Virginia, which happened on at least one prospect's ledger card there. And everybody's still wondering what in the world happened with Trent Perry. Apparently he was on the verge of committing to Virginia, and something changed essentially overnight. And he remarkably, almost unbelievably, is going to apparently walk on at UCLA because they don't't have any scholarships left at least that's what we're led to believe we're talking to mcdonald's all-american here i'm i'm assuming uh he got a nice nil package to come in and and as a walk-on which really doesn't mean anything anymore if

if you're making so much money right yeah uh so um.A. kid, so I'm assuming he goes to UCLA for free anyway. Isn't that the rule out there? If you're an eligible kid, you can go to those California systems. I think that is right. With no cost. So I don't know the total background behind that, but that's what's on the grapevine out there. Disappointing that you would lose a guy like that over those reasons,

but it's a different world we're living in, and we're going to hear stories that we've never heard before. Absolutely. Monumental news for Virginia basketball, jerryracliff.com for all that coverage, which of the three has the greatest impact this coming season? Wow. Yet to be determined,

but the fact that Worley has three years of experience, that's very meaningful. And that he is a big guard and plays defense and plays defense yeah like folks we're talking stifling defense with the six seven frame with length yeah but this is a longer reese beekman he doesn't have reese beekman's uh you know speed and finesse right yeah and you can you can make probably make a pretty convincing argument that Beekman's offensively ahead of where he's at. But defensively, we've got a guy with the Beekman caliber defensively here. Seems to be, at least in some phases.

Perhaps not the total defensive package that Beekman was. But I think T.J. Power is going to make an impact too. I think he is hungry to show that he can have more of an impact than he did at Duke. He really didn't have much of an opportunity there. And, I mean, this kid is legit. He's a big-time prospect and brings size, and he can shoot it. And he'll help spread the floor. And any time you can get a guy of that caliber and somebody who walked away from a program like Duke, that's very rare.

So I think he could make a huge impact as well. And you can't overlook Saunders, a guy who played a role on a Final Four team as a true freshman. So I think all three of these guys are going to make an impact probably more than last year's transfers did just right off the bat. I think 100%. The team goes from tremendous question marks on the roster to having what could be three starters out of the gates for Virginia basketball. And guys that, I mean, the front

court looks intimidating right now. I mean, the front court, if Buchanan puts on weight with Mike Curtis, Buchanan's got offensive upside. His weakness last year was getting pushed off the block and pushed around in the paint because he just didn't have the upper body strength to compete, especially in conference play.

You got him. If he puts on 10, 15, 20 pounds of muscle, he's going to be there. TJ Power can stretch the floor, potentially offensively as a stretch floor. Saunders, I don't know if Saunders has got the, you know, I have not seen Saunders play. So I'm not sure if Saunders is a guy

that can play athletically or explosively or laterally or quickness wise at the three. That's yet to be determined. Still, if he comes off the bench, that's a fantastic guy off the bench for the four or maybe the five. Gertrude, we've heard through the grapevine, you've passed this along on the program,

the most explosive guy in the roster, the kind of explosiveness that's been compared to Adam Hall of years past, which that says something. Christian Bliss is now looking like he's coming off the bench, which is going to be great for his development, and he's already extremely talented. You've got to imagine Isaac McNeely's improved. Tane Murray's back.

Andrew Rohde's back. Yeah, Tane Murray's going to improve. Rohde can't help but improve. True. Versus last year. I mean, folks, we've got depth across the roster right now. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's exciting for Virginia basketball.

And, again, there's probably going to be another edition before the week's over. So I think things are looking pretty good for Virginia basketball right now. Brian O'Connor talks about missing some of his son's baseball games because it's a 24-7, 365 job. How about the namesake of a website that gets boatloads of traffic, Jerry Ratcliffe, at his daughter's birthday party at a local restaurant, busting out his iPhone, writing a commitment story while sitting in the booth,

singing happy birthday to his beautiful daughter. That's a first, actually, because I've written stories in planes, trains, and automobiles, and on golf courses, and all kinds of bizarre, strange settings dictated over a telephone booth back in the day. But that's the first time I've ever written a story on my phone during my daughter's birthday party. That's for sure. And she completely understood, didn't she? She did indeed. And I got through and she said,

you just wrote a whole article on your phone while we're eating our appetizers. And you're like, this isn't my first rodeo. That's just part of the job. Part of the job. Jerry Ratcliffe set up this entire show. The Brian O'Connor interview with Hootie Ratcliffe was fantastic. They don't get any better than Brian O'Connor.

I mean, he's a Midwesterner. I mean, those people are as down to earth as there is in this country. And he believes in all the right things. His heart's in the right place. He does all the right things. And what he's done with Virginia baseball is, it's a Hollywood script. I mean, if you stop and think about it, not long before he got here, they were about to make Virginia baseball a club sport.

It was no longer going to be a varsity sport. They weren't going to give scholarships. It was going to be a club sport. They played on one of the worst baseball fields in America. It had an artificial turf infield from old scott stadium the astro dirt they used to call it over uh and even had some of the yard lines still on it if i recall uh nobody came to games i went to games and there were 25 people in the stands. Yeah, or less. And old wooden bleacher seats, a little press box no bigger than this table.

And he came in, and obviously they had made a commitment to change. But I always told ADs here that the Charlottesville area was a much bigger baseball community than they realized and they just wouldn't believe me but I think they've been convinced over the years and

what he's done with this program is one of the any coach trying to start out a program at a school that's downfalling in baseball ought to spend a couple of days or something with Brian O'Connor and pick his brain on how it's done because I can't imagine doing it any better. Absolutely. So well said.

And color us fortunate, guys. Consider us fortunate because every school in the country wants a Brian O'Connor leading their baseball program. And a lot of them have come after Brian O'Connor, including Florida, Texas, LSU, the premier programs in this country with lots of money. And he's turned them all down to stay here in Charlottesville. To stay here in Charlottesville. So please remember that and support this Virginia baseball program and support the website, jerryratcliffe.com. Anything athletic, UVA, ACC, college sports related is on jerryratcliffe.com.

This man does a hell of a job. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera, not only working the camera angles but helping lead Coach O'Connor out of the studio in the middle of the program. Liza, he's the MVP. Liza, the dog behind the camera as well. She got a little piece of bacon courtesy of Hootie Ratcliffe.

And this is one of the best Jerry and Jerry shows we've ever done. And it's thanks to Hootie Ratcliffe, guys. Find the show anywhere you get your podcasting content. The I Love Seville show is up in approximately one hour. So long, everybody.