As soon as the final out of Mississippi State’s baseball season was recorded, it announced the beginning of a new era.

About an hour after the Bulldogs’ season ended with a 5-2 loss to Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional on Sunday night, the university announced it has hired Virginia’s Brian O’Connor as its next head coach.

O’Connor spent 22 seasons at Virginia and led it to seven College World Series appearances and the 2015 national championship — the program’s first.

Virginia finished 32-18 this season and did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament, after reaching the College World Series in three of the previous four years. In addition to its national title, Virginia was the national runner-up in 2014.

O’Connor arrived in Starkville late Sunday night, and will be formally introduced at a public welcome event set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Dudy Noble Field.

“Mississippi State represents everything I love about college baseball — tradition, passion and a relentless pursuit of excellence,” O’Connor said in a statement announcing the hire. “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.”

He's here! Your new Mississippi State Head Baseball Coach, Brian O'Connor! #HailState pic.twitter.com/LsTaJPhpiM

— Charlie Goldstein (@CGoldWX) June 2, 2025

O’Connor had been mentioned as a leading candidate to be Mississippi State’s next head coach almost since the moment Chris Lemonis was fired on April 28. Chatter on that front picked up over the past week, and the only thing keeping it from becoming official was the Bulldogs’ run in the NCAA Tournament — which ended Sunday.

The Bulldogs beat Northeastern 3-2 in an afternoon elimination game at the Tallahassee Regional, then were eliminated with the 5-2 loss to Florida State in the evening.

Florida State’s Cal Fisher hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning, then Max Williams singled in two more in the eighth to give the Seminoles (41-14) the lead for good. Myles Bailey followed with another RBI single to make it 5-2.

Gehrig Frei and Joe Powell homered earlier in the game to put Mississippi State (36-23) ahead 2-0, but it couldn’t hang on in the later innings.

“I thought our guys were tough as nails today, starting early in the morning, quick turnaround. Came up short, obviously, but proud of the effort,” MSU interim head coach Justin Parker said in the postgame press conference. “Love every one of these guys and sometimes you end up on this end of it. But just big-time warrior efforts out there today with guys that were on fumes a little bit and came up a little short to a good ball club.”

Mississippi State had a 25-19 record when Parker took over as interim head coach. He led the team to 11 wins in its last 15 games, which was enough to get into the NCAA Tournament.

The future status of Parker, who was the pitching coach under Lemonis, with Mississippi State is uncertain.

Parker said talk about the coaching search was a distraction on the team’s trip to Tallahassee.

“What’s really tough is to watch these guys work the entire year, starting in late July and August and to go through all that for a chance to be in this position that that we were in this morning or or even this afternoon. And to have that hanging over us and it’s disappointing, but it’s the way it goes,” Parker said.

“I do credit a lot of these guys for having the maturity and the foresight to understand that the most important thing is enjoying each other and spending a lot of time with each other, and having fun playing the game,” he continued. “I’m proud of them for how they performed, and how they behaved, and how they handled themselves.”