Everything new Mississippi State coach Brian O'Connor in introductory speech

Mississippi State introduced its new head baseball coach, Brian O'Connor, Thursday night at Dudy Noble Field. Here's what he said during his introductory speech:

Wow, the mecca of college baseball, right here in Starkville. Sully, you sure you don't want to do this? Okay, I was meeting with Noah Sullivan this morning, up in one of the suites, and I was telling him I'd give him the option to get up here and talk in place of me if he wanted to. Dane Burns had no interest, okay Sully? But I know you were all about it.

So good evening Bulldogs. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm honored to meet the new baseball coach at Mississippi State, Dr. Keenum.

It was great spending time with you yesterday, and thank you for the confidence that you have shown in me. Zach, thank you for the words and the introduction, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to lead the Mississippi State baseball program into the future. Throughout our conversations, your thoughtfulness, passion, and vision for Mississippi State Athletics is contagious and energizing.

I am excited to be a part of that vision and our partnership, and can't wait to get to work. Well, we're already to work. We've been working, right? I can tell you all that Zach Selman is the greatest speed dater in history.

Like this thing moved like incredibly fast, and the job that he did was amazing. So thank you, Zach. To all of you here tonight, our alumni, our donors, passionate fans, our former and current players, and our future players, I am so incredibly humbled and grateful to be the next head baseball coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

I do. The reason I bring up the players, right? Some of them are here. So many former players are here.

You know, I know this night, part of this night is about announcing me as the baseball coach. And we all don't know each other yet. Okay? These ribbons, what's up on the video board and whatnot, you'll come to know that's not me.

Right? I would rather, every day, have the players' names up there. Because this program, the Mississippi State Baseball Program, has always been, and will continue to be, about the young men that wear that uniform. That's why we're here.

This is absolutely about you. And will continue to be about you. Because they don't have a baseball program at Mississippi State for our coaches to have a place to coach.

They have a baseball program at Mississippi State for the young men to represent this great university on this field, fighting for everything, every day and every night, to represent you, the fans, but even more than that, to represent themselves and their families, right? They got one shot at doing this. Okay? And it's our job as coaches to lead the way, to help guide them, to motivate them, to challenge them at the critical points during the season, right? But it is and will continue to always be about them. Coach Polk, man, legend.

This man, this man set the standard of this program. Right? This man worked with those young men under his care every day to get the most out of them. And he built, here in Starkville, what is here now today.

So Coach Polk, I can't wait to get an opportunity to sit down many, many times and learn from you, right? And appreciate you for what you have done for this community. So thank you. So I do want to share with you a little bit about moving forward.

I had the great opportunity to talk to the 2025 team on Monday when they got back from Tallahassee. And I shared with them, I know the pain of how much it hurts when it's over. When the season's over.

And we had a nice 20-minute conversation about how they were feeling in that room getting back from Tallahassee when it's over. And I especially, my heart aches for the young men that don't have the opportunity because of eligibility to wear this great uniform again. Right? But what I did in that conversation, I shared with them just a little bit about a path forward.

What that looks like. What this baseball program will be about. And I'm going to share that with you.

Because I think it's important for you to hear what those young men are hearing. First and foremost, it is going to start with relationships. Relationships are the center of anything that is successful.

A family, a business, or a great baseball team. It has to start with trust and loyalty back and forth in that clubhouse. From player to player, player to coach, and back and forth.

That those relationships also have to extend out to everybody here that supports those young men. We can't do it without you. No way.

Right? So we all have to continue to come together to make the Mississippi State Baseball Program the best it can be. It's a family, as was mentioned before. Secondly, these young men, they will work.

They will work. They will work every day to become the best teammate, first and foremost, that they can be. And the best baseball player they can be.

And when they do that, they give themselves an opportunity and they grow self-confidence that they can come in this stadium and perform free and aggressive to have success on the field. The third thing that I shared with them is their development. Their development, first and foremost, as young men.

When they go out in the Starkville community, how they represent themselves and how they carry themselves is paramount. It's very important. Because they'll be representing themselves and their families for the rest of their lives.

So they will represent themselves with class and dignity on and off the field. But also part of their development is their development as a baseball player. They put the work in and they develop.

And that is evident in this baseball program, in the history of this baseball program, that there has been and will continue to be development. All you have to look at is all the great players that have come through this program. The All-Americans, the draft picks, the Major League Baseball players.

Development is going to be a very, very important part of success. So when you have relationships, you work, and you have development, that leads to one thing. Winning.

Winning. And I appreciate the expectations, right? When I hear those things, my response is, bring it on. Okay? Bring it on.

Right? That will be the attitude of the players as well. Right? But what I think a lot of people make a mistake with is they lead with winning. You can't lead with winning.

Winning is a byproduct of the first three things that I talked about. And those will be foundational things in this baseball program. All the former players that are here tonight, I had a chance to meet them.

I had so many former Mississippi State players reach out to me via text over the last couple of days. We look forward as a staff, the opportunity to get to know you better. Right? This is about, a big part of this is about you, and how you served this baseball program in the past.

I'm going to say it again. This stadium. Right? Wow.

Right? I'm going to say it again. The best environment for college baseball in America. Our coaching staff and support staff is in place.

We're up and running and working. Right? We have a lot of work to do. We look forward to the engagements that we have with you in the future.

But we need to go to work. Right? We need to go to work so the 2026 Diamond Dogs are in the best possible position. Zach, thank you again for your trust and belief for the care of this baseball program.

Right? Really, really appreciate it. In closing, tonight has been a great night. Right? A celebration of Mississippi State baseball.

Right? And there's more to come. Right? And we cannot wait for next spring. Right? And the opportunity that we have in front of us.

Okay? But let me just say this in closing. Yes, this is the best baseball stadium in college baseball. Yes, this is the best environment in America.

But why? Right? It's not because of the left field loss. It's not because of the rigs. Right? The double-deck stadium, the suites, the clubhouse, the weight room, the indoor hitting facility, all of that.

That's all great. But I'm going to leave you with this. The reason this is the best in college baseball is the people.

The people. The people make the place. Hail State!

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