Previously serving as an Associate Head Coach at Notre Dame, he was hired on July 8, 2003, to replace the retiring Dennis Womack (who moved on to assistant athletic director of facilities management and operations).

O'Connor graduated from Creighton University in 1993 where as a pitcher he posted a career record of 20–13 with seven saves and a 3.78 ERA.

O'Connor was selected in the 29th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.

He posted a 4–2 record with a 4.03 earned run average for the Martinsville Phillies of the Appalachian Class A League in 1993.

After his time with the Philadelphia Phillies organization, O'Connor rejoined his college team as their pitching coach from 1993 to 1995.

O'Connor worked with the Fighting Irish's pitchers and also served as the program's recruiting coordinator.

7 seed in the conference tournament, he led the Cavaliers to the championship knocking off three ranked opponents along the way including two wins over No.

UVa also topped its record for conference wins going 21–9 in a tough ACC finishing third overall and just one game behind divisional champion, North Carolina.

Virginia went 19–9 in the ACC and 45–16 overall before losing to eventual national champions Oregon State in the NCAA regional at Davenport Field.

O'Connor led Virginia to a sixth consecutive regional appearance, which they won and moved on to their first Super-Regional.

They defeated the University of Mississippi at Oxford in three games, which brought the Cavaliers to their first College World Series in school history.

O'Connor led UVA to another banner season, going 53–16, winning 50 games for the fourth time, and finishing 2nd in the ACC Coastal.

His team went 3–0 in the CWS elimination rounds, before losing a hard-fought 3-game series to Vanderbilt and finishing runners-up for the first time in school history.

O'Connor won his fifth ACC Coach of the Year award, while Nathan Kirby, Mike Papi, and Nick Howard earned All-American honors, and were 3 of the 8 Cavs named to the All-ACC team.

This including the school's first ever road sweep of 3 games at North Carolina, to clinch a spot in the ACC Tourney.

Aided by a few lucky bounces against Florida, UVA made it back to the national title series, against Vandy again.

Clutch hitting and pitching allowed UVA to upset the favored Commodores, winning their first ever title in baseball.

Closer Josh Sborz was the MOP, after going 3–0 with a save in 4 CWS appearances, allowing 0 runs in 13 innings.

[4] On May 27, O'Connor won his 595th game as UVA's coach, 7–2 over Louisville in the ACC Tournament, setting the school record for career wins.