The Virginia baseball program publicly introduced the start of a new era this week when Chris Pollard held his first press conference with the Hoos. The former Duke coach takes over from Brian O’Connor, who departed after 22 years at the helm. Pollard made one thing clear: he wants to build on the tradition built here and continue to chase championships.
Pollard brings a track record that indicates that kind of talk is not too lofty. He’s won 805 games as a head coach, including 420 wins at Duke in the same ACC. He guided the Blue Devils to 7 NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to 4 Super Regionals.
The new Cavalier coach said the same characteristics that worked at Duke and that similarly already existed at Virginia will be the foundation for continued success. He even credited O’Connor for becoming a coaching resource over the years while praising his attention to details at UVA.
Pollard outlined what he wants his program to look like in Charlottesville:
“Our teams will value work ethic. We call it the grind. Additionally, we will adopt a process-driven approach. Great process leads to great results. We will value servant leadership. We’ll appreciate the importance of being a part of something that’s bigger than ourselves. We’ll be accountable for the energy that we show up with on a day-in, day-out basis. We want to work hard to be that same person day in and day out. We will weaponize gratitude in the fight against entitlement and self-pity. We will embrace the growth mindset. We’ll lean into struggle and adversity, recognizing that’s how real toughness and real resilience are created. And in building that culture, we’ll compete for ACC Championships, and when you compete for ACC Championships, you put the program in a position to host Regionals and Super Regionals and provide the most direct path to Omaha. We are so fired up - our family, our staff, our players.”
Those are not the only people fired up. Virginia fans have started to get excited about Coach Pollard and the Hoos’ future too. Check out some posts from the message boards.
- Grand slam hire. Incredibly impressive, passionate guy. Let’s roll!
- Presser showed that CP is a great fit. Excited for the future of UVA baseball. The roster building is complex and frenetic as CP said but he instills a lot of confidence that it will work out well for UVA.
- Great Presser. We are in good shape.
- I like him even more than I thought I would. He has a pretty clear vision for the future of the program.
- Crazy to think about how down we were just 10 days ago. If you had told me we might be more bullish on the program on June 14th than we were back in May Id have thought you were certifiably insane. Great job by Carla and staff.
Fan(s) Of The Week
Smile and wave if you love the Wahoos.
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
Go Hoos!
Feature Photo Of The Week
The Virginia football team gets started at Scott Stadium on Saturday, August 30 against Coastal Carolina.
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