Brian O’Connor Wants Leaders Everywhere, Not Just Captains

First-year coach Brian O’Connor explains why Mississippi State baseball won’t name captains this season and why he believes it will strengthen leadership.

New Mississippi State Bulldogs coach Brian O'Connor talking to the cheering crowd at his formal introduction Thursday evening at Dudy Noble. | Mississippi State Athletics

One of the most common, longest-running, time-honored traditions in sports is teams having captains.

Players designated with the “C” on their uniform or on an arm band are given that title because of their leadership role and abilities. Most teams and sports have one captain who carries the title with them throughout the whole season.

College football teams have started having different captains every week and soccer teams will change captains occasionally.

However, Mississippi State baseball won’t have any captains this season and that’s a good thing.

“I believe everyone needs to have a voice,” first-year Mississippi State coach Brian O’Connor said explaining his decision. “Leadership develops throughout the season, and I don’t want the team looking to just one or two people to say what needs to be said.”

O’Connor also recounted an off-the-field exercise he put the Bulldogs through to help grow each player’s leadership abilities.

“About two weeks ago, I gave the team an exercise. I asked them to define leadership and then identify who they believe the leaders of this team are and why. I loved reading every response,” O’Connor said at his preseason press conference. “There were some returning players mentioned frequently, but there were also newer players who received a lot of votes. I’ve always believed leadership isn’t tied to class or role — everyone can lead in their own way.”

While it’s not a ground-breaking, innovative coaching method, doing things like this is exactly why Mississippi State hired O’Connor after almost two decades at Virginia. He handled leadership with the Cavaliers in a similar way and base those types of decision each team individually.

“I’ve gone back and forth on it over the years,” O’Connor said about naming captains or not. “I’ve handled leadership in a lot of different ways, even naming captains temporarily at times. I just don’t want players relying on one or two voices. Leadership develops organically over the course of a season, and I believe this approach fits this team.”

This approach may work for this team, but O’Connor may have also been presented with too many choices for players who could be captains.

Mississippi State has returning players such as Ace Reese, Noah Sullivan, Reed Stallman, Gehrig Frei, Ben Davis and Gatlin Sanders. All have extensive playing experience and would be obvious options for captains.

But the Bulldogs also have several new players who could be captains, too, such as Aidan Teel, Vytas Valincius, Tomas Valincius, Kevin Milewski and Blake Bevis who (on paper) could be captains.

Like all things in sports, O’Connor’s decision to not name captains could work and the Bulldogs are a team full of leaders. Or it might not work. Or it might not have any impact.

We’ll get to find out soon enough because opening day is nine days away.