RICHMOND, Va. – Chris O'Neill and former VCU standout JoJo Howie have joined the VCU Baseball staff, while Andrew Llewellyn has accepted an elevated role, Head Coach Sean Thompson announced Monday.
 
O'Neill, the architect of George Washington's explosive offense the past three seasons, will serve as the Rams' hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2024, the Revolutionaries led the Atlantic 10 Conference in hits, doubles and stolen bases. GW's 136 steals ranked 10^th nationally, while its 125 doubles were 26^th. As a team, the Revs hit .300, one point behind league-leader Saint Louis. In 2023, George Washington blasted 50 home runs, the program's most since 2010.
 
Prior to GW, O'Neill served as an assistant at Duke, where he helped the Blue Devils to the program's first-ever ACC Tournament Championship and an appearance at the NCAA Knoxville Regional. O'Neill's resume also includes stops at Bucknell (2020), Marshall (2018-19) -- where he aided the Thundering Herd's first winning season since 2016 – Maryland-Eastern Shore (2017) and Concordia (2016). Additionally, he managed the Grand Lake Mariners in the summers of 2016 and 2017 and led the team to its most wins in nearly a decade, as well as the club's first finals appearance since 2016.
 
Howie, one of the stars of VCU's 2015 Regional Championship team alongside Thompson, returns as VCU's pitching coach. For the past seven years, Howie has shined as both an assistant and head coach at the junior college level, including an NJCAA Division I World Series Championship in 2022.  
 
In 2024, Howie served as head coach at Central Arizona College, where he led the Vaqueros to a 45-14 record and a berth in the NJCAA Tournament. That squad finished the season ranked 18^th nationally in the NJCAA Division I Poll. He was elevated to head coach following two wildly successful seasons as pitching coach for the Vaqueros. During Howie's three-year tenure, the Vaqueros led the nation in ERA twice (2023 and 2024) and finished fifth in 2022, when CAC captured the NJCAA World Series title. Howie also guided Everett Community College to a 99-44 mark and a pair of Northwest Athletic Conference division titles as head coach from 2017-21.
 
A native of Redmond, Wash., Howie turned in two outstanding seasons on the mound for VCU from 2014-15. In 32 starts for the Black and Gold, the crafty lefthander fashioned a 15-10 record and a 2.95 ERA in 210.2 innings.
 
Llewellyn, who served as a volunteer assistant for the Rams from 2019-22 and an assistant coach last season, has been retained and promoted by Thompson. In addition to his assistant coaching duties, Llewellyn will also serve as Assistant Recruiting Coordinator for the Rams.