Chris Lemonis Thoughts

[Santiago]

I think Schloss wins in 21 and has us a lot better in 22. Not sure what happened but at least we got the Natty. Lemonis can prove something getting to a Super. This is his team now without all the players gifted to him.

I like the guy but I am still not 100% sold on him. He was just good at Indiana, took over a good program and just maintained.

agree, and in a Big10 conference that most of those teams really don't care about baseball. He did not have other teams hiring better coaches and recruiting in a high level.

[AlSwearengen]

next season is going to be interesting. The usual suspects are going to outbid us in the portal so we are going to have to hope that Parker's performance gets the attention of some top pitchers that are willing to take less money for possibly better development. Aside from that, we need some really good evaluation and grab some guys from smaller schools that can make the jump to the SEC.

As far as this season goes, hopefully Kohler is coming around. That will lengthen the lineup some and help offensively. I saw someone mention that he is just now getting healthy, I guess from that shoulder injury in the first game.

Baserunning, WTF is all I can say. There is a disconnect somewhere that is allowing this to continue. I imagine that "aggresive" is being talked about alot to try to make up for some offensive deficiencies, but things are out of hand. We are like a bunch of 6 year olds just running around with our asses on fire. We had a chance to get to the pitcher yesterday before he got into a groove with that curveball and got thrown out at 3B by alot. Would have had two on with Hines coming up and the pitcher wasn't sharp at the time. Ridiculous

[viverlibre]

next season is going to be interesting. The usual suspects are going to outbid us in the portal so we are going to have to hope that Parker's performance gets the attention of some top pitchers that are willing to take less money for possibly better development. Aside from that, we need some really good evaluation and grab some guys from smaller schools that can make the jump to the SEC.

As far as this season goes, hopefully Kohler is coming around. That will lengthen the lineup some and help offensively. I saw someone mention that he is just now getting healthy, I guess from that shoulder injury in the first game.

Baserunning, WTF is all I can say. There is a disconnect somewhere that is allowing this to continue. I imagine that "aggresive" is being talked about alot to try to make up for some offensive deficiencies, but things are out of hand. We are like a bunch of 6 year olds just running around with our asses on fire. We had a chance to get to the pitcher yesterday before he got into a groove with that curveball and got thrown out at 3B by alot. Would have had two on with Hines coming up and the pitcher wasn't sharp at the time. Ridiculous

I have no idea about NIL, but who all are we going to be outbid by? LSU, Ark, TAMU, TX?

[Leroy Jenkins]

Parker is a very good coach but I don't understand people saying Parker has "done more with less" Parker said before the season started this was the most pitching talent he had ever had. The way I see it this year's pitching results are what they should have always been, he hasn't overachieved, it just feels that way because we were sooooo bad. He's gotten us back on track.

I have zero issues with Parker he's done a good job. Dohm hurt, Loftin hurt, Holcombe is MIA. Thats probably 3 of the top 5 arms gone.

[Coach34]

I kinda got the impression no Elite coach wanted to work for Cohen is why we have Lemonis.

No- this was the excuse some of our baseball fans make because they were naive enough to think we were going to pull some top flight HC to come to StarkVegas. Thats just not going to happen no matter who the AD is

[Santiago]

I have no idea about NIL, but who all are we going to be outbid by? LSU, Ark, TAMU, TX?

Florida kids now have FSU as an option with a proven winning season and turnaround, and probably go there for less, if they grew up FSU or Gator fans.
TX kids will stay in TX mostly, so the Baylor, TCU, TX Tech teams will pull in portal if they want.
TN is going to outbid if Vitello wants a kid.

Bama coach just knows how to evaluate to me better than Lemonis. More of a compliment to that coach at Maryland and now Bama, but he can evaluate talent. He will pull portal players we may skip on.
That shortstop for Bama - he was headed I think to TCU until the Bama coach was hired, and he turned him to Bama.

Wake will get pitchers.
Clemson will get players for their coach.

The list goes on.

[StateDawg44]

No- this was the excuse some of our baseball fans make because they were naive enough to think we were going to pull some top flight HC to come to StarkVegas. Thats just not going to happen no matter who the AD is

Let's hear why you think this.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I have no idea about NIL, but who all are we going to be outbid by? LSU, Ark, TAMU, TX?

That's the list. The only problem is that those teams are all bidding for the same 10-15 arms. And out of those 10-15 arms, MAYBE 4 can be weekend starters for you. It's kind of like starting QBs going into the football portal, yes we are one of the big boys when it comes to baseball, but there's only 15-20 QBs out there that can make you a better team and there's 20-25 teams going for the same QBs.

[StateDawg44]

He's making is sound like winning a natty is easy. We've have two head coaches who have a reputation as being great, but neither won a natty (Polk didn't even sniff one), in-spite of having overwhelming support, resources and talent.

No. I made it sound like that team was built to win one with or without Lemonis. It's obviously not easy to win a Natty.

Mike Martin was considered great. He never won one. DVH is considered great. He hasn't won one either.

Lemonis isn't great.

[Coursesuper]

I don't disagree, but he went to sleep.

Can't disagree with you on that.

[Santiago]

That's the list. The only problem is that those teams are all bidding for the same 10-15 arms. And out of those 10-15 arms, MAYBE 4 can be weekend starters for you. It's kind of like starting QBs going into the football portal, yes we are one of the big boys when it comes to baseball, but there's only 15-20 QBs out there that can make you a better team and there's 20-25 teams going for the same QBs.

TN
FSU
TX Tech, Baylor, TCU will keep TX kids in portal from smaller schools.
Clemson(maybe)
Wake (pitchers , regardless of NIL)
A few others.

[Coach34]

I have not looked up last years errors by position, but would guess it was 3B and 1B having more than normal. Did he improve the defense or just get a 3B and Hines improved?
For 2025 I am concerned if he can replace all we are losing. Hines alone has won us games in the SEC recently. Without his hot streak we are a different team.

We have one of the top defenses in the country.

Hines has a .987
Dirtbag is a .993- thats unreal as a SS. For comparision- Foreskin was an .884 last year
Ledbetter had 6 errors in CF last year- Hugesak has one
Kohler has been really good all year- he just had a bad game yesterday. He is still fielding .963

[StarkVegasSteve]

Let's hear why you think this.

I'm not C34, but I'll take a crack at it. Our job can be a great job, but it also comes with damn near unrealistic expectations. I mean we're wanting to fire a guy two years removed from winning a national championship. And hell, we damn near fired Cohen after the 15 season and he was two years removed from the national championship series and one year removed from a Regional final. Our fans have LSU like expectations with an eight of the success. A lot of the top flight HCs are making 750-1.2 and are not constantly under pressure to win a national championship or their season is a failure. Why would you want to come here, bring all that stress on you and your family, and only get a maybe 500K raise. Baseball coaches are not like football and basketball. They don't do a whole lot of moving around. Once they're established, they tend to stay. You have to take a chance on either a P5 hitting/pitching coach, like Tenn did with Vitello or you have to hire an up and comer like a Lemonis or a Rob Vaughn

[Santiago]

We have one of the top defenses in the country.

Hines has a .987
Dirtbag is a .993- thats unreal as a SS. For comparision- Foreskin was an .884 last year
Ledbetter had 6 errors in CF last year- Hugesak has one
Kohler has been really good all year- he just had a bad game yesterday. He is still fielding .963

Hines last year is what I was asking compared to this year. seems he improved.
So did Lemonis coach up the defense or just replace the guys making errors with a different player? 3B and CF.

[BrunswickDawg]

Let's hear why you think this.

Well, the list of top flight HC in any sport that have chosen to come to MSU is pretty short.
The list of "sitting", elite coaches is even shorter.

[Santiago]

I'm not C34, but I'll take a crack at it. Our job can be a great job, but it also comes with damn near unrealistic expectations. I mean we're wanting to fire a guy two years removed from winning a national championship. And hell, we damn near fired Cohen after the 15 season and he was two years removed from the national championship series and one year removed from a Regional final. Our fans have LSU like expectations with an eight of the success. A lot of the top flight HCs are making 750-1.2 and are not constantly under pressure to win a national championship or their season is a failure. Why would you want to come here, bring all that stress on you and your family, and only get a maybe 500K raise. Baseball coaches are not like football and basketball. They don't do a whole lot of moving around. Once they're established, they tend to stay. You have to take a chance on either a P5 hitting/pitching coach, like Tenn did with Vitello or you have to hire an up and comer like a Lemonis or a Rob Vaughn

Vaughn to me builtup a Maryland team moreso than Lemonis just taking over an Indiana team already built.
Vaughn was a heck of a hire by Greg Byrne.

[Santiago]

I'm not C34, but I'll take a crack at it. Our job can be a great job, but it also comes with damn near unrealistic expectations. I mean we're wanting to fire a guy two years removed from winning a national championship. And hell, we damn near fired Cohen after the 15 season and he was two years removed from the national championship series and one year removed from a Regional final. Our fans have LSU like expectations with an eight of the success. A lot of the top flight HCs are making 750-1.2 and are not constantly under pressure to win a national championship or their season is a failure. Why would you want to come here, bring all that stress on you and your family, and only get a maybe 500K raise. Baseball coaches are not like football and basketball. They don't do a whole lot of moving around. Once they're established, they tend to stay. You have to take a chance on either a P5 hitting/pitching coach, like Tenn did with Vitello or you have to hire an up and comer like a Lemonis or a Rob Vaughn

I appreciate your insight. This makes me also wonder, if our fan base, after tasting the NC game in 2013, we pushed and expected to get back and try to win even more, and it propelled both the fans and Cohen with a driven hunger to get it. What if we let up and said, that should be pretty good for another decade.
I get there is a balance eeded, but we love baseball at MSU more than any team I have seen in college. I like that we have multiple threads about winning in baseball, and having pros and cons

[Coach34]

Let's hear why you think this.

Top baseball coaches rarely leave for other programs. There is no advantage to coaching in StarkVegas over other top programs. And those coaches with younger kids dont really care to send their kids to Starkville HS. Wives dont really care to move to StarkVegas or Mississippi in general. Even Schloss leaving TCU was partially started by his divorce and things going on off the field.

Corbin, Sully, Bunko, McDonnell, Van Horn, Leggett (Clemson), O'Conner (Virginia), Fox (NC), and those guys get to their place and stay 20 years.
Manieri would still be at LSU if he hadnt been forced out
Vitello isnt leaving Tennessee. He's entrenched now and they are building him what he wants
Jarrett is home now at Fla St- he plans to retire there
Johnson has the best job in the country- he aint leaving
Now that Clown has built up Kentucky and Butch has Auburn going (altho this year has been awful)- them leaving where they are would be probably be 50/50

[StateDawg44]

Top baseball coaches rarely leave for other programs. There is no advantage to coaching in StarkVegas over other top programs. And those coaches with younger kids dont really care to send their kids to Starkville HS. Wives dont really care to move to StarkVegas or Mississippi in general. Even Schloss leaving TCU was partially started by his divorce and things going on off the field.

Corbin, Sully, Bunko, McDonnell, Van Horn, Leggett (Clemson), O'Conner (Virginia), Fox (NC), and those guys get to their place and stay 20 years.
Manieri would still be at LSU if he hadnt been forced out
Vitello isnt leaving Tennessee. He's entrenched now and they are building him what he wants
Jarrett is home now at Fla St- he plans to retire there
Johnson has the best job in the country- he aint leaving
Now that Clown has built up Kentucky and Butch has Auburn going (altho this year has been awful)- them leaving where they are would be probably be 50/50

I wouldn't expect to pluck any on your list here except maybe Butch or Mingione. Most of those are a pipe dream and unrealistic.

There are many between Lemonis and those on this list that you gave though.

[BigDawg81]

I think it?s time to be looking at the hitting coach and possibly a change. Overall, it has been pretty bad this year and it hasn?t been great in years past. The Slugging percentage is near the bottom of the league if not at the bottom. I think it?s time for a new approach. Also, base running has been the worst as it has been. I don?t know who is at fault here but I has to better in the future.