Cohen

[Gutter Cobreh]

Ahh .. Ray couldn't recruit OR coach. It took Howland 2 1/2 years to turn the BB program around. Cann could recruit AND coach. HUGE difference. This is on Cann NOT Cohen,

Cann made the Sweet 16 last year. Ray never won 16 did he?

Maybe I wasn’t clear — I’m not suggesting Ray was a good coach. I was just making a comparison on how a coaching hire shaped what people here say about Stricklin, yet that doesn’t seem to apply to Cohen.

I seem to be in the minority that think quite a bit of this does fall on Cohen’s shoulders. While no one ever makes great hires 100% of the time, this hire was his first, in his sport, and to be his successor. He owns some of the blame.

His legacy will be about hires/fires in the 3 big sports and he isn’t off to a good start....

[Bulldog1]

Stricklin gets roasted for the Ray hire, yet is Cohen getting a pass on Cann?

Ray was an awful hire. We didn’t improve in 3 years. He couldn’t recruit and he couldn’t really coach. Just a disaster in over his head. Cann was a really good/ great baseball coach that had off the field issues. Yes, to me, Cohen gets a pass on this one.

[Jack Lambert]

Thanks for bringing up the subject vv83. I?ve been pondering this myself since Hack broke the story.

The narrative on this board is that Cohen is always prepared and thorough in his business. Regardless of the time he had to make the hire (which is easily debunked by the fact that Henderson was on staff and had experience) and the fact that he couldn?t predict Cann?s sleezy ways - he still was the one that made the hire.

Stricklin gets roasted for the Ray hire, yet is Cohen getting a pass on Cann? Ray didn?t win many games (like Croom), but he at least cleaned up the program. It sounds like Cann was slowly destroying the program, regardless of last year and his recruiting ability.

Does Cohen get a pass because he?s still the AD? He has controlled the narrative very well and I respect his decision to cut bait, but that doesn?t absolve him from his responsibility of tarnishing the program?s image.

Stricklin let ray stay too long when everyone knew he wasn't worth a shit after two seasons and we let Croom stay three years too long. Cohen had enough sense to let the guy go. Stricklin and Templeton were dumb asses.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Stricklin let ray stay too long when everyone knew he wasn't worth a shit after two seasons and we let Croom stay three years too long. Cohen had enough sense to let the guy go. Stricklin and Templeton were dumb asses.

So you're saying fire Croom after the 05 season?

[Gutter Cobreh]

Stricklin let ray stay too long when everyone knew he wasn't worth a shit after two seasons and we let Croom stay three years too long. Cohen had enough sense to let the guy go. Stricklin and Templeton were dumb asses.

This I can understand! Thanks for an objective rebuttal and I agree!

[yjnkdawg]

Thanks for bringing up the subject vv83. I?ve been pondering this myself since Hack broke the story.

The narrative on this board is that Cohen is always prepared and thorough in his business. Regardless of the time he had to make the hire (which is easily debunked by the fact that Henderson was on staff and had experience) and the fact that he couldn?t predict Cann?s sleezy ways - he still was the one that made the hire.

Stricklin gets roasted for the Ray hire, yet is Cohen getting a pass on Cann? Ray didnt win many games (like Croom), but he at least cleaned up the program. It sounds like Cann was slowly destroying the program, regardless of last year and his recruiting ability.

Does Cohen get a pass because he?s still the AD? He has controlled the narrative very well and I respect his decision to cut bait, but that doesn?t absolve him from his responsibility of tarnishing the program?s image.

Cohen is going to try and hire the best person available,and who he believes can move the specific athletic program forward and hopefully to the next level. He does not have a crystal ball where he can foresee what the future holds for someone who had Cohen's confidence and trust, and one who Cohen felt could move our baseball program to the next level. and then this coach who had this golden opportunity blows it. I think if you go back and check what was said by the baseball people in the know. They thought that Cohen made a great hire and that Cann was an up and coming outstanding young coach, and was a great fit for MSU.

[Todd4State]

I think we need to be careful about assuming that every "young" up and coming assistant will end up doing something like Cann did. We're the vast minority in terms of situations like that.

We need to go after the best coach possible- and from what I can tell Cohen values intelligence and being cutting edge over anything else. I have to believe that Cohen will hire someone with those traits.

[JDog13]

Cann just fell victim to the white she devil.

[confucius say]

If we’d had more time, AC, more than likely, wouldn’t have been the head coach. After last year, Cohen looked like a genius. I don’t blame Cohen at all, he couldn’t hold Cann’s pecker... well, he could but that’d be weird.

Should have just cut it off instead of holding it

[confucius say]

I think we need to be careful about assuming that every "young" up and coming assistant will end up doing something like Cann did. We're the vast minority in terms of situations like that.

We need to go after the best coach possible- and from what I can tell Cohen values intelligence and being cutting edge over anything else. I have to believe that Cohen will hire someone with those traits.

Yep. Spot on.

[confucius say]

Cann is a hell of a really recruiter and coach. And he can motivate guys. It ain?t on Cohen that Cann couldn?t keep it in his pants. The he was too young argument fails too. Cann will turn 40 soon. That?s plenty old enough for the avg person to know better than to go around banging whores.

RR was a bad recruiter, an average coach at best. It was a horrible hire and SS gets the blame for hiring him.

[msstate7]

No- the Polk hire is the most overrated hire.

We had been the CWS just 5 years before Polk.
We have 17 SEC titles in baseball- Polk won 4 of them.
Polk also benefited by the expansion of the NCAA baseball tourney during the 70's
Once the SEC put money into baseball- Polk became middle of the pack.

The best thing Polk ever did was showing the way for college coaches to build their baseball programs and facilities to keep them from just bleeding money. That is what he will always be remembered for

We have been to the CWS 9 times... 7 were under Polk. Most of Polk tenure was while Bertman was at LSU, so sec titles were hard to come by

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

We have been to the CWS 9 times... 6 were under Polk. Most of Polk tenure was while Bertman was at LSU, so sec titles were hard to come by

FiFY

The 1998 appearance was McMahon.

[Coach34]

We have been to the CWS 9 times... 7 were under Polk. Most of Polk tenure was while Bertman was at LSU, so sec titles were hard to come by

Fake News

Gregory CWS in 1971
MacMahon in 1998
Cohen in 2013

As has been mentioned over and over and over- the basketball and baseball tourneys werent expanded . The NCAA baseball Tourney was only 8 teams for years- until it expanded to 32 in 1975- the year before Polk became our coach. So Polk came to State right as the NCAA Tourney expanded to 8 regionals of 4 teams and it continued expansion thru the 80's. This was all at time Polk had the best stadium in the country built for him- and other SEC programs refused to put money into baseball.

Polk had an 8 year head start on Bertman- yet was overtaken almost immediately. After Bertman arrived and then Clark, Palmeiro, Brantley, and Thigpen graduated the next season- Polk only won 1 SEC title and only made 3 CWS appearances in 19 seasons at State.

[msstate7]

Fake News

Gregory CWS in 1971
MacMahon in 1998
Cohen in 2013

As has been mentioned over and over and over- the basketball and baseball tourneys werent expanded . The NCAA baseball Tourney was only 8 teams for years- until it expanded to 32 in 1975- the year before Polk became our coach. So Polk came to State right as the NCAA Tourney expanded to 8 regionals of 4 teams and it continued expansion thru the 80's. This was all at time Polk had the best stadium in the country built for him- and other SEC programs refused to put money into baseball.

Polk had an 8 year head start on Bertman- yet was overtaken almost immediately. After Bertman arrived and then Clark, Palmeiro, Brantley, and Thigpen graduated the next season- Polk only won 1 SEC title and only made 3 CWS appearances in 19 seasons at State.

6 of our 9 CWS, my bad...

1979, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1997, 2007

[LC Dawg]

Although Cohen had to make a hire quickly he will tell you that he had been watching Cann for a while in case he had the opportunity to hire him. I think a little of this has to fall on Cohen and I think he would agree. Part of hiring someone for a public position is knowing about them personally as well as professionally. I?ll bet Cohen will have blood pressure spikes for a while when thinking about this.

[Coach34]

Gregory went 21-5-1 and 14-1-1 in the SEC during 1962 and didnt even make the postseason

[Coach34]

In the last 5 seasons we have made the CWS and 2 other Supers- the baseball program will be fine as long as the right coach replaces Cann. We arent in a dead period like we were when Polk tried to kill the program at the end of his career

[Todd4State]

In the last 5 seasons we have made the CWS and 2 other Supers- the baseball program will be fine as long as the right coach replaces Cann. We arent in a dead period like we were when Polk tried to kill the program at the end of his career

If anything I think our ceiling is higher than it ever has been.

Case in point? Compare the names in the coaching search this time around to when Polk II left. You won't see Baseball America saying we should give Mitch Thompson a shot.

[Jack Lambert]

In the last 5 seasons we have made the CWS and 2 other Supers- the baseball program will be fine as long as the right coach replaces Cann. We arent in a dead period like we were when Polk tried to kill the program at the end of his career

Agreed. It has too many pluses going for it.