Cohen

[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.