Vitello post game press conference

[Santiago]

Dude told it like it is. If you are a college or HS player, you hear this and it matches your own swagger to play for the guy.
He is not a "CEO".
He talks about all the nights at hotels and scouting games.
We all agree that Lemonis took a year or two off the gas on recruiting after 2021.

I cannot imagine Vitello finishing "middle of the pack in the SEC" and ever being the least bit happy about it. Or to have his fans say "well historically, we are doing ok".


https://x.com/TreyWallace_/status/1800012356975730796

[StarkVegasSteve]

He markets his program and is very good at it. He markets his program as a place for these travel ball kids that no one likes to come play. I mean you've all seen the videos of the kids I am talking about. It's a turn off to a lot of fans, but it works there because they had no history or culture before so he got to establish that.

[Santiago]

He markets his program and is very good at it. He markets his program as a place for these travel ball kids that no one likes to come play. I mean you've all seen the videos of the kids I am talking about. It's a turn off to a lot of fans, but it works there because they had no history or culture before so he got to establish that.

He wants to win

[StarkVegasSteve]

He wants to win

I think everyone wants to win. There's no coach in sports that doesn't want to win. Again, Vitello has found a niche and he's exploiting it. These kids are like him. Very brash and their attitudes turn off a lot of people. They decided 3 years ago that they were going to be the Bad Boys of College Baseball. That's cool to recruits. Vitello is a young single guy who drives a Maserati. That's cool to recruits. Lemonis is a middle aged married guy who drives a Yukon.

[Santiago]

I think everyone wants to win. There's no coach in sports that doesn't want to win. Again, Vitello has found a niche and he's exploiting it. These kids are like him. Very brash and their attitudes turn off a lot of people. They decided 3 years ago that they were going to be the Bad Boys of College Baseball. That's cool to recruits. Vitello is a young single guy who drives a Maserati. That's cool to recruits. Lemonis is a middle aged married guy who drives a Yukon.

Some coaches got lazy after they won. Some don't.
I agree with you though, but just saying the high salaries do affect some coach's at this level if they feel they have "tenure". They still want to win, but life is happening too. You want to win, but you have other crap going on, and you are doing quite well with a system in place and you can be "hands off CEO"

[StarkVegasSteve]

Some coaches got lazy after they won. Some don't.
I agree with you though, but just saying the high salaries do affect some coach's at this level if they feel they have "tenure". They still want to win, but life is happening too. You want to win, but you have other crap going on, and you are doing quite well with a system in place and you can be "hands off CEO"

There's some truth to that. When you win big and win a national championship, you are pulled in A LOT of different directions. You have to know how to handle that, and no one at Mississippi State had ever experienced that. Our fan base, as passionate as they are, led to that. There's an interview he did in late 2021 that he said fans were coming by his office DURING THE DAY and tapping on his window wanting him to come out and take photos. The small town thing only adds to it. Vitello can escape in Knoxville, Lemonis can't in Starkville. No coach would be able to.

I've said this statement probably 50 times since July 1, 2021. As great as our fanbase is, they are partly the reason for the downturn of the program. I watched them treat players and coaches like gods. I mean when someone tells you your shit don't stink 200 times then you start to believe it. Our coaches, players, admin, trainers, managers, etc. got this invincibility about them. They tweeted whatever they wanted and would get the mob to attack you if you dare disagreed with them. Our players started to believe they could just turn it on whenever they felt like it. And you can ask BankerDog about this because we've had the same conversation 20 times since that day. We saw this coming. You just had to open your eyes to see it.

[Ezsoil]

I see all this drooling over the guy....but how many games has he won in Omaha? One....uno ....he was two and BBQ in 2021 in MSU's side of the bracket...he was beat at home in the supers in 2022 and last year, he broke through and scratched out a win in the losers bracket.

Call me when they do something in Omaha ....

[Young dawg]

You can say whatever you want to about Vitello and the players that he brings in, but he is the best coach out there at the moment. He took a pitiful program and has turned it into a powerhouse. The success in Omaha is coming

[Leeshouldveflanked]

I think everyone wants to win. There's no coach in sports that doesn't want to win.
I disagree, the coaching profession at all levels is filled with coaches that just want to win enough to keep their job but dont put forth the effort to win it all.

[maroonmania]

There's some truth to that. When you win big and win a national championship, you are pulled in A LOT of different directions. You have to know how to handle that, and no one at Mississippi State had ever experienced that. Our fan base, as passionate as they are, led to that. There's an interview he did in late 2021 that he said fans were coming by his office DURING THE DAY and tapping on his window wanting him to come out and take photos. The small town thing only adds to it. Vitello can escape in Knoxville, Lemonis can't in Starkville. No coach would be able to.

I've said this statement probably 50 times since July 1, 2021. As great as our fanbase is, they are partly the reason for the downturn of the program. I watched them treat players and coaches like gods. I mean when someone tells you your shit don't stink 200 times then you start to believe it. Our coaches, players, admin, trainers, managers, etc. got this invincibility about them. They tweeted whatever they wanted and would get the mob to attack you if you dare disagreed with them. Our players started to believe they could just turn it on whenever they felt like it. And you can ask BankerDog about this because we've had the same conversation 20 times since that day. We saw this coming. You just had to open your eyes to see it.

I think our program would have handled a NC back in 2013 much better with Cohen. The IB part of Cohen would not have allowed the program to go soft and complacent because we won one like it did under Lemonis.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I think our program would have handled a NC back in 2013 much better with Cohen. The IB part of Cohen would not have allowed the program to go soft and complacent because we won one like it did under Lemonis.

There's a lot of truth in that. Cohen was still a mean SOB in 2013. He had softened by that last year in 16. But he would still go off into a cursing tirade in 13 at a moment's notice.

[bulldawg989]

I see all this drooling over the guy....but how many games has he won in Omaha? One....uno ....he was two and BBQ in 2021 in MSU's side of the bracket...he was beat at home in the supers in 2022 and last year, he broke through and scratched out a win in the losers bracket.

Call me when they do something in Omaha ....

They are the team to beat, however they had arguably more talent last year. This year's team is long ball heavy, which does not typically translate to TD Ameritrade, all of those HRs in their stadium are fly ball outs in Omaha.

They can play, they have swagger and momentum...this could be the year they do it, but it's hard to maintain that level of play. We'll see how good Vitello is if they can adjust their approach to fit TD Ameritrade, not sure the HR plan will work.

[Santiago]

There's some truth to that. When you win big and win a national championship, you are pulled in A LOT of different directions. You have to know how to handle that, and no one at Mississippi State had ever experienced that. Our fan base, as passionate as they are, led to that. There's an interview he did in late 2021 that he said fans were coming by his office DURING THE DAY and tapping on his window wanting him to come out and take photos. The small town thing only adds to it. Vitello can escape in Knoxville, Lemonis can't in Starkville. No coach would be able to.

I've said this statement probably 50 times since July 1, 2021. As great as our fanbase is, they are partly the reason for the downturn of the program. I watched them treat players and coaches like gods. I mean when someone tells you your shit don't stink 200 times then you start to believe it. Our coaches, players, admin, trainers, managers, etc. got this invincibility about them. They tweeted whatever they wanted and would get the mob to attack you if you dare disagreed with them. Our players started to believe they could just turn it on whenever they felt like it. And you can ask BankerDog about this because we've had the same conversation 20 times since that day. We saw this coming. You just had to open your eyes to see it.

spot on man.
it could be an advantage in recruiting though to take the players around town with Lemonis and be recognized with other current players.
But we don't stop there at that level of excitement.

[Santiago]

They are the team to beat, however they had arguably more talent last year. This year's team is long ball heavy, which does not typically translate to TD Ameritrade, all of those HRs in their stadium are fly ball outs in Omaha.

They can play, they have swagger and momentum...this could be the year they do it, but it's hard to maintain that level of play. We'll see how good Vitello is if they can adjust their approach to fit TD Ameritrade, not sure the HR plan will work.

And they lost one of their best pitchers for this season to Wake Forest. And still in the CWS.
Not everyone here, but some fans in college fan bases would typically ride that excuse for the HC.
Vitello said, no worries, we keep winning.

[StarkVegasSteve]

spot on man.
it could be an advantage in recruiting though to take the players around town with Lemonis and be recognized with other current players.
But we don't stop there at that level of excitement.

In recruiting I agree with you, it can be great for them to be in random places and fans stop to say hello to the players because it shows the buy in that the fan base has. But at the same time, I feel that sometimes our fans take it a bit too far with the fandom and it borders on weird. I mean it's great when stuff like that happens, but it's weird when those same fans are taking selfies with them in the bar and taking them and their girlfriends to get drinks at 44 Prime.