Mike Rooney discusses the State job

[Coach34]

https://x.com/d1baseball/status/1917587500047941797?s=46&t=OwYh-8ppYKXqKt8QQD9Mtw

[bulldogcountry1]

Selmon needs to put his finger on what the source of the volatility is.

[sandjunky]

I?m think you could make the argument that if Cohen doesn?t become AD 2022 and 2023 do not happen

And you cannot fault him in the early years after the Polk sabotage

[Cooterpoot]

A coach basically retired, a coach then got caught dicking
around. then the next guy was here 7 years and that's volatility? No

[The Federalist Engineer]

Volatility Explanation:

(1) Polk went crazy on-the-job, so he peaked out in 1985 and was going to let the program crash, burn, and go-to-ashes. Content writing gay-ish letters to players on other teams. While typewriter man was sending birthday notes and organizing summer camps, Skip Bertman was finding grown-men to slug him to National Championships.

But, the MSU fan base did not go crazy and were not content with cringe and stupid ESPN specials about 1985. "Remember that time we almost won-it-all?"

(2) Larry Templeton as the AD was like giving MSU athletics a tape-worm, hook-worm or slow death AIDS. He was like the parent that makes his A+ and Perfect ACT student kids work at his Blockbuster Video franchise. "Because it's the family business." Why go to Medical School or aspire to more, "I am part of Hollywood in this store".

But, the MSU fan base knew they dude was garbage. Thank goodness we got Greg Byrne.

(3) Buckets thought he won Lifetime Tenure and Emeritus status in 2021, went lazy on-the-job. So he is out.

But, the MSU fan base does not grant Lifetime Tenures to the help, just pays them to the extent of contractual obligations.


Therefore:

The highs are because of Us, the Fans and Elite Dawgs that are never content and ruthlessly cheered the firing of Bucket Man. F-Him. This is OUR program and he is just a damn employee. The statutes at DNF should be to Us and one to Greg Byrne. The Dude Effect is the fans. The Notre Dame series of 2000 and 2021 were won because the fans.

[Saltydog]

The volatility he's referring too are the highs and lows of the program. The highs have been very high but the lows are lower than whale shit at the bottom of the ocean.

[BrunswickDawg]

Volatility Explanation:

(1) Polk went crazy on-the-job, so he peaked out in 1985 and was going to let the program crash, burn, and go-to-ashes. Content writing gay-ish letters to players on other teams. While typewriter man was sending birthday notes and organizing summer camps, Skip Bertman was finding grown-men to slug him to National Championships.

But, the MSU fan base did not go crazy and were not content with cringe and stupid ESPN specials about 1985. "Remember that time we almost won-it-all?"

(2) Larry Templeton as the AD was like giving MSU athletics a tape-worm, hook-worm or slow death AIDS. He was like the parent that makes his A+ and Perfect ACT student kids work at his Blockbuster Video franchise. "Because it's the family business." Why go to Medical School or aspire to more, "I am part of Hollywood in this store".

But, the MSU fan base knew they dude was garbage. Thank goodness we got Greg Byrne.

(3) Buckets thought he won Lifetime Tenure and Emeritus status in 2021, went lazy on-the-job. So he is out.

But, the MSU fan base does not grant Lifetime Tenures to the help, just pays them to the extent of contractual obligations.


Therefore:

The highs are because of Us, the Fans and Elite Dawgs that are never content and ruthlessly cheered the firing of Bucket Man. F-Him. This is OUR program and he is just a damn employee. The statutes at DNF should be to Us and one to Greg Byrne. The Dude Effect is the fans. The Notre Dame series of 2000 and 2021 were won because the fans.

We should have never let Polk back after he retired and then un-retired in 1992. He was on cruise control from then on, if not earlier.
And yes, our lows are low. We have the narrowest margin of error in all sports due to our lack of resources. We have to have driven coaches, driven players, and some f'n luck, to excel year in and year out. It doesn't take much to knock us off the pedestal.
If we had LSU's resources we would have LSU results.

[Tbonewannabe]

The volatility he's referring too are the highs and lows of the program. The highs have been very high but the lows are lower than whale shit at the bottom of the ocean.

The lows are because Polk tried to burn the whole thing down in a hissy fit and Lemonis not being able to maintain what he inherited.

The only other down year was when Cohen built his entire team around the dead ball baseball and didn't even have any time to course correct. Ross Mitchell went from almost unhittable to throwing BP. 17 the NCAA for that year.

[AROB44]

The volatility he's referring too are the highs and lows of the program.

This is not just baseball.....it's every sport at MSU.

[The Federalist Engineer]

We should have never let Polk back after he retired and then un-retired in 1992. He was on cruise control from then on, if not earlier.
And yes, our lows are low. We have the narrowest margin of error in all sports due to our lack of resources. We have to have driven coaches, driven players, and some f'n luck, to excel year in and year out. It doesn't take much to knock us off the pedestal.
If we had LSU's resources we would have LSU results.

If you look at Historical LSU baseball results, they sucked until Bertman took over in 1984. It was UNO and Tulane that were pretty good before 1984.

Before Bertman: LSU had never made an Omaha before and had 6 SEC championships (only two since the 1940's). MSU had 9.

Before Betman, UNO and Tulane had already made Omaha.

After Bertman: 5 NCs, 19 Omahas, 12 SEC Titles ...MSU has won 2 SEC Titles (1989 and 2016) after Bertman.

[Cooterpoot]

The volatility he's referring too are the highs and lows of the program. The highs have been very high but the lows are lower than whale shit at the bottom of the ocean.

Very few lows til recently. Every HC but Canz has taken us to the CWS and his players did. We came off a great run and Lemonis sat on his bucket and beat his chest at recruits and kept Cheese who was worthless too.

[Cooterpoot]

If you look at Historical LSU baseball results, they sucked until Bertman took over in 1984. It was UNO and Tulane that were pretty good before 1984.

Before Bertman: LSU had never made an Omaha before and had 6 SEC championships (only two since the 1940's). MSU had 9.

Before Betman, UNO and Tulane had already made Omaha.

After Bertman: 5 NCs, 19 Omahas, 12 SEC Titles ...MSU has won 2 SEC Titles (1989 and 2016) after Bertman.

We've never been on LSUs level the last 40 years. Because we aren't an elite program. We're a great program, but not elite. LSU is the top shelf of elite. As great as Vandy has been, they didn't pile up titles.

[Turfdawg67]

We should have never let Polk back after he retired and then un-retired in 1992. He was on cruise control from then on, if not earlier.
And yes, our lows are low. We have the narrowest margin of error in all sports due to our lack of resources. We have to have driven coaches, driven players, and some f'n luck, to excel year in and year out. It doesn't take much to knock us off the pedestal.
If we had LSU's resources we would have LSU results.

I thought we went back to Polk because he went to UGA and immediately made the good. CWS I believe.

[msudawg1200]

Volatility Explanation:




Therefore:

The highs are because of Us, the Fans and Elite Dawgs that are never content and ruthlessly cheered the firing of Bucket Man. F-Him. This is OUR program and he is just a damn employee. The statutes at DNF should be to Us and one to Greg Byrne. The Dude Effect is the fans. The Notre Dame series of 2000 and 2021 were won because the fans.

Exactly. He was paid well when he was here. Yeah, he won a natty, but he also had a losing SEC record. The program is not about Bucket Man or any coach.

[DawgFromOxford]

The lows are because Polk tried to burn the whole thing down in a hissy fit and Lemonis not being able to maintain what he inherited.

The only other down year was when Cohen built his entire team around the dead ball baseball and didn't even have any time to course correct. Ross Mitchell went from almost unhittable to throwing BP. 17 the NCAA for that year.

This is the correct answer.

[Coach34]

Also- Cohen wouldnt have had such a tough start had Polk/Raffo kept recruiting instead of their "camps only" policy.

[BrunswickDawg]

I thought we went back to Polk because he went to UGA and immediately made the good. CWS I believe.

Polk announced his retirement in the spring of 1992 to become the head of USA baseball. Then changed his mind a couple of weeks later and didn't leave until he retired again in '97. In '99 UGA talked him into trying to revive the program after Robert Sapp nuked what Steve Webber had built. Polk coached '00 and '01 in Athens then came back to MSU for '02.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Also- Cohen wouldnt have had such a tough start had Polk/Raffo kept recruiting instead of their "camps only" policy.

We lost two full cycles of guys who would've been Bulldogs had we came off that policy. That policy allowed Bianco to get rolling because it got him guys like Seth Smith, Chris Coghlan, Stephen Head, Lance Lynn, Cody Satterwhite, Mark Holliman, and Matt Maloney. At least 3 of those guys WANTED to be Bulldogs and we wouldn't recruit them because they couldn't come to camp.

[Santiago]

If Rooney had just read this board early in the season he would have the answers.
Bars, and our historical place overall that we should not demand more. ***

[Todd4State]

First of all I think it's a bit odd that he went back 20 years almost to talk about our volatility.

But since he went there- we should never have brought Polk back in 1992 much less in 2001. That's on LT and the LFL people that talked him into coming back. Had Polk left in 1992 there is a good chance we hire Augie Garrido but instead we M-Stated that up and went with a nostalgia grab throughout the 1990's and 2000's which was never going to work if we wanted a NC. In the meantime Bertman roided everyone up to Jose Canseco levels and after he left and Smoke Laval took over did they bring Bertman back? NO! They brought in Manieri and won another NC with him and kept on rolling. That kind of thing in a nutshell is why they are more stable. If they brought Bertman back like we brought Polk back for 7 years they probably would have stagnated as well. Bertman had been passed by Tulane by the time he retired so no I don't think it would have worked had they brought him back.

Bringing Polk back definitely had a negative effect on Cohen's first five years or so until he got us further than Polk did.

Now, our current situation isn't related so much to Polk as much as it is who Cohen hired. Both Cann and Lemonis got consumed by the MSU baseball monster as both couldn't really handle success and the massive fan base, attention and praise that goes along with winning, and the high expectations.

So, the highs of 2016-2021 were essentially mostly due to Cohen and the program and players he brought in or started the recruiting process on but the coaches following him couldn't build on what was already built.

And as far as LSU- after Manieri retired did they hire some random hitting coach? Nope. They hired Jay Johnson a guy with a lot of Omaha experience who had been at a blueblood and they also had a much more developed NIL program compared to ours in 2021.

That's the difference.

[Todd4State]

We lost two full cycles of guys who would've been Bulldogs had we came off that policy. That policy allowed Bianco to get rolling because it got him guys like Seth Smith, Chris Coghlan, Stephen Head, Lance Lynn, Cody Satterwhite, Mark Holliman, and Matt Maloney. At least 3 of those guys WANTED to be Bulldogs and we wouldn't recruit them because they couldn't come to camp.

Bringing Polk back set our program back ten years. At that point he wasn't really trying to win NC's. He was much more focused on the scholarship situation than anything.

I remember Gene Swindoll posting Polk's 40 something page manifesto sometime in the 2000's.

[Todd4State]

Also- Rooney is talking about us being volatile. Let's not forget-we're basically a borderline postseason team at this moment despite the fact that we have been poorly managed.

We're in much better shape now than we were in 2008 when we only won something like 24 games the whole season. Lemonis only had one losing season here and we won 18 SEC games just a year ago. I'm not saying that he didn't underachieve. But we're not a complete dumpster fire at the moment either. I'm guessing we're going to win at least 30 games and I feel like the odds of us making the regionals are a little bit better now. Beyond that- we'll see what happens in the regionals if we get there.

The reality of the situation at the moment is we could make a really good hire and get right back to 2016-2021 levels of winning very quickly. We're really not that far from that at the moment as it is. How many 1 run losses do we have the past two season? Mostly because we didn't know when to take a pitcher out of the game. This team really should be a borderline host/National Seed rather than a borderline postseason team.

[Percho]

The lows are because Polk tried to burn the whole thing down in a hissy fit and Lemonis not being able to maintain what he inherited.

The only other down year was when Cohen built his entire team around the dead ball baseball and didn't even have any time to course correct. Ross Mitchell went from almost unhittable to throwing BP. 17 the NCAA for that year.

I loved that good RM year

[StarkVegasSteve]

Also- Rooney is talking about us being volatile. Let's not forget-we're basically a borderline postseason team at this moment despite the fact that we have been poorly managed.

We're in much better shape now than we were in 2008 when we only won something like 24 games the whole season. Lemonis only had one losing season here and we won 18 SEC games just a year ago. I'm not saying that he didn't underachieve. But we're not a complete dumpster fire at the moment either. I'm guessing we're going to win at least 30 games and I feel like the odds of us making the regionals are a little bit better now. Beyond that- we'll see what happens in the regionals if we get there.

The reality of the situation at the moment is we could make a really good hire and get right back to 2016-2021 levels of winning very quickly. We're really not that far from that at the moment as it is. How many 1 run losses do we have the past two season? Mostly because we didn't know when to take a pitcher out of the game. This team really should be a borderline host/National Seed rather than a borderline postseason team.

Rooney's point was solid. Maybe he made it in a roundabout way but it made a lot of sense. Just look at the last 15 years. 10 regionals, 7 supers, 4 CWS appearances, and a national championship. In that SAME time period we also have had 5 HCs now(3 full time and 2 interims) and 4 seasons where we didn't win 10 SEC games. Like our highs are really high but our lows aren't just barely missing the NCAAT, it's completely bottoming out and finshing last or next to last. We consider ourselves on the same playing field as LSU(which we are not), but LSU just doesn't have that volatility. EVER.

[Todd4State]

Rooney's point was solid. Maybe he made it in a roundabout way but it made a lot of sense. Just look at the last 15 years. 10 regionals, 7 supers, 4 CWS appearances, and a national championship. In that SAME time period we also have had 5 HCs now(3 full time and 2 interims) and 4 seasons where we didn't win 10 SEC games. Like our highs are really high but our lows aren't just barely missing the NCAAT, it's completely bottoming out and finshing last or next to last. We consider ourselves on the same playing field as LSU(which we are not), but LSU just doesn't have that volatility. EVER.

LSU handles their shit better. They don't bring back Skip Bertman years after he tried to retire twice. And if they did they wouldn't have an awkward situation where Skip demands that they hire so and so or he's basically going to burn the place down. When Bertman became AD he didn't hire an unqualified hitting coach with question marks that had been question marks for a long time but no one at MSU talked about it. I know Tulane baseball people and I wondered why they passed over Cann for Trent Jewett and they told me that Cann liked to run around. I had no idea it would completely distract him. And their AD doesn't get on a local show and basically tell everyone who they're hiring months before they can actually hire someone.

[Johnson85]

(2) Larry Templeton as the AD was like giving MSU athletics a tape-worm, hook-worm or slow death AIDS. He was like the parent that makes his A+ and Perfect ACT student kids work at his Blockbuster Video franchise. "Because it's the family business." Why go to Medical School or aspire to more, "I am part of Hollywood in this store".

But, the MSU fan base knew they dude was garbage. Thank goodness we got Greg Byrne.


Larry Templeton really does describe everything wrong with MSU athletics. He and Pete Boone should give each other handies every night for how they protected each other during their career. Basically convinced everybody that you couldn't be successful at MSU or Ole Miss and fans should just be content to be there and each of them used the others piss poor performance to justify theirs.

I'm not sure if having competent leadership during their tenures would really have us in a materially different position to handle NIL and free agency, but damn sure could have enjoyed the 2000's more.

[was21]

My gut feeling is that Polk is an albatross for a number of reasons I can't put my finger on. He should just disappear. Why does he still have an office in the athletic building? Is he an employee?

[Pancho]

No, but he will have that office until such time as he is in a casket

[Todd4State]

My gut feeling is that Polk is an albatross for a number of reasons I can't put my finger on. He should just disappear. Why does he still have an office in the athletic building? Is he an employee?

In 2008- yes. At this time? No.

He is basically an ambassador for MSU baseball which is what he should have been all along except that his behavior wouldn't allow it for several years which is his fault.

That's water under the bridge and any of our fans that can't let that be in the past just need to let it go.
Polk does very little with the team and doesn't even hang out in the dugout very much if at all. He mostly does public speaking appearances.

Most of the guys in his tree are out of the game completely at this time anyway so he has no feelings towards any of the candidates.