Coach Oak mic'd up

[KOdawg1]

Boys, we got a real baseball coach.
https://twitter.com/HailStateBB/status/2018129597930340646?s=20

[Santiago]

Winner.

[Todd4State]

Right off the bat the attention to detail is much better. There is a reason why you never saw a Lemonis video like this. I like how he is teaching the players how to handle pressure too by not trying to do too much. Like the gap to gap hitting approach too.

Seems like a coach anyone would like to play for.

I'll say it- in a year or two our baseball program is about to become Tennessee without being douchebags about it.

[parabrave]

They will never put a mic near Jans.

[ArrowDawg]

Right off the bat the attention to detail is much better. There is a reason why you never saw a Lemonis video like this. I like how he is teaching the players how to handle pressure too by not trying to do too much. Like the gap to gap hitting approach too.

Seems like a coach anyone would like to play for.

I'll say it- in a year or two our baseball program is about to become Tennessee without being douchebags about it.

I pray you're right about that. It's what we should have been all along. We should have more than one title. I hope Oak is about to make that happen in the coming years.

[Todd4State]

I pray you're right about that. It's what we should have been all along. We should have more than one title. I hope Oak is about to make that happen in the coming years.

Winning a championship in baseball is as much about being hot at the right time as it is having talent. BOC gives us a chance to be in position to win some more.

[msudawglb]

much like Saban and his attention to detail with technique....if your coach is preaching the right mindset and you've been getting that all season with your approach, your team is much more likely to "get hot".

I LOVED hearing him say "slow your heartrate when you're at the plate". Hit it head high and drive it...don't swing for the fence. If your hitters can get this mindset, we will go very far. If we would have had that mindset in 2013 against UCLA, we would have 2 NC's now. We popped everything up those 2 days. No discipline at the plate.

[Leroy Jenkins]

Not a bucket in sight.

[R2Dawg]

I'm not as big a baseball guy on many on here but I'll tell you one thing we will lose some games but it will not be that we were out coached or unprepared.

Dude that is what a top level coach looks like in any sport. We got a winner and good times are coming to MSU soon.

[BeardoMSU]

Right off the bat the attention to detail is much better. There is a reason why you never saw a Lemonis video like this. I like how he is teaching the players how to handle pressure too by not trying to do too much. Like the gap to gap hitting approach too.

Seems like a coach anyone would like to play for.

I'll say it- in a year or two our baseball program is about to become Tennessee without being douchebags about it.

Yup....

[Todd4State]

much like Saban and his attention to detail with technique....if your coach is preaching the right mindset and you've been getting that all season with your approach, your team is much more likely to "get hot".

I LOVED hearing him say "slow your heartrate when you're at the plate". Hit it head high and drive it...don't swing for the fence. If your hitters can get this mindset, we will go very far. If we would have had that mindset in 2013 against UCLA, we would have 2 NC's now. We popped everything up those 2 days. No discipline at the plate.


I'm not as big a baseball guy on many on here but I'll tell you one thing we will lose some games but it will not be that we were out coached or unprepared.

Dude that is what a top level coach looks like in any sport. We got a winner and good times are coming to MSU soon.

One thing a lot of people don't realize about BOC. He is the only ACC coach to win a NC since the 1950's. And he did it in the SEC dominated era beating Vanderbilt I believe.

It's easy to see why his teams succeed and get to Omaha so much.

And while Virginia is a good program and has a lot of resources for baseball relatively speaking - BOC now has more resources than he has ever had before.

To me, honestly it feels like we finally have settled our baseball coach situation for the first time since Cohen left. There were definitely times where Lemonis you felt like he was going to be fine and even times when I felt like that about Cann. But it's just that BOC feels like the real deal. You know he isn't going to do anything like Cann did and you also don't get the sense that if he wins a NC it might be because of what was left behind.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

I’ve honestly never been this excited about baseball. I’m ready to see what the new coaching brings. I’m excited about the players and the potential with this group. I love how tough the schedule is. There will be high level baseball and big games all season.

[BrunswickDawg]

One thing a lot of people don't realize about BOC. He is the only ACC coach to win a NC since the 1950's. And he did it in the SEC dominated era beating Vanderbilt I believe.

It's easy to see why his teams succeed and get to Omaha so much.

And while Virginia is a good program and has a lot of resources for baseball relatively speaking - BOC now has more resources than he has ever had before.

To me, honestly it feels like we finally have settled our baseball coach situation for the first time since Cohen left. There were definitely times where Lemonis you felt like he was going to be fine and even times when I felt like that about Cann. But it's just that BOC feels like the real deal. You know he isn't going to do anything like Cann did and you also don't get the sense that if he wins a NC it might be because of what was left behind.

Actually - I'll go one better. This is the first time we've had our coaching situation settled, coach completely focused, program well resourced, and fanbase unified since Ron Polk first "retired" in 1992.
After he retired and then unretired in '92, Polk was going thru the motions. Maybe you can argue when Mac was coach we had it - but he was obviously thinking of "bigger and better" and being out of Polk's shadow. We won't talk about Polk II. Cohen split the fan base - and more importantly the funding base. Cann was Cann. Lemon pre-2022 was there - but even then we had people not all in like this, and then he lost it.

It's a testament to the program that we've been able to compete at a pretty strong level during all of that.

[Todd4State]

Actually - I'll go one better. This is the first time we've had our coaching situation settled, coach completely focused, program well resourced, and fanbase unified since Ron Polk first "retired" in 1992.
After he retired and then unretired in '92, Polk was going thru the motions. Maybe you can argue when Mac was coach we had it - but he was obviously thinking of "bigger and better" and being out of Polk's shadow. We won't talk about Polk II. Cohen split the fan base - and more importantly the funding base. Cann was Cann. Lemon pre-2022 was there - but even then we had people not all in like this, and then he lost it.

It's a testament to the program that we've been able to compete at a pretty strong level during all of that.

That's a pretty good rundown. Our fans were too stuck on Ron Polk for well over a decade and it held us back. Every single MSU fan wanted to see him win a NC at MSU but after 1992 it was clear he wasn't going to do that. MSU chose to live in the past for over 20 years and then tried to sabotage Cohen for actually trying to win a NC. And what Cohen did as a baseball coach was remarkable to me. He took a team that was a losing team and had split support and was lagging third in the state of Mississippi in baseball in recruiting and eventually if we're all honest here turned the baseball program into the program MSU fans wanted by 2016-2021. I can't say that Cohen split the fan base- Polk did. If Polk had supported Cohen from the start things probably recover more quickly. I don't think we have a NC without Polk and what he did. But we also don't have one without Cohen and what he did to get the program back on course. Ironically, neither one of them officially won the NC here. But both of them had a lot to do with it.

Lemonis was perfect for the short term. A lot of coaches would have Joe Moorheaded that situation. His laid back approach worked great when we had plenty of leaders like Mangum, TA, and Ethan Small that could hold people accountable. Long term we're probably regional type team with a lot of lack of attention to detail never allowing us to hit our true ceiling like 2024. The big boosters simply had enough when we lost to Texas last year. I saw a video of Lemonis today and it looks like he is doing well and has lost some weight. He'll get another head coaching job soon if I had to guess.

[Political Hack]

If we're not top 8 headed to the CWS, I'll be bummed. But we should be good enough throughout the season to set ourselves up for a good Super matchup and we have the pitching depth to win the 4-team tourneys. This is the first baseball season I've actually been excited about since we won the SEC... and of course the natty season.

The SEC is brutal, and it's baseball, so I hope the talking heads don't lose their minds when we inevitably drop a game or series we shouldn't. It's going to happen. But we're also going to win some games and series that we probably shouldn't (UCLA would be nice).

How many are making the trip for opening weekend?

[Coach34]

Little nugget i Saw this morning-

State baseball is not in the Top 25 of college baseball in wins since 2000

[State82]

Little nugget i Saw this morning-

State baseball is not in the Top 25 of college baseball in wins since 2000

I would have never, ever guessed that to be the case. Wow. Five trips to the CWS during that time period but not Top 25 in total wins.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Actually - I'll go one better. This is the first time we've had our coaching situation settled, coach completely focused, program well resourced, and fanbase unified since Ron Polk first "retired" in 1992.
After he retired and then unretired in '92, Polk was going thru the motions. Maybe you can argue when Mac was coach we had it - but he was obviously thinking of "bigger and better" and being out of Polk's shadow. We won't talk about Polk II. Cohen split the fan base - and more importantly the funding base. Cann was Cann. Lemon pre-2022 was there - but even then we had people not all in like this, and then he lost it.

It's a testament to the program that we've been able to compete at a pretty strong level during all of that.

Agree completely on Polk. He was never the same after 92. He honestly wasn't the same after 90 if we're being honest. He didn't really want to be here and was just kind of, as you said, "going through the motions".

McMahon had it but if we could've gotten him in 92, he probably wins a national championship here.

Official Polk II was collecting a paycheck and got lucky that his 07 team got on a heater. We would remember that time far worse if not for the 05 team getting hot in Hoover and the 07 team going on the heater of a lifetime we would remember that era a lot less fondly.

Cohen didn't split the fanbase, or the funding base, as baseball coach. That came when he was the AD. Cohen the baseball coach actually got us back to level footing with the rest of the baseball elites and caught back up, and passed OM, who had lapped us under Bianco.

Cann had it and everyone bought in. The 17 team was one of the most fun teams to be around and just be in awe of the stupid ways they would win. Cann wins a national championship in 19 and probably 21. I've said it once and I'll say it a million times over, Cann was Vitello before Vitello.

Lem was a little Polk 1.5ish with better recruits to start. He got a natty but it was on the backs of Cohen guys and guys who had been through the 18 and 19 trials and tribulations. He did get Bednar though and we don't win without Will.

O'Conner has the chance to be what McMahon probably would've been if he would've come in 92 instead of 98. By that, I mean give us a great 10 years with 2 national championship and probably 6 appearances in Omaha.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Little nugget i Saw this morning-

State baseball is not in the Top 25 of college baseball in wins since 2000

I mean we were 105-118 from 08-11.

[BrunswickDawg]

Don't get me wrong - I was a big fan of Cohen as HC. But those first 3 seasons our fanbase was split and was pretty brutal about Cohen - and people did hold back money (and hated his cussing and bunting). That started changing in 2011, and was repaired a good bit by the 2013 run. It still kept him from really running on all cylinders for a while. Imagine the monster he could have built faster if everyone was in like they are with Oak.

[Coursesuper]

Don't get me wrong - I was a big fan of Cohen as HC. But those first 3 seasons our fanbase was split and was pretty brutal about Cohen - and people did hold back money (and hated his cussing and bunting). That started changing in 2011, and was repaired a good bit by the 2013 run. It still kept him from really running on all cylinders for a while. Imagine the monster he could have built faster if everyone was in like they are with Oak.

People defiantly held back money and it wasn't his cussing and bunting it was mainly just him.

[Coach34]

People defiantly held back money and it wasn't his cussing and bunting it was mainly just him.

Boosters mad we didnt hire Raffo
Polk had let the program rot from within
Cohen blew it up and did a total rebuild- which took a little longer

Made for some rough seasons

[StarkVegasSteve]

Don't get me wrong - I was a big fan of Cohen as HC. But those first 3 seasons our fanbase was split and was pretty brutal about Cohen - and people did hold back money (and hated his cussing and bunting). That started changing in 2011, and was repaired a good bit by the 2013 run. It still kept him from really running on all cylinders for a while. Imagine the monster he could have built faster if everyone was in like they are with Oak.

I'm honestly glad he got rid of some of the Poor Ole's that hated him cussing. And in his defense, he always made sure no kids were within earshot when he let it go.

I'll never forget the LSU series in 09. We had blown a late game lead on Friday(were up 4-1 going into the 7th) and he kicked all the kids out of the stadium and he dropped f bombs, GDs, and every other word you can think of in about a 5th minute stretch. It was absolutely incredible. I applauded. He didn't like that either. I still think about what would've happened if we would've ended up losing that Saturday game. We were up 7-3 in the 9th and they scored 4 to tie it. Thankfully, for our players and some of the Poor Ole fans who hated cussing, we walked LSU off in the 9th.

[Turfdawg67]

I'll say it- in a year or two our baseball program is about to become Tennessee without being douchebags about it.

And then BOC will retire. It's just our luck...

[StarkVegasSteve]

People defiantly held back money and it wasn't his cussing and bunting it was mainly just him.

It was the cussing and the fact that his name wasn't Tommy Raffo. Polk tried his damnedest to make sure Cohen wouldn't succeed. He really poisoned the well with a lot of long time donors. They all thought they could get rid of Cohen and Byrne and get LT back so LT would hire Raffo.

When Cohen and Byrne told them in no uncertain terms, and Cohen was pretty abrasive about it, that this wasn't Ron Polk's MSU anymore, they took their ball(and money) and went home.

Some tried to come back after Cohen righted the ship and act like nothing happened, Cohen remembered.

[Coursesuper]

It was the cussing and the fact that his name wasn't Tommy Raffo. Polk tried his damnedest to make sure Cohen wouldn't succeed. He really poisoned the well with a lot of long time donors. They all thought they could get rid of Cohen and Byrne and get LT back so LT would hire Raffo.

When Cohen and Byrne told them in no uncertain terms, and Cohen was pretty abrasive about it, that this wasn't Ron Polk's MSU anymore, they took their ball(and money) and went home.

Some tried to come back after Cohen righted the ship and act like nothing happened, Cohen remembered.

Let’s just say that there are many who have a burning dislike for him since way before any of that happened. And he didn’t do himself many favors with some while he was here.

[BeardoMSU]

It was the cussing and the fact that his name wasn't Tommy Raffo. Polk tried his damnedest to make sure Cohen wouldn't succeed. He really poisoned the well with a lot of long time donors. They all thought they could get rid of Cohen and Byrne and get LT back so LT would hire Raffo.

When Cohen and Byrne told them in no uncertain terms, and Cohen was pretty abrasive about it, that this wasn't Ron Polk's MSU anymore, they took their ball(and money) and went home.

Some tried to come back after Cohen righted the ship and act like nothing happened, Cohen remembered.

Bringing back LT, lol. Some of our money guys are mentally broken to think he was remotely a good AD. Favoring access over a functional competitive athletic department just fu<king baffles me.

[BrunswickDawg]

I'm honestly glad he got rid of some of the Poor Ole's that hated him cussing. And in his defense, he always made sure no kids were within earshot when he let it go.

I'll never forget the LSU series in 09. We had blown a late game lead on Friday(were up 4-1 going into the 7th) and he kicked all the kids out of the stadium and he dropped f bombs, GDs, and every other word you can think of in about a 5th minute stretch. It was absolutely incredible. I applauded. He didn't like that either. I still think about what would've happened if we would've ended up losing that Saturday game. We were up 7-3 in the 9th and they scored 4 to tie it. Thankfully, for our players and some of the Poor Ole fans who hated cussing, we walked LSU off in the 9th.

Pissed John Cohen was the best
https://platform.andthevalleyshook.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6565149/JOHN_COHEN_CLIPBOARD.0.gif?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100

[shoeless joe]

oak is great. what makes him great is yes, things like attention to detail and overall knowledge. but what really takes him over the top is how he really is just a regular guy that comes off as very intense about his craft but very genuine and real. from the times i've spoken and been around him i haven't detected any inkling of being a phony. dude is a baseball guy and in reality would probably succeed at any level of the game. i believe we are very fortunate to have him.

what i really like about him is how he doesn't try to reinvent the wheel within preparation. but there's always a little something that forces the players to not only perform but to think. almost a built in way to prevent them from just going thru the motions.

[Todd4State]

Ron Polk being upset about Cohen becoming the head coach is ironic because there was a time when it came down to Polk, Tom D'Armi, and Bragan for the head coaching job in 1974. D'Armi eliminated himself with some incidents that would make Cohen look like an Upward League baseball coach. I think they chose Bragan over Polk because Bragan had a background similar to Paul Gregory's and he had a pro baseball background and he was part of the Reds minor league system back when they were the Big Red Machine and this hire was when they were in their heyday. Bragan was probably our worst baseball coach ever rivaled only by Cann. Alex Grammas who played at MSU and was friends with Bragan helped MSU "save face" by hiring him as an assistant for the Brewers and we hired Polk away from Miami where he was an assistant. Truth is Bragan was a horrible recruiter and had split the team (being generous most greatly disliked him) and was basically about to be fired. D'Armi ended up at Duke as their head coach a few years later.

Who knows how many NC's we would have right now if we had let Polk walked and hired Augie Garrido, and then went from that to Paul Manieri and then to Cohen?

McMahon got tired of hearing about "what Ron Polk would have done." LT hiring Polk back was the most LT move ever. And the timing couldn't have been worse because that's when Ole Miss hired Bianco. Polk's recruiting killed the program as well as him being distracted with being the savior of college baseball while everyone else won games. And like someone said- thank God for the 2005 SEC baseball tournament where our pitchers had the games of their lives four days in a row and the 2007 SR. Polk 2 rarely even won the Governor's Cup so we didn't have that to potentially look forward to.

Hiring Cohen was probably the most controversial coaching search I have ever seen at MSU. It had to happen though. Yeah- you had some fans that wanted Raffo. But you also some other smaller factions like a few who wanted Steve Smith, some who wanted Brian Shoop, some who wanted us to go outside the MSU family- I remember some fans mentioning Brian O'Connor at the time which is very ironic now. I know Byrne talked to Pat Casey and Tim Corbin and both turned it down. Rumor was Polk called Casey and asked him to not take the job. Very difficult time for MSU in baseball but Cohen pushed through and got it done. Transfer portal would have been REALLY nice back then. MSU was at a crossroads at that time. Our choice was to become a National Superpower/Blueblood or become what Wichita State is now. Really glad we chose the blueblood route. But to do that Cohen had to do what he did and we had to break away from Ron Polk. And honestly, if we had hired Raffo I don't think it would have worked and we would have wasted another 3 years probably and then we would have still had the same confrontation with Polk and however long it would have lasted would have been a waste of time.

As far as Cann, in hindsight I wished we would have made Gary Henderson the interim and then did a proper search. I do wonder what would have happened if we hired Cann to be the hitting coach for a couple of years sort of like what Polk 1 did with Pat McMahon? We might have been able to pick up on some things to say the least.

Lemonis was kind of a risk when you think about it. Indiana baseball and MSU are completely polar opposites. And yeah he won at Indiana but it's not like Lemonis was taking them to Omaha and hosting SR's either. In hindsight if we had hired Schlossnagle odds are he would have left us for A&M or Texas as soon as he could. And Dan McDonnell really hasn't done much that's impressive lately either. He's a good coach but he's probably getting past his prime now.

Hiring BOC was probably one of the smoothest hire processes we have ever had. Just really impressively done. Made Cohen look like amateur hour.

[Todd4State]

Bringing back LT, lol. Some of our money guys are mentally broken to think he was remotely a good AD. Favoring access over a functional competitive athletic department just fu<king baffles me.

I think a lot of the disconnect with them is they think the coaches and AD that are their friends are good at their coaching/athletic jobs.

[Pancho]

Lack of proper perspective is a program killer.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Ron Polk being upset about Cohen becoming the head coach is ironic because there was a time when it came down to Polk, Tom D'Armi, and Bragan for the head coaching job in 1974. D'Armi eliminated himself with some incidents that would make Cohen look like an Upward League baseball coach. I think they chose Bragan over Polk because Bragan had a background similar to Paul Gregory's and he had a pro baseball background and he was part of the Reds minor league system back when they were the Big Red Machine and this hire was when they were in their heyday. Bragan was probably our worst baseball coach ever rivaled only by Cann. Alex Grammas who played at MSU and was friends with Bragan helped MSU "save face" by hiring him as an assistant for the Brewers and we hired Polk away from Miami where he was an assistant. Truth is Bragan was a horrible recruiter and had split the team (being generous most greatly disliked him) and was basically about to be fired. D'Armi ended up at Duke as their head coach a few years later.

Who knows how many NC's we would have right now if we had let Polk walked and hired Augie Garrido, and then went from that to Paul Manieri and then to Cohen?

McMahon got tired of hearing about "what Ron Polk would have done." LT hiring Polk back was the most LT move ever. And the timing couldn't have been worse because that's when Ole Miss hired Bianco. Polk's recruiting killed the program as well as him being distracted with being the savior of college baseball while everyone else won games. And like someone said- thank God for the 2005 SEC baseball tournament where our pitchers had the games of their lives four days in a row and the 2007 SR. Polk 2 rarely even won the Governor's Cup so we didn't have that to potentially look forward to.

Hiring Cohen was probably the most controversial coaching search I have ever seen at MSU. It had to happen though. Yeah- you had some fans that wanted Raffo. But you also some other smaller factions like a few who wanted Steve Smith, some who wanted Brian Shoop, some who wanted us to go outside the MSU family- I remember some fans mentioning Brian O'Connor at the time which is very ironic now. I know Byrne talked to Pat Casey and Tim Corbin and both turned it down. Rumor was Polk called Casey and asked him to not take the job. Very difficult time for MSU in baseball but Cohen pushed through and got it done. Transfer portal would have been REALLY nice back then. MSU was at a crossroads at that time. Our choice was to become a National Superpower/Blueblood or become what Wichita State is now. Really glad we chose the blueblood route. But to do that Cohen had to do what he did and we had to break away from Ron Polk. And honestly, if we had hired Raffo I don't think it would have worked and we would have wasted another 3 years probably and then we would have still had the same confrontation with Polk and however long it would have lasted would have been a waste of time.

As far as Cann, in hindsight I wished we would have made Gary Henderson the interim and then did a proper search. I do wonder what would have happened if we hired Cann to be the hitting coach for a couple of years sort of like what Polk 1 did with Pat McMahon? We might have been able to pick up on some things to say the least.

Lemonis was kind of a risk when you think about it. Indiana baseball and MSU are completely polar opposites. And yeah he won at Indiana but it's not like Lemonis was taking them to Omaha and hosting SR's either. In hindsight if we had hired Schlossnagle odds are he would have left us for A&M or Texas as soon as he could. And Dan McDonnell really hasn't done much that's impressive lately either. He's a good coach but he's probably getting past his prime now.

Hiring BOC was probably one of the smoothest hire processes we have ever had. Just really impressively done. Made Cohen look like amateur hour.

Polk wasn't hired from Miami. He was at Ga Southern. He took them to Omaha in '73.

I think we would've hired McMahon in 92 had Polk actually stepped down. I do think Pat wins one though. I think he kind of lost that fire when he left Old Dominion to come back here and be the HCIW.

Bringing Polk back was as Poor Ole as it gets. Paul Mainieri would have crawled on broken glass to Starkville to take our job in 01. Rick Jones at Tulane would have been a good hire. I think DVH was probably holding out for the Arky job but I think he would've taken the call. I have always wondered if we could've coaxed Ray Tanner into the job. He was still early into his USCe run at that point and I think he would've moved. Saying all that, to Ron's credit he had revitalized UGA in very short order and had them in the CWS in Year 2. It was Poor Ole but no one batted an eye at it at that time because it looked like he had become revitalized at UGA.

The Cohen thing is still the wildest thing. To this day there's rumors that Larry Templeton was working behind the scenes with Polk to get Raffo the job. I know of 4 coaches (Corbin, Casey, Cohen, and Dave Serrano) that we were after that Polk personally called and asked them to not take the job. He said the fan support wouldn't be there for them. An interesting twist is that I know there was some initial interest with Dan McDonnell but he didn't want to coach against Bianco every year. That would've brought Lem here as an asst.

On Gary, he only came with the caveat that he would not be named interim. That was a nonstarter. He was tired of being a HC. The Kentucky thing had soured him on ever being a HC again. We just didn't have many options that late in the offseason and Cohen had pitched Cann the job in August. We had Cann hired before Cohen even got the AD job because he was done being the baseball coach. People still don't believe me when I say that but whether John Cohen got the AD job or not, he was not going to be our HC in 2017. There was some initial discussion with Butch but he had just gotten to Auburn and didn't want to leave that early.

Lemonis was pitched by Dan McDonnell after he turned us down the second time. He turned us down the first time, we zeroed in on Schloss and then had to reverse course and went back to Dan. That's when he pitched Lemonis. We had some early conversations with Tim Tadlock as well.

The O'Conner hiring process seems smooth because Selmon learned a lot from the Lebby hiring and our baseball people learned a lot of what not to do when Cohen hired Lemonis.

[Homedawg]

Polk wasn't hired from Miami. He was at Ga Southern. He took them to Omaha in '73.

I think we would've hired McMahon in 92 had Polk actually stepped down. I do think Pat wins one though. I think he kind of lost that fire when he left Old Dominion to come back here and be the HCIW.

Bringing Polk back was as Poor Ole as it gets. Paul Mainieri would have crawled on broken glass to Starkville to take our job in 01. Rick Jones at Tulane would have been a good hire. I think DVH was probably holding out for the Arky job but I think he would've taken the call. I have always wondered if we could've coaxed Ray Tanner into the job. He was still early into his USCe run at that point and I think he would've moved. Saying all that, to Ron's credit he had revitalized UGA in very short order and had them in the CWS in Year 2. It was Poor Ole but no one batted an eye at it at that time because it looked like he had become revitalized at UGA.

The Cohen thing is still the wildest thing. To this day there's rumors that Larry Templeton was working behind the scenes with Polk to get Raffo the job. I know of 4 coaches (Corbin, Casey, Cohen, and Dave Serrano) that we were after that Polk personally called and asked them to not take the job. He said the fan support wouldn't be there for them. An interesting twist is that I know there was some initial interest with Dan McDonnell but he didn't want to coach against Bianco every year. That would've brought Lem here as an asst.

On Gary, he only came with the caveat that he would not be named interim. That was a nonstarter. He was tired of being a HC. The Kentucky thing had soured him on ever being a HC again. We just didn't have many options that late in the offseason and Cohen had pitched Cann the job in August. We had Cann hired before Cohen even got the AD job because he was done being the baseball coach. People still don't believe me when I say that but whether John Cohen got the AD job or not, he was not going to be our HC in 2017. There was some initial discussion with Butch but he had just gotten to Auburn and didn't want to leave that early.

Lemonis was pitched by Dan McDonnell after he turned us down the second time. He turned us down the first time, we zeroed in on Schloss and then had to reverse course and went back to Dan. That's when he pitched Lemonis. We had some early conversations with Tim Tadlock as well.

The O'Conner hiring process seems smooth because Selmon learned a lot from the Lebby hiring and our baseball people learned a lot of what not to do when Cohen hired Lemonis.

The O'connor process went like it did for 2 reasons. 1, the president's office and others said we aren't going cheap in baseball. Otherwise, Selmon was absolutely going the cheap route, wo question. 2, perfect timing for oak to leave UVA, along w our job being a premeir job.
With all that said, Selmon still deserves some credit for actually closing on Oak. He did. So i'll give him his due.

[Todd4State]

Polk wasn't hired from Miami. He was at Ga Southern. He took them to Omaha in '73.

I think we would've hired McMahon in 92 had Polk actually stepped down. I do think Pat wins one though. I think he kind of lost that fire when he left Old Dominion to come back here and be the HCIW.

Bringing Polk back was as Poor Ole as it gets. Paul Mainieri would have crawled on broken glass to Starkville to take our job in 01. Rick Jones at Tulane would have been a good hire. I think DVH was probably holding out for the Arky job but I think he would've taken the call. I have always wondered if we could've coaxed Ray Tanner into the job. He was still early into his USCe run at that point and I think he would've moved. Saying all that, to Ron's credit he had revitalized UGA in very short order and had them in the CWS in Year 2. It was Poor Ole but no one batted an eye at it at that time because it looked like he had become revitalized at UGA.

The Cohen thing is still the wildest thing. To this day there's rumors that Larry Templeton was working behind the scenes with Polk to get Raffo the job. I know of 4 coaches (Corbin, Casey, Cohen, and Dave Serrano) that we were after that Polk personally called and asked them to not take the job. He said the fan support wouldn't be there for them. An interesting twist is that I know there was some initial interest with Dan McDonnell but he didn't want to coach against Bianco every year. That would've brought Lem here as an asst.

On Gary, he only came with the caveat that he would not be named interim. That was a nonstarter. He was tired of being a HC. The Kentucky thing had soured him on ever being a HC again. We just didn't have many options that late in the offseason and Cohen had pitched Cann the job in August. We had Cann hired before Cohen even got the AD job because he was done being the baseball coach. People still don't believe me when I say that but whether John Cohen got the AD job or not, he was not going to be our HC in 2017. There was some initial discussion with Butch but he had just gotten to Auburn and didn't want to leave that early.

Lemonis was pitched by Dan McDonnell after he turned us down the second time. He turned us down the first time, we zeroed in on Schloss and then had to reverse course and went back to Dan. That's when he pitched Lemonis. We had some early conversations with Tim Tadlock as well.

The O'Conner hiring process seems smooth because Selmon learned a lot from the Lebby hiring and our baseball people learned a lot of what not to do when Cohen hired Lemonis.

Polk was at Miami for an offseason. What happened was he left Georgia Southern at the end of 1975 because they weren't willing to support the program even though he took them to Omaha. We still had Bragan at that point. Polk takes an assistant job at Miami with Ron Fraser after the 1975 season ended. Bragan takes a job with the Brewers I think in October or November of that year and after he left we hired Ron Polk from Miami.

I disagree about Pat McMahon winning a NC here. But that's just a personal opinion. It's interesting because Raffo was the hitting coach when he was at MSU but when he was at Florida he had Gary Henderson as his pitching coach who was elite at that time and he had John Cohen as his hitting coach. I feel like Pat was too focused on pitching when it comes to recruiting and it hurt us offensively some but at the same time he probably was stuck with Raffo who honestly never really impressed me as a hitting coach under McMahon and Polk.

One thing that pissed me off about the whole Polk 2 hire was LT basically acted like bringing Polk back was the only real option. Polk was never going to be as focused as he needed to be to win a NC at MSU when he came back. He was already trying to focus on saving college baseball and that happened even before he came back to MSU. I think Manieri and Rick Jones would have taken the job. Ray Tanner? I doubt it. South Carolina is a borderline blueblood and he had everything he needed and was on the cusp of winning National Titles there. Would have been an impressive pull. I'm not sure but they may have had Founder's Park on the docket around that time as well. South Carolina should be much better than they are right now in baseball. They've literally made four bad hires in a row.

[Todd4State]

The O'connor process went like it did for 2 reasons. 1, the president's office and others said we aren't going cheap in baseball. Otherwise, Selmon was absolutely going the cheap route, wo question. 2, perfect timing for oak to leave UVA, along w our job being a premeir job.
With all that said, Selmon still deserves some credit for actually closing on Oak. He did. So i'll give him his due.

It really was a perfect storm. BOC had turned down A&M a year or two before we offered. And in hindsight we should have maybe hired Vitello, but his profile was way too similar to Cann's. No way we would have taken the chance on that. And it would have been interesting to see how our fans would have reacted to our players acting like Tennessee.

The other interesting thing is we still may have ended up with BOC anyway because Vitello would have gone to MLB and we would have had an opening. Or we would be going with Elander right now.

[Todd4State]

And then BOC will retire. It's just our luck...

I'd be surprised. He is 54 right now and if this works out like I think it will- I suspect he will be at MSU at least 10 years if not more. Right now he is essentially in his prime as a coach.

But as we have seen anything can happen.

[StarkVegasSteve]

It really was a perfect storm. BOC had turned down A&M a year or two before we offered. And in hindsight we should have maybe hired Vitello, but his profile was way too similar to Cann's. No way we would have taken the chance on that. And it would have been interesting to see how our fans would have reacted to our players acting like Tennessee.

The other interesting thing is we still may have ended up with BOC anyway because Vitello would have gone to MLB and we would have had an opening. Or we would be going with Elander right now.

There's a Vitello story for another time. We probably could've had him had we wanted him. But Cohen had his eyes set on Cannizarro. And honestly, we made the right choice FOR THAT TIME. Cann took a team with very little talent and a ton of injuries to the Supers. He and Vitello would've been fun to watch coach against each other. There would've been some altercations if I had to guess.

[Coach34]

The other interesting thing is we still may have ended up with BOC anyway because Vitello would have gone to MLB and we would have had an opening. Or we would be going with Elander right now.

Word been leaking out that one of the reasons Vitello left was because of money Tenn was funneling to girl's basketball instead of baseball.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Word been leaking out that one of the reasons Vitello left was because of money Tenn was funneling to girl's basketball instead of baseball.

And those reports are correct. Vitello went to Danny White multiple times asking for more money. He'd be promised it and then he'd never get it. It's a little similar to O'Conner and how we got him. Unfulfilled promises.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Little nugget i Saw this morning-

State baseball is not in the Top 25 of college baseball in wins since 2000

MSU has had almost more dead last SEC standing than Super Regionals.

Lemons crashed 2022 and 2023. Cohen crashed 3 times in 2009, 2010, and 2015. Polk in 2008. That's 6 catastrophic seasons.

And 5 of sub 500 seasons too that sucked but not last place.

Polk in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Cohen in 2011.

[BrunswickDawg]

MSU has had almost more dead last SEC standing than Super Regionals.

Lemons crashed 2022 and 2023. Cohen crashed 3 times in 2009, 2010, and 2015. Polk in 2008. That's 6 catastrophic seasons.

And 5 of sub 500 seasons too that sucked but not last place.

Polk in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Cohen in 2011.

First, you are incorrect. We did not finish DFL in 2010 or 2023, we were 11th and 13th. So 4 DFL in the SEC

Almost as many? We've been to 10 Supers in that timeframe, and regionals 18 times. Now, you can definitely argue that we've been feast or famine with 4 last in SEC and 5 CWS seasons in 25 years.

[Coach34]

We've actually done pretty well considering the coaching turnover we have had the last 8 years.

We had 2 coaches from 1976-2008. We are now on our 5th coach in the last 10 years

[Coursesuper]

We've actually done pretty well considering the coaching turnover we have had the last 8 years.

We had 2 coaches from 1976-2008. We are now on our 5th coach in the last 10 years

Coaching turnover and lack of continuity have been a big issue for the program. The performance program with all the turmoil has been admirable. We can point many fingers as to why but it was without a doubt part of the problem and this goes back to Mac and issues with things then.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Coaching turnover and lack of continuity have been a big issue for the program. The performance program with all the turmoil has been admirable. We can point many fingers as to why but it was without a doubt part of the problem and this goes back to Mac and issues with things then.

The sport changed after 2000. That's when UVA-2002 hired BOC and Arkansas-2003 got DVH. Vandy-2002 got Corbin. TCU-2004 got Schloss

MSU went back to 1985