Brian Dozier from Fulton.....

[Goat Holder]

Who is he, you say? No thanks to Polk, he's the guy whose sister went to MSU, the guy who himself wanted to go to MSU, Polk pulls a Head/Smith/etc. (instead opting for the likes of Frankie Rawdow), he becomes an All- American at USM and is now in the All Star Home Run derby.

Some just don't realize how far Polk set us back.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I sometimes step back and think about how pathetic/lazy Polk ran things in his second tenure.

It's amazing to think about where UM/USM would be now if we'd hired a competent coach instead of having Polk sit on his ass for six years.

[engie]

When is Bunky Kateon up in the Derby?**

[RBritt]

Was Polk really this lazy and that stupid his second go round? We didn't offer guys like smith head Logan power nor Dozier?

[War Machine Dawg]

Was Polk really this lazy and that stupid his second go round? We didn't offer guys like smith head Logan power nor Dozier?

In a word: Yes. All lifelong MSU guys who dreamed of playing for State but Polk didn't offer because they didn't attend camp. And the list wouldn't be complete without mentioning Cozart in that group, too.

[Coach34]

Was Polk really this lazy and that stupid his second go round? We didn't offer guys like smith head Logan power nor Dozier?

Polk didn't leave campus 1 single time to recruit his last 2 years at State. Let that sink in. That is worse than Crooms in recruiting. That is worse than Crooms falling asleep on the recruits couch.

[engie]

In a word: Yes. All lifelong MSU guys who dreamed of playing for State but Polk didn't offer because they didn't attend camp. And the list wouldn't be complete without mentioning Cozart in that group, too.

At least 3 of the 4 attended camp at MSU yearly, so it went even deeper than that. We weren't getting Seth Smith because he was on a full football ride at OM and didn't do the camp circuit in baseball like the other 3...

[Intramural All-American]

Don't forget about Louis Coleman either. From Pillow and wanted to come to State, but Polk wouldn't offer. He only finished the college world series final for LSU, and has been a relief pitcher for the Royals the past couple years.

[Jacksondevildog]

I don't think the large majority of our fans really understand how bad Polk was at the end.

[RBritt]

I was at state 01-04 I was enjoying the night life too much. It's a shame Ron was that sorry. It still amazes me how we got to Omaha in 07. Blows my mind!

[Todd4State]

The reality is the game passed him by is what happened. I think partly because he lived in his own world, he had no clue how the recruiting world was changing. Stuff like Perfect Game, Moneyball causing teams to focus more on college players in the draft, etc.

Going off of what people had told me in the past, if he thought you were a draftable talent, he wouldn't sign you a lot of times because he didn't want to have to compete with the MLB draft. Basically he thought that he was better off going after a guy like a Brad Jones who would no doubt come to school rather than risk a guy like a Head pulling a Dale Burdick on him.

Of course, you can't live like that in today's college baseball world. If we did, we wouldn't have gotten Dakota Hudson, Hunter Renfroe, Humphreys, among others even though yes, we and everyone else is also going to get burned by the draft from time to time like we did with Vallot and Burdick this year. It's just part of it until MLB changes it, which I don't think will happen in the near future.

The other way he got burned is he would start way too late a lot of times. Coleman for example he didn't offer because he hadn't seen him pitch going into his senior year and he wanted Coleman to go to Meridian CC. Baseball players commit earlier than most sports typically and so you have to be on the ball when these guys are in 9th-10th grade or earlier or you are going to miss them because some of them will be committed to someone else two years before the Ron Polk camp even starts.

The biggest thing that would piss me off was you would hear about guys telling him that they wanted to come to MSU, and a lot of times he would laugh in their face. I don't care if you throw a 60 MPH fastball, that's just crappy.

[Todd4State]

I was at state 01-04 I was enjoying the night life too much. It's a shame Ron was that sorry. It still amazes me how we got to Omaha in 07. Blows my mind!

A lot of it was because Ed Easley and Mitch Moreland promised to pull themselves out of the MLB draft in high school and Rea was 5'6" and MLB scouts don't like to draft small guys like that even though he could rake.

[HereComesTheSpiral]

A lot of it was because Ed Easley and Mitch Moreland promised to pull themselves out of the MLB draft in high school and Rea was 5'6" and MLB scouts don't like to draft small guys like that even though he could rake.

I work with Mitch's dad, I wonder how former players view Polk now. I think the ones that are loyal to him to the end are the ones that Polk do whatever they wanted to do.

[Jacksondevildog]

There are some so loyal that they would swallow a cyanid pill if offered. I shit you not. I respect Polk for what he did for our program, but as much as he helped us, he nearly wiped that all away.

[Johnson85]

At least 3 of the 4 attended camp at MSU yearly, so it went even deeper than that. We weren't getting Seth Smith because he was on a full football ride at OM and didn't do the camp circuit in baseball like the other 3...

He didn't think private schools were good competition. The Atlanta Braves scouted Louis Coleman well before State did. I know there are a lot of baseball scouts out there, but that still seems unfathomable to me. Almost certain that he would have played in Starkville at some point his senior year, so Polk wouldn't have even had to have anyone from his staff leave Starkville. Could have just told hsi high school coach he wanted to see COleman pitch and to make sure he started a game in Starkville.