Schlossnagle (What could have been)?

[PKADogs55]

I have to admit that when we hired Coach Lemonis, I really had no idea what type of coach he was (let alone how he would do @ State). Obviously its still early in his tenure, but think he has transitioned into our program (especially with THIS team) about as good as one could ask. I know during the search last year, we were promised a Big Time Hire. Personally from what I have seen thus far, and granted he inherited a beast-of-a-team, I think we found the exact guy we needed. However, just to have a little fun and what if(s), what do you think Schlossnagle or McDonnell would be doing with this team right now? Would we be about the same, worse, better? Would either of those coaches have gelled with our roster as well as Lemonis has? Like I said, just wanted to see what some of you think.

[KOdawg1]

I like the way Lemonis manages games and puts out the best line-up. Seemed like last year, we tinkered with the lineup too much, and I know there were some reasons for it, but I'm very pleased that our players are being put in the right spots to succeed.

To answer your question though, there's no reason to believe that we'd be any worse with those two guys as our coach. They both regularly make it to Omaha, so they're high quality coaches. So far though, I'm happy with who we got.

[bulldawg28]

I doubt it could have gone any better with the current hire. He appears to be the right selection.

[Captain Falcon]

Schlossnagle and McDonnell are really good coaches, but there are other really good coaches too. We’ll know more about Lemonis in a few years when the players are ones he actually recruited, but so far I can’t imagibe a better possible start. Yeah we laid a stinker against LSU but we’re still 31-6 overall and tied for first in the league half way through conference play. And of our six losses, four of them were fluky. Lost 1-0 in extras to USM, had a home run robbed at Florida that would’ve given us a sweep, blew a big lead against Auburn, and then had the weird play at Tennessee. I don’t think coaching had anything to do with those losses.

Schloss and McDonnell probably would’ve done great here, but so far Lemonis is doing great too.

[DCdawg]

It would be hard to believe that anyone else would have a better record at this point. I really like that we don't sit back in any facet of the game - we are aggressive on the mound, at the plate, and on the basepaths.

[Lord McBuckethead]

my only criticism of Lemonis so far is the overuse of the shift on the infield. It needs to correspond to how we are pitching to the players. For some reason, we have the shift on and we are pitching outer half of the zone. It blows my mind. I would rather just play it straight up.

But we have the best record in the country, we are leading the SEC in HR and Average I believe, and we are 2 losses away from being the clear #1 team in the nation. Who is to complain.

[mstatefan91]

31-6 and #2/#3 in the polls. Tied for 1st in the SEC. I'm not going to complain.

[TNDawg35]

my only criticism of Lemonis so far is the overuse of the shift on the infield. It needs to correspond to how we are pitching to the players. For some reason, we have the shift on and we are pitching outer half of the zone. It blows my mind. I would rather just play it straight up.

But we have the best record in the country, we are leading the SEC in HR and Average I believe, and we are 2 losses away from being the clear #1 team in the nation. Who is to complain.

From what I last saw, South Carolina is leading the SEC in homers. Last I checked they were in the low 50’s and we were in the lower 40’s.

[TNDawg35]

Schloss is a hell of a coach. Baseball coaches have to start somewhere tho. Canon built this team. I want to see a team that Lemo builds. Lemo has taken this talent tho and showed he is a dang good coach. We don’t have Foxhall with Lemo and we can all agree Foxhall has turned our staff around this yr. Lemo has done as good as anyone could have wanted this yr.

[Todd4State]

I can't imagine anyone doing any better than Lemonis has to this point. Honestly, if there were issues between Schlossnagle and Cohen and McDonnell didn't want to be here and or his family didn't my guess is that we would probably doing worse right now.

[preachermatt83]

First, Lemo is winning and we haven’t even got to see his greatest assets yet, which is his recruiting. He has been called by many the greatest recruiter in college baseball. We will win and win big now and in the future. Secondly, let’s not pretend last years team was great, because it wasn’t... we got hit at the right time and caught some major breaks... Lemo has FARRRR exceeded my expectations.

[MetEdDawg]

It's harder to walk into high expectations than low ones. We all knew this team was good. Sometimes it can be hard to live up to those expectations and perform at a high level. Lemonis has lived up to it so far.

Not turning this into a Moorhead thread, but a lot of folks had high expectations for the team going into this last year. We won at a level that in the history of first year coaches at MSU has never been done. But the expectation was higher than the outcome.

It's not easy to come in as a new coach with high expectations and it doesn't always work out. One of the things that we should be looking at however is that all 3 programs had very high expectations this year. As a big 3 (big 4 since we continue to perform at a high level in women's basketball) we are in as good a shape collectively as we've been in a long long time.

We went 8-5 with a New Years Day bowl and underachieved. We lost as a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, lost in the Elite 8 in women's basketball, and we are currently a consensus Top 3 baseball team in the country.

[Thick]

Well he’s not Moorheading, so that speaks volumes at this point in the season.

[bulldawg28]

Well he’s not Moorheading, so that speaks volumes at this point in the season.

Indeed

[ShotgunDawg]

He's done an incredible job thus far.

That being said, we just have to wait & see how he recruits, evaluates, & handles the entire program.

Baseball is such an evaluation & managing the draft sport, that I could argue that in-season management of the team is often the 2nd or 3rd most important thing that decides if a guy is really good.

[Turfdawg67]

First, Lemo is winning and we haven’t even got to see his greatest assets yet, which is his recruiting. He has been called by many the greatest recruiter in college baseball. We will win and win big now and in the future. Secondly, let’s not pretend last years team was great, because it wasn’t... we got hit at the right time and caught some major breaks... Lemo has FARRRR exceeded my expectations.

Don't agree with you often, but if Lemo is a recruiting savant, looking forward to an amazing run!

[Jack Lambert]

He has made a few in game coaching mistakes but I guess they all do.

[preachermatt83]

Don't agree with you often, but if Lemo is a recruiting savant, looking forward to an amazing run!

Well, glad we have found some common ground. Maybe we can grow from there. Lol.

[preachermatt83]

Well he’s not Moorheading, so that speaks volumes at this point in the season.


#Preach!!!!

[RocketDawg]

I have to admit that when we hired Coach Lemonis, I really had no idea what type of coach he was (let alone how he would do @ State). Obviously its still early in his tenure, but think he has transitioned into our program (especially with THIS team) about as good as one could ask. I know during the search last year, we were promised a Big Time Hire. Personally from what I have seen thus far, and granted he inherited a beast-of-a-team, I think we found the exact guy we needed. However, just to have a little fun and what if(s), what do you think Schlossnagle or McDonnell would be doing with this team right now? Would we be about the same, worse, better? Would either of those coaches have gelled with our roster as well as Lemonis has? Like I said, just wanted to see what some of you think.

Lemonis may be the next elite coach. Who knows. So far he's doing better than just about everybody though he would do. He's got the #2 team in the nation at about the season mid-point. Not bad at all.

[BuckyIsAB****]

First, Lemo is winning and we haven’t even got to see his greatest assets yet, which is his recruiting. He has been called by many the greatest recruiter in college baseball. We will win and win big now and in the future. Secondly, let’s not pretend last years team was great, because it wasn’t... we got hit at the right time and caught some major breaks... Lemo has FARRRR exceeded my expectations.

I'd take last years team over the one that won the SEC

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Season is not over yet....

[bulldogcountry1]

I wasn’t excited about Lemonis. I had never heard of him.

Now, I wouldn’t trade our coaching staff for any other in the country.

[Backspin]

Bout to hit the tough part of the schedule. Will know a lot after @Ark, Georgia, @A&M, @OM. 32-6 is really good so far but these next 4 weekends will be where we find out what we got prior to post season.

[Todd4State]

Bout to hit the tough part of the schedule. Will know a lot after @Ark, Georgia, @A&M, @OM. 32-6 is really good so far but these next 4 weekends will be where we find out what we got prior to post season.

This kind of stuff from MSU fans always amuses me. We have 13 Q1 wins which is second in the country (Texas A&M 14) but this second half is when we are "really going to see what we're made out of".

[AlSwearengen]

I was as excited about the prospects of schlosnagle as everyone else was at the time. But, I remember very early in the process when we thought it was he or McDonnell, someone posted that schlosnagle had a reputation of “not playing well with others” and not being very popular among the coaching fraternity. That alone did not bother me at all. However, as things leaked about his interview with cohen, that initial description became a little worrying.

I now think that “not playing well with others” extends beyond the coaching fraternity and probably includes AD’s, etc. I also get the feeling that tcu tolerates him because he has been winning at a high level.

[bgover4]

Gotta give Lemo credit from juggling the left side of the infield and getting that right. Maybe Schloss and McDonnell get that right too but maybe not.

[msbulldog]

I am excited as I have ever been about our chances for a Natty! The players are the most of it, but the coaches are doing their part. I believe JC did real good with this hire.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

He is our fourth coach in four years. We needed someone who will stay awhile. I think he wanted to come south for better competition, better talent pool, and better weather. And he has MSU ties. So if successful, he will stay a long time.

[PKADogs55]

I agree Todd, never really get why a late mid-late scheduling run is going to make us see what type of team we are. I can guarantee this team is LOOKING FORWARD to playing the upcoming teams!

[PKADogs55]

Anybody this we hold on to Gautreau for at least one more season?

[ShotgunDawg]

Anybody this we hold on to Gautreau for at least one more season?

Probably about a 70% chance he's back next year.

The baseball coaching carousel isn't like football's. It's very much rationalized with more retreads. In football, if you're an excellent OC, you'll get head coaching offers, but it doesn't work that way in baseball.

[AlSwearengen]

This kind of stuff from MSU fans always amuses me. We have 13 Q1 wins which is second in the country (Texas A&M 14) but this second half is when we are "really going to see what we're made out of".

You see it just about every year. One of the SEC teams will have a tough stretch late and everyone writes them off. They limp into the SEC tournament and then get put out in short order. Then, all of a sudden, they are beating everyone’s asses all the way thru and there they are in Omaha. That tough stretch is a combination of playing slightly under their potential and playing Florida, auburn, Vandy, and lsu in succession.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Probably about a 70% chance he's back next year.

The baseball coaching carousel isn't like football's. It's very much rationalized with more retreads. In football, if you're an excellent OC, you'll get head coaching offers, but it doesn't work that way in baseball.

With the cost of NOT hiring Schlossnagle ($1.4M minimum + his TCU buyout), we should be able to pay Gautreaux and Foxhall enough that most manager jobs will be pay cuts. When he does go, I hope JG leave us for Pro jobs, would hate for him to get a marquee SEC job, like South Carolina or something.

For those that don't know, Wes Johnson is now an MLB coach, after Arkansas

https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/2018-p5-baseball-compensation/

[skadoosh14]

I doubt it could have gone any better with the current hire. He appears to be the right selection.

This exactly. I can't see any other hire that would have us in a better spot at this very moment. I think the answer to this question will come in 3-4 years.

[smootness]

There's pretty much no way we would be in a better place with any other coach, simply because it would be highly improbable to be in a better position than we are no matter what.

So you certainly can't say we'd be any better with a different coach.

[I seen it dawg]

**** most people wanted moo moo butch or clown mingione.....of course some smart people screamed against that and it's looking good so far.

[Rick Danko]

With the cost of NOT hiring Schlossnagle ($1.4M minimum + his TCU buyout), we should be able to pay Gautreaux and Foxhall enough that most manager jobs will be pay cuts. When he does go, I hope JG leave us for Pro jobs, would hate for him to get a marquee SEC job, like South Carolina or something.

For those that don't know, Wes Johnson is now an MLB coach, after Arkansas

https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/2018-p5-baseball-compensation/

As far as I?m concerned, pay the assistants head coach money to keep them here. Take it out of the football budget. We will never win a title there anyways so f*** it.

[PKADogs55]

With the cost of NOT hiring Schlossnagle ($1.4M minimum + his TCU buyout), we should be able to pay Gautreaux and Foxhall enough that most manager jobs will be pay cuts. When he does go, I hope JG leave us for Pro jobs, would hate for him to get a marquee SEC job, like South Carolina or something.

For those that don't know, Wes Johnson is now an MLB coach, after Arkansas

https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/2018-p5-baseball-compensation/

Yeah I would hate to see that too.

[Randolph Dupree]

With the cost of NOT hiring Schlossnagle ($1.4M minimum + his TCU buyout), we should be able to pay Gautreaux and Foxhall enough that most manager jobs will be pay cuts. When he does go, I hope JG leave us for Pro jobs, would hate for him to get a marquee SEC job, like South Carolina or something.

For those that don't know, Wes Johnson is now an MLB coach, after Arkansas

https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/2018-p5-baseball-compensation/

A couple of things about Jake that are worth noting are that he has a health condition that is aggravated by stress, so if we can pay him, we might have more of a chance than we think to keep him long term. Also, his family is "thriving in Starkville"...those are his words, not mine. For him, there is a legitimate "quality of life" aspect to any future coaching decision. I hope we keep him for a LONG time.