Hopefully still several games left, but....

[CadaverDawg]

I feel like now is as good a time as any to applaud John Cohen for making the ballsy move of not taking the easy route last year by hiring Henderson after the Omaha run, and instead thinking about the program as a whole and our long term success. Nobody would have blamed him for taking the easy approach and making Henderson the head guy. It took some stones to put your ass on the line bc you knew what gave us the best chance to win a Natty. Not many AD's would have done that. Hats off to you, Mr Cohen.....you were a dirtbag when you played, an intense bastard when you coached, and are a big reason why our program continues to play with the blue collar, dirtbag mentality that gets us back to Omaha repeatedly even in years where we have no business being there, like last year. Now let's go win the only trophy we haven't been able to capture. HailState

[deadheaddawg]

I think he wants a championship as badly (or more) than most here. I wasn't happy with the way he handled the before hiring Interviews. I thought he talked a little too big. But no doubt the guy wants the program to succeed. Looks like he knows what's he's doing too

[preachermatt83]

I feel like now is as good a time as any to applaud John Cohen for making the ballsy move of not taking the easy route last year by hiring Henderson after the Omaha run, and instead thinking about the program as a whole and our long term success. Nobody would have blamed him for taking the easy approach and making Henderson the head guy. It took some stones to put your ass on the line bc you knew what gave us the best chance to win a Natty. Not many AD's would have done that. Hats off to you, Mr Cohen.....you were a dirtbag when you played, an intense bastard when you coached, and are a big reason why our program continues to play with the blue collar, dirtbag mentality that gets us back to Omaha repeatedly even in years where we have no business being there, like last year. Now let's go win the only trophy we haven't been able to capture. HailState

Outstanding post!!

[Cooterpoot]

Henderson was never a consideration. Cohen overloaded his behind a little by talking up the job too much. We’ll find out the next couple years if he hired a great one.

[msbulldog]

I already know Lemonis is a great one. Hail State!

[sleepy dawg]

Lemonis was THE hire to make. All the other name-brand coaches would have done good, sure. But now we got our own guy who can make his own history here with us. I expect Lemonis to be here a long time and we will make history together.

[shoeless joe]

Cohen deserves credit for just about everything goin on with baseball rite now. He?s the one that turned this program into what it is: 3 CWS this decade...6 supers...SEC title...SEC tourney win...the stadium....the players (most of them). He?s responsible for it.

I?ve said this numerous times but the man approached the game the way it?s supposed to be approached. He knew exactly what he wanted from his players and went and got those kinds of guys. He and butch were using an opener back in ?13 before anyone had heard of it and now it?s an MLB strategy.

He may be the best baseball mind to come thru state and he is supremely more baseball savvy than...wait for it...any baseball poster on this board. The man had a vision when he took over, worked his ass off and now here we are...don?t be blinded by bunt hate not to recognize that.

I?ve said before that Jim Ellis IS MSU baseball but John Cohen is the visionary and orchestrator of modern day MSU baseball.

[Johnson85]

I already know Lemonis is a great one. Hail State!

I don't know if we know he is a great one, but I agree that we more or less know Lemonis is going to do well. Based on his recruiting at Indiana and his performance with this team, it seems like with the advantage of recruiting to the Dude (granted we are behind on schollies, but only a few schools can even pretend to compete as far as the chance to play in front of big, passionate crowds) and the recent track record of success that we've had makes it unlikely he won't keep us more or less on track.

[Liverpooldawg]

Lemonis has done a great job this year......but this bunch went to four straight Supers with 4 different coaches. Time will tell.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I think Lemonis will be good for the long haul, but make no mistake.......this is still mostly John Cohen's team. Almost all the players on the team were recruited by Cohen with the exception of a few that were recruited by Cann.

[CadaverDawg]

Lemonis has done a great job this year......but this bunch went to four straight Supers with 4 different coaches. Time will tell.

What they did last year can be attributed mostly to the players. This year can to an extent, but you don't win 50+ without very good coaching. If it was all based on inherited talent, Joe Moorhead would have won 11 games last year. So yes, Lemonis still has to prove it in the long haul, but that doesn't change the fact that Henderson wasn't the guy and John had to make that tough call. This thread wasn't to applaud the Lemonis hire....it was to applaud the decision not to go the easy route and hire Henderson.

[DownwardDawg]

I feel like now is as good a time as any to applaud John Cohen for making the ballsy move of not taking the easy route last year by hiring Henderson after the Omaha run, and instead thinking about the program as a whole and our long term success. Nobody would have blamed him for taking the easy approach and making Henderson the head guy. It took some stones to put your ass on the line bc you knew what gave us the best chance to win a Natty. Not many AD's would have done that. Hats off to you, Mr Cohen.....you were a dirtbag when you played, an intense bastard when you coached, and are a big reason why our program continues to play with the blue collar, dirtbag mentality that gets us back to Omaha repeatedly even in years where we have no business being there, like last year. Now let's go win the only trophy we haven't been able to capture. HailState

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to CadaverDawg again.

[Liverpooldawg]

What they did last year can be attributed mostly to the players. This year can to an extent, but you don't win 50+ without very good coaching. If it was all based on inherited talent, Joe Moorhead would have won 11 games last year. So yes, Lemonis still has to prove it in the long haul, but that doesn't change the fact that Henderson wasn't the guy and John had to make that tough call. This thread wasn't to applaud the Lemonis hire....it was to applaud the decision not to go the easy route and hire Henderson.

Actually everybody but some of us picked football to win 8 games. We were picked to finish 6th in the West in baseball, so yes Lemonis has exceeded expectations while Joe met them. Again, time will tell......on both. Now if Lemonis manages to win the whole thing...….his is the next statue.

[RougeDawg]

Lemonis appears to be the perfect balance of a coach. He shows his fire in a calming way. He never gets too high or too low. Does not whine and complain like Manuri but still makes his feelings known to umpires. His calm demeanor wears off on the players and they seem to play relaxed most of the time. He is a good fit for the current day college player mindset. Cohen was more of an old school guy, which sometimes seemed to not translate to today?s mindset. That mindset does translate well in an athletic department because you want coaches who can deal with the intensity and turn it into success. Present players do not seem to respond to this, for whatever reason (not going down that road in this thread).

[CadaverDawg]

Actually everybody but some of us picked football to win 8 games. We were picked to finish 6th in the West in baseball, so yes Lemonis has exceeded expectations while Joe met them. Again, time will tell......on both. Now if Lemonis manages to win the whole thing...….his is the next statue.

Lulz, I'm not letting the thread get derailed, but you and I both know one of your sentences is 100% incorrect.

Lemonis has done a hell of a job getting this team to buy in and not trying to fix something that wasn't broken. Not easy to do. Again though, not the point of the thread. Thread is applauding Cohen for not keeping Henderson as head coach. It was the right move, but was criticized by many and could have caused him a lot of grief had we fallen on our face this season. Gutsy move, and I appreciate him doing it.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Cohen deserves some kind of building or something named after him when he gets done

[MSSTATESEEYA]

If anyone gets offered the head coach job from our squad last year it should have been Jake the GOAT. Guy is a genius. Henderson tried to give every game away. We went as deep as we did last year because of out hitting coach IMO. We are going to lose Jake in the next two years and he is going to be hard to replace. Henderson shouldn't have been a consideration even if we won a Natty last year.

[MetEdDawg]

If anyone gets offered the head coach job from our squad last year it should have been Jake the GOAT. Guy is a genius. Henderson tried to give every game away. We went as deep as we did last year because of out hitting coach IMO. We are going to lose Jake in the next two years and he is going to be hard to replace. Henderson shouldn't have been a consideration even if we won a Natty last year.

I'm really hoping we keep Jake next year. Not sure how many jobs come open between now and next year that he would take. I think he can get a low end P5 job if he wants it. He's getting a ton of exposure again for his work and another run to the semi finals for beyond would be great for his career.

But with the losses we will have in Mangum, Mac, and Gilbert, he will have some work to do to help craft Rowdey into a lead off and getting someone like Westburg to turn into a legit 4 hole. Plus filling in the gaps with Cumbest and the others that will take over for our exiting seniors.

[MSSTATESEEYA]

Agreed.

[Homedawg]

I don't think lemonis is as calm as it appears in games. Not claiming he's Cohen, but he'll get in someone's ass.

[Homedawg]

Watching them play now and twice they've mentioned they were teammates here. While it's a small thing, it's free PR. Woodruff just doubled down the LF line past a diving Renfroe. Also. Woody has hit 100 on the gun

[CadaverDawg]

I don't think lemonis is as calm as it appears in games. Not claiming he's Cohen, but he'll get in someone's ass.

Good

[Todd4State]

I feel like now is as good a time as any to applaud John Cohen for making the ballsy move of not taking the easy route last year by hiring Henderson after the Omaha run, and instead thinking about the program as a whole and our long term success. Nobody would have blamed him for taking the easy approach and making Henderson the head guy. It took some stones to put your ass on the line bc you knew what gave us the best chance to win a Natty. Not many AD's would have done that. Hats off to you, Mr Cohen.....you were a dirtbag when you played, an intense bastard when you coached, and are a big reason why our program continues to play with the blue collar, dirtbag mentality that gets us back to Omaha repeatedly even in years where we have no business being there, like last year. Now let's go win the only trophy we haven't been able to capture. HailState


Cohen deserves credit for just about everything goin on with baseball rite now. He?s the one that turned this program into what it is: 3 CWS this decade...6 supers...SEC title...SEC tourney win...the stadium....the players (most of them). He?s responsible for it.

I?ve said this numerous times but the man approached the game the way it?s supposed to be approached. He knew exactly what he wanted from his players and went and got those kinds of guys. He and butch were using an opener back in ?13 before anyone had heard of it and now it?s an MLB strategy.

He may be the best baseball mind to come thru state and he is supremely more baseball savvy than...wait for it...any baseball poster on this board. The man had a vision when he took over, worked his ass off and now here we are...don?t be blinded by bunt hate not to recognize that.

I?ve said before that Jim Ellis IS MSU baseball but John Cohen is the visionary and orchestrator of modern day MSU baseball.

These are two of the best posts I have ever seen on this board regarding baseball.

And speaking of not doing what was easy- give Greg Byrne credit for bringing Cohen in as a coach. And credit Cohen for putting his head down despite a lot of division within our own program. 2008-2010 were very dark times for MSU baseball. We had a staff with two future SEC coaches and a C-USA head coach and were having losing seasons. That's how far gone our program was. At the beginning of 2011 I thought that Cohen was possibly going to be on the hot seat if not fired with another sub .500 season. That team- some former Polk recruits, some JUCO's, some freshmen- somehow grinded into a SR in 2011. 2012 we won the SEC Tournament and then we had the culmination in 2013 with the CWS Finals appearance.


We kind of took a step back and had a hangover in 2014-2015. Well, 2015 WAS a step back. No denying that. That was just a perfect storm of the college baseball climate changing without giving us time to adapt and having major bullpen issues.


After that- the run that we are currently on began and our program finally stabilized. At least in terms of winning on the field. There were definitely some off the field distractions- Hi Cann! 2016 SEC Champs and National Seed. 2017 SR appearance. And that was the worst year. 2018 and 2019 CWS appearances.


Also- it took balls for Cohen to step up and build our new baseball stadium. I'd say that has paid off handsomely as well.

[Todd4State]

I feel like now is as good a time as any to applaud John Cohen for making the ballsy move of not taking the easy route last year by hiring Henderson after the Omaha run, and instead thinking about the program as a whole and our long term success. Nobody would have blamed him for taking the easy approach and making Henderson the head guy. It took some stones to put your ass on the line bc you knew what gave us the best chance to win a Natty. Not many AD's would have done that. Hats off to you, Mr Cohen.....you were a dirtbag when you played, an intense bastard when you coached, and are a big reason why our program continues to play with the blue collar, dirtbag mentality that gets us back to Omaha repeatedly even in years where we have no business being there, like last year. Now let's go win the only trophy we haven't been able to capture. HailState


Cohen deserves credit for just about everything goin on with baseball rite now. He?s the one that turned this program into what it is: 3 CWS this decade...6 supers...SEC title...SEC tourney win...the stadium....the players (most of them). He?s responsible for it.

I?ve said this numerous times but the man approached the game the way it?s supposed to be approached. He knew exactly what he wanted from his players and went and got those kinds of guys. He and butch were using an opener back in ?13 before anyone had heard of it and now it?s an MLB strategy.

He may be the best baseball mind to come thru state and he is supremely more baseball savvy than...wait for it...any baseball poster on this board. The man had a vision when he took over, worked his ass off and now here we are...don?t be blinded by bunt hate not to recognize that.

I?ve said before that Jim Ellis IS MSU baseball but John Cohen is the visionary and orchestrator of modern day MSU baseball.


Watching them play now and twice they've mentioned they were teammates here. While it's a small thing, it's free PR. Woodruff just doubled down the LF line past a diving Renfroe. Also. Woody has hit 100 on the gun

Then you have Dakota Hudson becoming the Cardinals most stable pitcher right now, Adam Frazier and Mitch Moreland playing regularly in MLB right now. Nate Lowe and Brent Rooker aren't far behind either among others. Oh- and yet another first round draft pick in Ethan Small.

[sleepy dawg]

I don't think lemonis is as calm as it appears in games. Not claiming he's Cohen, but he'll get in someone's ass.

That sounds painful.

[CadaverDawg]

That sounds painful.

Haha I laughed

[StarkVegasSteve]

These are two of the best posts I have ever seen on this board regarding baseball.

And speaking of not doing what was easy- give Greg Byrne credit for bringing Cohen in as a coach. And credit Cohen for putting his head down despite a lot of division within our own program. 2008-2010 were very dark times for MSU baseball. We had a staff with two future SEC coaches and a C-USA head coach and were having losing seasons. That's how far gone our program was. At the beginning of 2011 I thought that Cohen was possibly going to be on the hot seat if not fired with another sub .500 season. That team- some former Polk recruits, some JUCO's, some freshmen- somehow grinded into a SR in 2011. 2012 we won the SEC Tournament and then we had the culmination in 2013 with the CWS Finals appearance.


We kind of took a step back and had a hangover in 2014-2015. Well, 2015 WAS a step back. No denying that. That was just a perfect storm of the college baseball climate changing without giving us time to adapt and having major bullpen issues.


After that- the run that we are currently on began and our program finally stabilized. At least in terms of winning on the field. There were definitely some off the field distractions- Hi Cann! 2016 SEC Champs and National Seed. 2017 SR appearance. And that was the worst year. 2018 and 2019 CWS appearances.


Also- it took balls for Cohen to step up and build our new baseball stadium. I'd say that has paid off handsomely as well.

You hit the nail on the head. Greg Byrne took an amazing risk when he hired Cohen. It was not a pretty time for our baseball program, and I don't know how many other young ADs in their first year on the job would've had the fortitude to defy the wishes of the all time winningest coach in program history. If it would've backfired or Byrne would've given in to the pressure and hired Raffo, we might still be in the doldrums.....and we sure as hell wouldn't have the damn Taj Mahal of a baseball stadium we now have.

[ScoobaDawg]

You hit the nail on the head. Greg Byrne took an amazing risk when he hired Cohen. It was not a pretty time for our baseball program, and I don't know how many other young ADs in their first year on the job would've had the fortitude to defy the wishes of the all time winningest coach in program history. If it would've backfired or Byrne would've given in to the pressure and hired Raffo, we might still be in the doldrums.....and we sure as hell wouldn't have the damn Taj Mahal of a baseball stadium we now have.


WHEN WE WIN, and we are building statues. Remember it all started with this guy...

http://library.msstate.edu/content/images/fogelsong.jpg