WMD's Thoughts on AD & Baseball

Just wanted to chime in with my opinions.

1. I hate moving Cohen to AD. It is classic MSU. Why waste the money on a search firm to hire Cohen? Of all the possible choices, he was far and away the least qualified. An athletic department is a business. We should hire someone with business experience to run it.

2. We let the Virginia Slims who have always screwed us over force through their candidate. It sucks, but it is what it is.

3. Cohen may be great, but he could also be a total disaster. If he's a disaster, he's going to be hard as hell to get rid of because he's "one of us." It'll be Lonnie Tinkle all over aGAIN.

4. We continued the trend of being completely inbred and refusing to find new blood to inject into our administration. It's been our constant curse.

5. I entirely disagree with hiring Cannizarro. I understand that he's supposed to be the Next Big Thing in college baseball. But I don't believe that an elite program like ours should gamble on an assistant. Go out, spend the cash, and hire O'Conner, McDonnell, Godwin, etc. Make a damn statement about who we are. This is Mississippi State Baseball, not Mississippi College baseball.

6. If we were going to hire an assistant, Cannizarro was far and away the best available. And yeah, he was Cohen's handpicked replacement. So I guess I'll count those as positives.

7. We look like bitches for hiring Cohen after we went to the mat with the CL that it wasn't Cohen. Now we've pissed off the regional media for disparaging a guy who was right all along. Classic MSU.

8. I'm mad as hell about all of this, but I bleed maroon and will support State to my dying breath. I think we probably screwed the pooch hard, but it may work out. I'm willing to wait and see how it plays out.

That's how I see all this. Hail State!

Turns out the CL was right. I wonder who in our atheletic department is leaking information that the president of the university is not ready to release.

1. That's fair, though I don't want a pure business person running the AD, either. You absolutely need to know sports and coaches. But I'm not a big fan of moving Cohen to AD.

2. No clue on that.

3. Eh, maybe. I don't think Keenum, if he's still around, would hesitate to move on if he knew it was the right move.

4. We weren't inbred when we hired Byrne, and that was just two hires ago. And while Stricklin was a State alum and had been with Byrne, it's not like he spent his whole career at State before moving up. And he worked out great. Cohen has only been back for a little while as well. It's not as though we're just moving people up the ladder from the mailroom to AD just because they've been around.

5. I like the Cannizaro hire, much more than hiring Cohen as AD. You have no idea whether O'Conner or McDonnell were legitimate options, and how is Godwin in that class? Godwin's 2 years at East Carolina make him a big-time hire while Cannizaro is a gamble? He must be incredibly impressive to convince Cohen in such a short period of time that he's the guy. It seems obvious that Cohen thinks he is a big-time stud in the making and probably felt like he couldn't pass him up.

6. Yes

7. No, we don't. If we were still conducting interviews as Keenum claimed, then the CL was wrong and stupid, and Keenum was right to call them out. Regardless, he didn't contact State, and that is a mistake. He's the freaking beat writer.

8. I see that.

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Originally Posted by drunkernhelldawg

Turns out the CL was right. I wonder who in our atheletic department is leaking information that the president of the university is not ready to release.

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That's the worst part. We chose the wrong hill to die on with the CL. And we pissed off a whole lot of members of the media in the process.

As for the leak, I'm guessing it was Strick and some Virginia Slims. The way this has all played out casts some serious doubt about how much power our school administration, especially our President, really have.

War Machine, I respect your opinion but disagree with much of it.

I think people are too worried about perception, winning the press conference, & resumes rather than being worried about the ingredients, traits, & skill sets that allow elite coaches to be elite.

A solid resume can certainly be nice, but you can also become a prisoner to it & ultimately make hires that lower the ceiling of the hire.

Everyone wants to compare Cohen's hire to Ray Tanner, but Cohen is a completely different personality. Tanner was a good baseball coach. Cohen is significantly more well rounded & a generally more intelligent person.

Canny's resume certainly looks risky, but he has the full support of the AD & two former SEC head coaches on staff to support him in any way possible. Trust me when I say that Canny has the ingredients, traits, & skill set to be an ELITE head coach & we are bringing him into the perfect situation to allow those things to shine.

When evaluating players, coaching hires, or games, there is so much noise & most of it doesn't matter. I believe many of the opinions on here about being upset because MSU didn't hire a proven guy are opinions made by people that are valuing the wrong ingredients.

I understand objectively why some would feel that way, especially if you don't really know Cohen & if you've never met Canny. Well, I know both people & I think this situation has an extremely high ceiling.

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Originally Posted by drunkernhelldawg

Turns out the CL was right. I wonder who in our atheletic department is leaking information that the president of the university is not ready to release.

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*cough cough* Scott Stricklin *cough cough*

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Originally Posted by War Machine Dawg

That's the worst part. We chose the wrong hill to die on with the CL. And we pissed off a whole lot of members of the media in the process.

As for the leak, I'm guessing it was Strick and some Virginia Slims. The way this has all played out casts some serious doubt about how much power our school administration, especially our President, really have.

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What does it matter?

Why do you care about this?

I have a hard time understanding why so many of you give a shit about what the CL says. Only a select few will care that Bonner turned out to be correct and the vast majority won't give a damn.

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Originally Posted by War Machine Dawg

That's the worst part. We chose the wrong hill to die on with the CL. And we pissed off a whole lot of members of the media in the process.

As for the leak, I'm guessing it was Strick and some Virginia Slims. The way this has all played out casts some serious doubt about how much power our school administration, especially our President, really have.

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We pissed off the hacks at the CL - who all openly disdain State. I doubt Wolken or any of the regional writers care - they know the type hacks at the CL we have to deal with. Go look at Killaberger and Cronin and some of the other recent CL hacks on twitter - they are are all loving on Bonnor like he broke the Watergate scandal. Fact is, even if Bonnor had contacted Keenum, and Keenum said " we are in the process, no decision has been made" the CL would have written a negative article to cast us in a bad light. Bonnor was going to write what he was going to write regardless.

7. Show me where we ever went to the mat with the CL that Cohen wasn't going to be AD.

To the contrary, Bonner wrote two articles stating Cohen was the leading candidate and nobody said anything. He wrote a third article stating the search was over (before it began, mind you) and keenum called him out.

Our reading comprehension as a collective fan base sucks.

Nowhere in Keenum's statement directed at Bonner and the CL did he say we weren't hiring Cohen. He said the process was ongoing and a decision hadn't been made. Even if that wasn't true at the time, it can't be proven false. It was the right move to make, both then and in hindsight, and not a big deal to anyone looking at it objectively.

1. Cohen has run a baseball program which is probably the most complex program to run in college sports with the amount of games and schollies to manage. I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

2. No clue but the money guys pay the bills so they get more say in the matter.

3. Cohen seems nothing like LT. If anything he will probably stand up more for MSU than most. He seems like he has a genuine love for MSU so he will go to bat for the university.

4. Canny is at least new blood. I was terrified we would just promote Henderson or hire back Butch.

5. I trust Cohen in hiring a baseball coach. He absolutely knows what it takes. Canny has a different type of resume' but he has been around great baseball people his entire life so I trust Cohen on this. I would have preferred a big name but it is what it is.

6. Agree, he seems like the best Assistant coach we could have hired.

7. I back Keenum on this. He made a stronger statement than I thought we would but you don't know if someone pulled their name out when the article came out. That could have lead to Keenum being pissed off. Bonner didn't even give the administration the opportunity to say that interviews were still ongoing which they were.

Here's the thing about college baseball coaches. You simply do not find many that has a good job who is willing to move around. Yes, Mississippi State is a destination job in baseball, unlike in football. Every so often, you will find a John Cohen who moves from Kentucky to Mississippi State or a Paul Mainieri that moves from Notre Dame to LSU. However, those guys are few and far between.

Teams have been going after Brian O'Connor for several years now, and he has let every single one of them know that he has absolutely no interest in leaving Virginia.

The timing of this also makes it difficult to get an established guy. While seeing a head college baseball coach change jobs is rare, it is even rarer to see one change jobs in November/December of the year, during fall ball, or just after fall ball. You do not have ample time to build a staff, because most assistants are pretty well set where they are at as well.

What John did here was get the guy who is pretty much the hottest assistant coach on the market right now. This is really not much different than Auburn hiring Butch Thompson last year. I wonder if Butch wishes he had waited a year?

There was zero chance we were ever going to hire Butch or Henderson for our baseball job. Was never even a consideration.

Why bitch about what might be? I think JC will be a great AD. How about let's see what happens. You could find something wrong with whomever We were to hire. Nobody is "DEAD SOLID PERFECT" to quote Dan Jenkins. JC knows and loves MSU, He already knows how We do things. He is a winner and will make all programs winners. He is the Intense Bastard, just what we need. He knows who can Coach baseball so I'm ok with the LSU asst., seems like all our recruits are Happy with Him also. let's move ahead and embrace this change, at least until it is proven to be a bust. Starting off in BITCH MODE is so loser.

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Originally Posted by smootness

1. That's fair, though I don't want a pure business person running the AD, either. You absolutely need to know sports and coaches. But I'm not a big fan of moving Cohen to AD.

2. No clue on that.

3. Eh, maybe. I don't think Keenum, if he's still around, would hesitate to move on if he knew it was the right move.

4. We weren't inbred when we hired Byrne, and that was just two hires ago. And while Stricklin was a State alum and had been with Byrne, it's not like he spent his whole career at State before moving up. And he worked out great. Cohen has only been back for a little while as well. It's not as though we're just moving people up the ladder from the mailroom to AD just because they've been around.

5. I like the Cannizaro hire, much more than hiring Cohen as AD. You have no idea whether O'Conner or McDonnell were legitimate options, and how is Godwin in that class? Godwin's 2 years at East Carolina make him a big-time hire while Cannizaro is a gamble? He must be incredibly impressive to convince Cohen in such a short period of time that he's the guy. It seems obvious that Cohen thinks he is a big-time stud in the making and probably felt like he couldn't pass him up.

6. Yes

7. No, we don't. If we were still conducting interviews as Keenum claimed, then the CL was wrong and stupid, and Keenum was right to call them out. Regardless, he didn't contact State, and that is a mistake. He's the freaking beat writer.

8. I see that.

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Greg had been an associate AD for MSU for 2 years when he was hired..

Whoever is the baseball coach will have Cohen in his office constantly at least the first year, more than any other MSU coach's office. I look at it like this...if a baseball HC leaves, there is a revamping of the coaches, players have to get to know a new coach. Coaches have to get to know the players.

Much of that applies here, but there are few situations where the old coach is still around to "guide" the new coach with the players. We are in that position now.

I've said it before, be critical, but don't pass judgement yet. Let's do our part to get where Cohen wants MSU Athletics to go...then this time next year or the following year...pass judgement.

Who gives a damn if we piss the media off??? They will never give us a shot anyway. That is a classic MState. F**K the media and lets handle us

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

War Machine, I respect your opinion but disagree with much of it.

I think people are too worried about perception, winning the press conference, & resumes rather than being worried about the ingredients, traits, & skill sets that allow elite coaches to be elite.
.
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I agree. Can we stop this idiotic war on the media now?

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Originally Posted by fishwater99

Greg had been an associate AD for MSU for 2 years when he was hired..

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Good call.

I still don't see how hiring an AD who has been at the school for 2 years makes the hire an 'inbred' one. In an ideal world, when bringing in outsiders, wouldn't you always want the opportunity to bring them in for some period of time before they fully take over? That's basically what happened with Byrne.

Bump for relevance. Looks like I nailed Spineless Bastard and Canni right after Cohenz was hired. Sometimes I I hate being right and this is one of them.

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Originally Posted by War Machine Dawg

Bump for relevance. Looks like I nailed Spineless Bastard and Canni right after Cohenz was hired. Sometimes I I hate being right and this is one of them.

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You nailed this for sure. And a lot of people did because they knew we were taken back over by Lonnie Tinkle. It may take us another 20 years to get rid of him again.