A closer look into Lemo's stint at IU...

[DeviousDawg]

I must admit, I was very disappointed when rumors began to spread that Lemonis was the guy. However, like Moorehead, the more I look into him, the more I like him. Neither were Home Run hires on the surface, but I think both were perfect fits and both will be very successful in Starkville for a long time.

When looking at Lemo's stint at Indiana, it is not very impressive on the surface. It's easy to see the CWS appearance and 2 big 10 championships prior to his hiring and say that what he did there was underwhelming, comparatively. However, to accurately compare, one must know the entirety of the situation.

-Lemo's predecessor at Indiana was current Arizona State Head Coach Tracy Smith, who was hired on at Indiana in 2006. From 2006-2012, Smith had a winning percentage of (0.485) and a conference winning percentage of (0.468), while making it to the NCAA tournament in only 1 of those 7 seasons.

-Smith struck gold in 2013 and 2014, with two conference championships, 2 40+ win seasons, and a trip to Omaha in 2013. However, this was a team lead by Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis, who were both all Americans, and 1st and 2nd rounders, respectively.

-After 2014, Smith was hired at ASU, Schwarber and Travis were off to the minors, and Lemo steps into a team with little to no talent. After 2014, Indiana did not have a player drafted again until 2017, but have had 6 drafted since then (Smith only had 7 total guys drafted in his 9 years). What this says is that Lemo had no talent in his first two years, but brought in a ton of talent in those years that he would later develop into draft picks.

-Jumping off the above statement that Lemo stepped into a team with no talent; in Lemo's first two years, his Indiana team hit a combined 69 HR's, in Lemo's next two years, his Indiana team hit a combined 143 HR's. His 2017 and 2018 teams averaged more HR per year than his 2015 and 2016 teams hit combined. That's incredible.

-In Smith's 9 years, he appeared in 3 NCAA tourneys. Lemo appeared in 3 NCAA tourneys in his 4 years, while averaging just over 35 wins/season(Smith didn't reach 35 wins until his 8th season), and a (0.600) conference winning percentage, while eclipsing the 40 win mark this season for the first time.

-In Smith's last 4 years, and during his most successful, he had an average recruiting ranking of 73. In Lemo's first four years, he had an average recruiting ranking of 41. He had the Indiana program on a great trajectory, no doubt. For the 2019 class, he already had 10 commits, with two of them being top 100 recruits.

-Now consider all this and give Lemo an elite pitching coach, a baseball coach for an AD, the best venue in College Baseball, the most dedicated fan base in College Baseball, a program that recruits itself, and a team that is already loaded as he steps in. No, he isn't Schloss, nor McDonnell, he's Lemo, and he's gonna 17in kill it. I have a really good feeling about this.

[preachermatt83]

Great post! I think this guy will put an absolute beast on the field for years to come.

[Commercecomet24]

Dang good research, DD! Just shows that some things aren't always how they appear on the surface.

[Todd4State]

When TCU and Louisville hired Schloss and McDonnell they weren't what they are now. If anything Lemonis is more proven than both of those coaches were when they started at their respected schools.

Indiana basically had their version of our 1985 team with Smith. The thing about Smith is he is on the hot seat now after having two losing seasons at Arizona State in a row. Lemonis basically brought consistency to Indiana- which is tough to do in the Big 10 in baseball for even the better teams in that league.

And to add to this- we just hired the guy that was his hitting coach there to go along with Gautreau. Cheesbrough could be an up and comer in this industry himself.

[DeviousDawg]

I think Cohen has realized that the key to being a perennial power house in College Baseball is recruiting at an elite level annually, and I believe that, along with personality fit, were the first two boxes on his checklist during the coaching search. Yes, seems like a silly thing to say, because obviously recruiting is important in all sports, but I believe it is more important in baseball than football and basketball. In football and basketball, the coach is behind almost every play, he is the engineer, the puppeteer. However, in Baseball, the coach just sets a lineup, and for the most part, the boys play. Also, the seasons are longer, upsets don't matter as much, and the law of averages takes over. Better players=better team=better chance to win it all.

[Todd4State]

I think Cohen has realized that the key to being a perennial power house in College Baseball is recruiting at an elite level annually, and I believe that, along with personality fit, were the first two boxes on his checklist during the coaching search. Yes, seems like a silly thing to say, because obviously recruiting is important in all sports, but I believe it is more important in baseball than football and basketball. In football and basketball, the coach is behind almost every play, he is the engineer, the puppeteer. However, in Baseball, the coach just sets a lineup, and for the most part, the boys play. Also, the seasons are longer, upsets don't matter as much, and the law of averages takes over. Better players=better team=better chance to win it all.

With baseball recruiting it's a lot more complicated because you are also competing against MLB and they can offer millions of dollars to your recruits legally. Could you imagine Dan recruiting against Hugh Freeze's hookers AND the NFL?

I agree with you because Vanderbilt was one of the worst programs in the SEC before Corbin. Yes- they have the endowment but Corbin still has to evaluate the right players and get them to come to campus. Florida has a similar set-up. O'Sullivan was a pitching coach in the Twins system and his top two assistants are former scouts/pro coaches. Tony Vitiello was a great recruiter for Arkansas before he became the head coach at Tennessee and we had Wes Johnson who is an innovative pitching coach. Cannizaro helped put together LSU's team last year as well.

Cohen is very in tune with trends in college baseball. See our 2013 team which was built to take advantage of the dead ball era in college and the success we had that year. It was equal in terms of success of a lot of the SEC teams I mentioned above.


And as I mentioned the other day we've never really had that elite type of recruiting going on in baseball where it was top 10 class after top 10 class year after year since the 1980's and we're just now getting back to that.

[dickiedawg]

And as I mentioned the other day we've never really had that elite type of recruiting going on in baseball where it was top 10 class after top 10 class year after year since the 1980's and we're just now getting back to that.

This is the biggest thing, to me. We have a lot of momentum right now. The way Cannizaro was recruiting had me very optimistic for the long-term prospects of our program, and Cohen has plugged in a guy who will continue that trajectory.

[Cooterpoot]

The question with him is why is he finishing down in the conference. His teams put up good numbers and he's recruiting better but they're finishing, on average, about 5th in a conference that's not strong at all.

[Really Clark?]

The question with him is why is he finishing down in the conference. His teams put up good numbers and he's recruiting better but they're finishing, on average, about 5th in a conference that's not strong at all.

His first year was a rebuild. 2016 they were 1 win from 2nd place in conference. 2017 they were 2 wins from a share of first instead of 6th. This year 1 win for a tie for third. The top half of the B10 has a good bit of parity.

[Bully13]

That's one of the best write ups whether it be here or published I've seen in a long time. Thank you very much for that Devious. Rep given sir.

[Cooterpoot]

His first year was a rebuild. 2016 they were 1 win from 2nd place in conference. 2017 they were 2 wins from a share of first instead of 6th. This year 1 win for a tie for third. The top half of the B10 has a good bit of parity.

Maybe, but in year 4, a good coach should be able to win that conference.

[BrunswickDawg]

The question with him is why is he finishing down in the conference. His teams put up good numbers and he's recruiting better but they're finishing, on average, about 5th in a conference that's not strong at all.

League finish is a terrible measure of performance because 1 game can be the difference between 2nd and 8th.

Look at our conference finishes the last 10 years - 14th 1x, 12th 2x, 9th 1x, 6th 1x, 5th 3x, 3rd 1x, 1st 1x.
SEC parity makes our conference finishes look a lot worse then they are.
B1G has parity too.

[QuadrupleOption]

The question with him is why is he finishing down in the conference. His teams put up good numbers and he's recruiting better but they're finishing, on average, about 5th in a conference that's not strong at all.

We've finished 5th or worse in the conference 8 times in the last 10 years, including this one. Do we suck too?