Praise for the Baseball program

[Todd4State]

Don't think patience has much to do with it. I think it was more the shock of the 2022 season. Sure, we had injuries and other issues, but I doubt anyone thought we could fall from National Champ to last in the West and not even a Hoover post season. I don't expect the 2023 rebuild team to finish dead last again or we do have very serious problems. I do expect a hard nosed team that competes and wins State style. Hail State!

I don't think anyone is ever going to predict 6 pitchers go down in a season. I think if we knew ahead of time that Sims, Simmons, Auger, Stinnett, and Hunt would be out for most of the season then yeah I think a lot of people would have been less shocked.

Big picture though.

1. We were in most games (yeah Tennessee game one was a blowout but that wasn't the norm) and had a ton of one-two run losses. We didn't really cave in completely until Auger and Stinnett went down. And up until that point we were in the hunt for a regional even with all of our deficiencies last year. Including beating Ole Miss in Oxford two games to one. I believe we had a 5-7 record against teams that were in Omaha. When reasonably healthy this team was fine.

2. Lemonis has addressed most of our needs in the portal already. And he took a very proactive stance in changing our recruiting philosophy dropping a few players who were recruited by the other staff or simply weren't performing. I don't think he would have done that last year. As usual- MSU is nice and gets completely burned for it. At least Lemonis wasn't nice for long.

3. Lemonis will either fix this or he won't. And if he won't Cohen will find someone else who will. We're really not even close to that point though. And based on how he responded in the portal we will probably be fine. In other words I'm not worried about our baseball program. Especially knowing what is coming in our recruiting classes in the future. Which I really believe will take us to another level.

[MaroonFlounder]

I would guess that if Cohen had remained coach we don't get Tanner Allen. No Tanner Allen, no Natty.

Same for Will Bednar.

No Bednar, No Natty.

[MadDawg]

We have the resources and people in place to potentially be the best in the country every year.

Which really puts a magnifying glass on this past season.

[MadDawg]

We're really not even close to that point though.

Sure we are. You think if we go back to back season as worst team in the SEC and no postseason he's not in trouble?

[Todd4State]

Sure we are. You think if we go back to back season as worst team in the SEC and no postseason he's not in trouble?

No. I think Cohen will sit down with him and tell him to let Foxhall and Gautreau go and that we're going to do whatever it takes to get the best assistants in the country.

If we have that many pitching injuries again we seriously need to evaluate our program.

[StarkVegasSteve]

No. I think Cohen will sit down with him and tell him to let Foxhall and Gautreau go and that we're going to do whatever it takes to get the best assistants in the country.

If we have that many pitching injuries again we seriously need to evaluate our program.

If Lemonis has another season like last year, he will be following Gautreau and Foxhall out the door. You cannot follow up a national championship with two missed tourneys in a row and keep your job.

[CaptainObvious]

If Lemonis has another season like last year, he will be following Gautreau and Foxhall out the door. You cannot follow up a national championship with two missed tourneys in a row and keep your job.

I absolutely believe this. The only way to prove 2022 was a fluke injury riddled season is for 2023 to be a Regional team as at last a 2 seed. No Regional play in 2023 should mean a new coach in 2024.

[Todd4State]

If Lemonis has another season like last year, he will be following Gautreau and Foxhall out the door. You cannot follow up a national championship with two missed tourneys in a row and keep your job.

I would be really surprised. This year Lemonis can play the "fluke" card. If we have another year like this one Foxhall will obviously be the biggest culprit. But I think Jake could also be collateral damage in a situation like that too. The reality is firing a head coach two seasons removed from a National Championship is really bad optics. Especially since some of the issues can be traced back to program instability with recruits during the Cann/Gary Henderson era. Lemonis has also proven he can manage in Omaha. That has to be taken into account with any kind of major changes. Especially given the fact that Lemonis is a CEO coach which means he is heavily dependent on his assistants for his success.

Another season like this will result in a major audit of the baseball program by Cohen as far as what's broken.

Now if Lemonis has new assistants and he fails yet again then the issue lies with him.