Baseball Hot Board

[StarkVegasSteve]

I think it's probably a good time to fire this thing up. We can all see where this is headed and it's to Lemonis being replaced. With that being said, let's get the Hot Board going!!

Unrealistic But You Have to Make The Call

1. Link Jarrett-Wish we could've gotten him 3 years ago but he's now at his alma mater. But hey, our people leave their alma mater all the time. So why not give it a try? Guy has won everywhere.

2. Erik Bakich-The guy took Michigan to the CWS finals and has Clemson back rolling again. He'd probably be at the top of my list if I felt like we could realistically get him.

3. Mitch Canham-Again, you run into the alma mater situation but he's kept Oregon St steady after Pat. There's also so much uncertainty around them and how they're going to be able to compete at the D1 level without a conference so maybe you play that card.

4. Wes Johnson-He is not coming here. I will preface it with that. His wife HATED Starkville when he was here for his one year. But hey, make the call and throw a good salary at him. Maybe UGA will decide he's not worth it.

5. Butch Thompson-He's been up and down at Auburn but he has two CWS appearances at a school that had 4 all time prior to his arrival. He seems to know how to work the portal and he's the de facto PC. The Foxhall part of it would be weird, but I doubt he'd bring him. Also would be a giant 17 you to Cohen.


Realistic Hires

1. Rob Vaughn-He's winning at Bama for christ sake and won at Maryland before that. The guys IDs talent and builds prgorams as good as any coach. Look no further that what he has done with Justin LeBron.

2. Jordan Bischel-Had CMU as a real power at the G5 level and is building Cincinnati back, yes CINCINNATI, at an incredible pace. I have been a fan of his since the 2019 regional in Starkville. His teams play with less than zero fear no matter who they are playing and they stay loose. A stark contrast from our current team.

3. Skylar Meade-Has really done well at Troy. Has them in the Top 25 this year and seems to have that program in a great spot.

4. Mark Wasikowski-I am not as big a fan of his as others. He seems a little like Lemonis to me. But he has been solid at Oregon. Back to back Supers.

5. Skip Johnson-Pulling on Selmon's OU connections here. I think you could get him and get him without too much of a fight from OU. They don't really seem to prioritize baseball and he's done really well there.

6. Chris Pollard-Pretty consistent at Duke but nothing to really write home about. 3 Supers in 12 years is not exactly great.

Assts

1. Nate Thompson-I think this would have been the hire had we gone the asst route in 2019. His name has cooled a bit since but he's still one of the best recruiters in the country. He also seems to have altered their hitting approach this year and it has made them a better team.

2. Josh Elander-Seems to be the odds on favorite this time if we go this route. Been with Vitello since the beginning at Tennessee. And they swing tree trunks at the plate. The worry with him is that I think people will think we're getting a Vitello clone and that's just not the truth.

3. Will Coggin-Played here and was an asst under Cohen. A lot of people credit him with our hitting jump from 15 to 16. Went with Mingione to UK and is now with Wes at UGA. If we're going asst route, I would pick him or Thompson. He's known as a giant asshole so he probably won't be kissing babies and signing baseballs for kids, but he wins and recruits at a high level.

Candidates That People Mention That We ARE NOT Hiring

1. Dan Heefner-He's not leaving DBU. He's had multiple opportunities and been offered multiple HIGH LEVEL P4 jobs and turned them all down. He's not coming.

2. Tony Vitello-No. And btw, we actually have fans who think hiring him is realistic. I am not kidding on that.


Candidates That Will Win But We Have To Lock Them In Their Office With No Cell Phone

1. Andy Cannizarro-Give me the boxing gloves and spiked shoulder pads. Give me the stupid mirror selfies from the gym at 5 AM. But also, give me the guy that never said die with a team that had POSITION PLAYERS STARTING SEC GAMES. Give me the guy that recruited Tanner Allen, Landon Sims, Logan Tanner, Justin Foscue, and Jordan Westburg.

[gtowndawg]

On Sixpack there's a post about Bo Bounds saying we can't afford a buyout. I imagine that's probably true. But can we do the buyout and just hire an up and comer for cheap, that way it's a wash? I can't imagine a young aggressive coach would be any worse, right? Maybe so, I don't follow baseball.

[StarkVegasSteve]

On Sixpack there's a post about Bo Bounds saying we can't afford a buyout. I imagine that's probably true. But can we do the buyout and just hire an up and comer for cheap, that way it's a wash? I can't imagine a young aggressive coach would be any worse, right? Maybe so, I don't follow baseball.

Bo is in with the Madison boosters that want to keep Lemonis because he gives the unfettered access to the program. Bo just throws shit at a wall to see what sticks. We have 5-6 who can pay the buyout and the new staff salaries with one stroke of a pen.

[Homedawg]

Not sure Vaughn is a honest to goodness realistic choice. So go down from there. We won't hire some big name guy. Will be like the last hire as far as name recognition

[gtowndawg]

Bo is in with the Madison boosters that want to keep Lemonis because he gives the unfettered access to the program. Bo just throws shit at a wall to see what sticks. We have 5-6 who can pay the buyout and the new staff salaries with one stroke of a pen.

Yeah, I've never been a fan, so I take what he says with a grain of salt.

[Coursesuper]

Bo is in with the Madison boosters that want to keep Lemonis because he gives the unfettered access to the program. Bo just throws shit at a wall to see what sticks. We have 5-6 who can pay the buyout and the new staff salaries with one stroke of a pen.

This is the truth, don't believe a word from that guys mouth. Those people are a part of the problem.

[HoopsDawg]

Hire Elander and don't look back.

[DownwardDawg]

On Sixpack there's a post about Bo Bounds saying we can't afford a buyout. I imagine that's probably true. But can we do the buyout and just hire an up and comer for cheap, that way it's a wash? I can't imagine a young aggressive coach would be any worse, right? Maybe so, I don't follow baseball.

Bo is a dubmass that doesn't know crap.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Bo is a dubmass that doesn't know crap.

Bo knows stuff. I'm not saying he doesn't know stuff or have sources. But he's far too biased with this. He and those Madison Co. boosters are going to die on the Lemonis hill before they admit that he's the problem. They'll blame everything else and then once they're out of others to blame, they change the narrative to we can't fire him. Richard Adkerson can cut a check tomorrow and pay the entire staff buyout and not know the money was missing out of his account.

[Todd4State]

On Sixpack there's a post about Bo Bounds saying we can't afford a buyout. I imagine that's probably true. But can we do the buyout and just hire an up and comer for cheap, that way it's a wash? I can't imagine a young aggressive coach would be any worse, right? Maybe so, I don't follow baseball.

If we can't afford a 1.25 million buyout it's more than our baseball program that is 17ed.

[Todd4State]

I would add Pollard from Duke to your list. That's the guy we should want. I absolutely 100% think he would come here too.

Some of our fans seem to have fallen in love with Elander. It's too risky. Good chance he fails here. I think he is ready for a head coaching job but not ours.

[Coach34]

Bo knows stuff. I'm not saying he doesn't know stuff or have sources. But he's far too biased with this. He and those Madison Co. boosters are going to die on the Lemonis hill before they admit that he's the problem. They'll blame everything else and then once they're out of others to blame, they change the narrative to we can't fire him. Richard Adkerson can cut a check tomorrow and pay the entire staff buyout and not know the money was missing out of his account.

People use Bo to put out info. People from campus as well as Boosters

[Todd4State]

Not sure Vaughn is a honest to goodness realistic choice. So go down from there. We won't hire some big name guy. Will be like the last hire as far as name recognition

Why not? We can and will pay more and have more resources. There isn't much further he could go up in the industry unless he takes a MLB job.

[Todd4State]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Pollard

[Todd4State]

https://goduke.com/sports/baseball/r...s-pollard/5062

[starkvegasdawg]

We have 5-6 who can pay the buyout and the new staff salaries with one stroke of a pen.

I'm not one of those 5-6 people, but I might be able to take a prospective coach to Captain D's or something along as he didn't go overboard and order an extra side and dessert.

[HoopsDawg]

I would add Pollard from Duke to your list. That's the guy we should want. I absolutely 100% think he would come here too.

Some of our fans seem to have fallen in love with Elander. It's too risky. Good chance he fails here. I think he is ready for a head coaching job but not ours.

No shot at Pollard. He turned down A&M and Miami. He loves it a Duke and they are putting money into their facilities.

I've got a surprise name for you that would be interested, Brian O'Conner from UVA.

[Homedawg]

Why not? We can and will pay more and have more resources. There isn't much further he could go up in the industry unless he takes a MLB job.

We might be willing to pay more, maybe, but selmon isn't going to break the bank on a baseball hire. And yes our job is better than bamas, I'll go w that. But it's not a slam dunk. Hes in the sec.

[Todd4State]

Bo knows stuff. I'm not saying he doesn't know stuff or have sources. But he's far too biased with this. He and those Madison Co. boosters are going to die on the Lemonis hill before they admit that he's the problem. They'll blame everything else and then once they're out of others to blame, they change the narrative to we can't fire him. Richard Adkerson can cut a check tomorrow and pay the entire staff buyout and not know the money was missing out of his account.

I'm not sure how much ultimate influence they will have in this final decision at the end of the year. We have booster options that can come up with money very easily that probably care even more about baseball than they do like you said.

If Lemonis loses the diehard baseball boosters he is screwed. And he is off to a good start. LOL.

We are in agreement that if he misses the postseason he is gone and there is a 50/50 chance he comes back if he sneaks us in as a three seed somewhere.

[HoopsDawg]

We might be willing to pay more, maybe, but selmon isn't going to break the bank on a baseball hire. And yes our job is better than bamas, I'll go w that. But it's not a slam dunk. Hes in the sec.

Yeah, Bama used to be at a massive disadvantage due to out of state tuition. But that's been mitigated thru NIL.