Deep Dive Into The Candidates

[StarkVegasSteve]

You mean no Lemon to SC?

They cannot go from one fired SEC coach to another. The time to grab Lemonis would have been last year or either wait out our situation this year.

They will need a sitting HC or an SEC assistant.

[Todd4State]

Well, that ain?t good for our search. Our monetary commitment means nothing until A&M gets their guy if we are after any of the same coaches.

The market is the market though. I don't think they're going to pay someone 3 million or whatever to just do it. Not in baseball anyway. And I'm not saying that we would pay that either for someone but I'm just saying that I don't think they're going to go way over market to get O'Connor. Rob Vaughn is sitting right there at Alabama and to me that seems like a better fit. Plus it would give them an edge on Justin Lebron if he enters the portal. And I'm not convinced that O'Connor would choose them over us anyway. Right now we're a much better situation.

Nah, his buyout is big and they put more into women's basketball. They don't worry me at all.
A&M has no reason to wait to fire their coach. If it's going to happen, it's by tomorrow.

That's why I think that hit piece was put out. They're trying to fire him for cause. Not following a doctor's Tommy John protocol and then that pitcher getting hurt after he was overworked is probably grounds for that alone without the other mountain of stuff in that article. And that article was essentially written by the people of South Carolina's version of Genespage. It wasn't by accident.

Skylar Meade will be the hire there.

I could see that. Or Elander. Meade would be better though.

Wonder what happens in Mizzou?

Since I lived in St Louis, I know they don't give a damn. But the Mizzou coach gets St Louis metro, Kansas City metro, and Springfield-Branson as his turf. Plus you can benefit from the Wichita State implosion and snag Kansas. You can also offer SEC ball to the Chicago kids. I hope this giant never awakens. St Louis suburbs have many Madison Centrals ... Marquette, Parkway, and Lafayette. And they have multiple JPs with even richer dads like Chaminde, CBC, De Smet etc.

Dan Fitzgerald would be dangerous in CoMo. Quietly build a program with no pressure. In Mizzou, Lemons would just be fired again, no danger. He would take Cheese and Fox with him.

They are in the same situation that Georgia has with much less commitment. They're right in between two MLB teams in the Cardinals and Royals and that's what they are competing against in state for baseball. They'll never ever compete against that. They are in a good recruiting area and there is no reason why they can't at least be competitive in the SEC and at least go to regionals. I think they need the right coach and Kerrick Johnson isn't the right guy. Fitzgerald would be great there because he can recruit and he knows the league and the area and the JUCO's. But it's a massive rebuild that is going to take years and honestly whoever their coach is there needs to get someone like Max Scherzer involved to start building some facilities and to get some things going there.

[StateDawg44]

They cannot go from one fired SEC coach to another. The time to grab Lemonis would have been last year or either wait out our situation this year.

They will need a sitting HC or an SEC assistant.

Yes I was kidding. I don?t think Lemo deserves the SC job.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Yes I was kidding. I don?t think Lemo deserves the SC job.

I hope he does get the USC job.

(1) takes MSU off the hook for buyout money
(2) he can hire Cheese, Parker, Goat, and Fox
(3) makes the MSU coach change free of charge
(4) destroys USC baseball for 4 to 6 years

[StateDawg44]

I hope he does get the USC job.

(1) takes MSU off the hook for buyout money
(2) he can hire Cheese, Parker, Goat, and Fox
(3) makes the MSU coach change free of charge
(4) destroys USC baseball for 4 to 6 years

Oh I'm all for them hiring him as well.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Talked to a few people last night and Steve basically confirmed the exact thing I was hearing, O'Conner is expected to stay at UVA.

So in the words of Sean Carter, On To The Next One.

[BigDawg81]

Talked to a few people last night and Steve basically confirmed the exact thing I was hearing, O'Conner is expected to stay at UVA.

So in the words of Sean Carter, On To The Next One.

My gut has been telling me that it will probably be Fitzgerald ever since I heard his name and looked at his Wikipedia page. However, my gut wasn’t too friendly to me this morning so who knows.

[StarkVegasSteve]

My gut has been telling me that it will probably be Fitzgerald ever since I heard his name and looked at his Wikipedia page. However, my gut wasn’t too friendly to me this morning so who knows.

I still think it is going to be Erik Bakich. I also think Wasikowski smoke will heat up as the week moves on as well.

Fitzgerald is still politicking like hell to get the job. He's got people reaching out every day.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I still think it is going to be Erik Bakich. I also think Wasikowski smoke will heat up as the week moves on as well.

Fitzgerald is still politicking like hell to get the job. He's got people reaching out every day.

If Fitz takes out Van Horn and Vitello that's a good resume bullet point.

"Went threw Fayetteville and Knoxville, successfully navigated my club to Omaha."

[ScottH]

My money remains on Bakich

[Chuck3124]

My money remains on Bakich

I?m right there with you. I?ve been on this train since day one. Ever since I watched that Clemson/Florida super last year and saw the fire he?s got I said that day I want him in Starkville. He?s a perfect fit.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I?m right there with you. I?ve been on this train since day one. Ever since I watched that Clemson/Florida super last year and saw the fire he?s got I said that day I want him in Starkville. He?s a perfect fit.

Here's the thing with Bakich. He's Cannizarro. He's what we lost. And this is the chance to get that back. Albeit without the off the field issues and we probably won't have spiked shoulder pads this time around. But that swagger, fire, and bravado would be back. Also, the recruiting would be back.

[Chuck3124]

Here's the thing with Bakich. He's Cannizarro. He's what we lost. And this is the chance to get that back. Albeit without the off the field issues and we probably won't have spiked shoulder pads this time around. But that swagger, fire, and bravado would be back. Also, the recruiting would be back.

That?s perfectly fine by me haha. As long as we get that swagger, fire, and bravado back I?m cool with it. I also agree this is our chance to get back what we had in Cann without off field issues.

[StarkVegasSteve]

The market is the market though. I don't think they're going to pay someone 3 million or whatever to just do it. Not in baseball anyway. And I'm not saying that we would pay that either for someone but I'm just saying that I don't think they're going to go way over market to get O'Connor. Rob Vaughn is sitting right there at Alabama and to me that seems like a better fit. Plus it would give them an edge on Justin Lebron if he enters the portal. And I'm not convinced that O'Connor would choose them over us anyway. Right now we're a much better situation.



That's why I think that hit piece was put out. They're trying to fire him for cause. Not following a doctor's Tommy John protocol and then that pitcher getting hurt after he was overworked is probably grounds for that alone without the other mountain of stuff in that article. And that article was essentially written by the people of South Carolina's version of Genespage. It wasn't by accident.



I could see that. Or Elander. Meade would be better though.



They are in the same situation that Georgia has with much less commitment. They're right in between two MLB teams in the Cardinals and Royals and that's what they are competing against in state for baseball. They'll never ever compete against that. They are in a good recruiting area and there is no reason why they can't at least be competitive in the SEC and at least go to regionals. I think they need the right coach and Kerrick Johnson isn't the right guy. Fitzgerald would be great there because he can recruit and he knows the league and the area and the JUCO's. But it's a massive rebuild that is going to take years and honestly whoever their coach is there needs to get someone like Max Scherzer involved to start building some facilities and to get some things going there.

Here is Mizzou's problem. They had a chance to hire Vitello in 2016 when Jamison retired and they didn't do it. Now would Vitello still be there? Absolutely not. The guy would probably be at Texas or even LSU right now because Mizzou refuses to make baseball any type of priority. So what happened? Well they hired Steve Beiser who, although he wasn't terrible, never made it to the NCAAT. He was 188-155 in his tenure at Mizzou. Tennessee hires Vitello a year later and all he has done is go 329-128 in his tenure with 3 CWS appearances and a national championship. And btw, he wanted that Mizzou job.

[StateDawg44]

I?m right there with you. I?ve been on this train since day one. Ever since I watched that Clemson/Florida super last year and saw the fire he?s got I said that day I want him in Starkville. He?s a perfect fit.

I thought the same exact thing during that SR last year. They gave Florida all they could handle.

Had me wishing we had that guy in the dugout instead of what we stuck with for another year.

[Pancho]

I'm feeling like Bakich until someone credible says otherwise.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I'm feeling like Bakich until someone credible says otherwise.

There is just some intrigue around Bakich. And look, like him or not, Robertson has the best athletic dept sources and has been dodging the Bakich candidacy as much as possible. If he was not a candidate he would either come out and say he is not a candidate or have some smart ass response saying that Vitello is a candidate too technically.

It was also very interesting that SuperTalk added him to their hot board last week. They did not just get that out of thin air

[StateDawg44]

I?d be just as happy with Bakich as I would?ve BOC.

Two different coaches but Bakich seems like a fit.

[KB21]

There is just some intrigue around Bakich. And look, like him or not, Robertson has the best athletic dept sources and has been dodging the Bakich candidacy as much as possible. If he was not a candidate he would either come out and say he is not a candidate or have some smart ass response saying that Vitello is a candidate too technically.

It was also very interesting that SuperTalk added him to their hot board last week. They did not just get that out of thin air

I will say it again. If it is Bakich, it's the biggest stealth coaching hire that has ever been. Outside of Super Talk putting him on the hot board, there hasn't been a peep about him in the baseball media. He wasn't on Kendall Rogers's hot board. Baseball America came out with a 40 coaches to watch article discussing coaches who could be on the move, and he wasn't mentioned. The top 4 on BA's list were Brian O'Connor, Tom Walter, Dan Fitzgerald, and Chris Pollard.

[Coursesuper]

There is just some intrigue around Bakich. And look, like him or not, Robertson has the best athletic dept sources and has been dodging the Bakich candidacy as much as possible. If he was not a candidate he would either come out and say he is not a candidate or have some smart ass response saying that Vitello is a candidate too technically.

It was also very interesting that SuperTalk added him to their hot board last week. They did not just get that out of thin air

I would put very little sock in what Rosey knows at this point.