Here's how I see the differences in Jay Johnson and Brian O'Connor first two years

[StarkVegasSteve]

Been a State fan for 61 years of my 72 on this planet. I'm just saying we better temper our expectations. At least until we see the Roster he puts together this Fall. I expect football to go 15-0 every year but it never happens. I expect a Final 4 for Basketball but it has happened once in my lifetime. I expect Omaha every year. I'm usually disappointed for a Day. Then I realize
We are MState. There are weak spots all over this current Roster. He has work to do!

But we are giving him a top 3-4 NIL warchest and rev share budget. So now the money is there and there is no Lemonis. So there should be no excuses because those were the two reasons we heard why we lost kids.

[Coach34]

Frei is a small draft risk with the way he swings the bat. I'd take a late flyer on him if I was an MLB club. We could make it worth his time to stay another year tho

[Commercecomet24]

Why? We're paying him a top 3 salary and have given him a war chest in terms of NIL and Rev Share. Schloss turned A&M around in Year 1, in the portal era, and everyone has said O'Conner is head and shoulders better than Schloss. Erik Bakich had Clemson hosting Year 1 after MISSING THE POSTSEASON the year prior.

I have said it since he was hired, the expectation is Omaha. From the jump. Every year. We're not moving the goalposts. He needs to feel the heat from Day 1. This isn't a kick your feet up job.

Nailed it right here! O'Connor and his staff are being given EVERYTHING they need to assemble whatever they need to win now. I have heard that Selmon was basically given a blank check to do whatever was needed to assemble staff, rosters and whatever else was needed to win now and long term.

[CaptainObvious]

I love the hire! We finally took a coach away from a legit program and didn't settle for the Equipment Manager in what is an important sport to Most of Us!

Can you imagine State taking someone's head football coach and then not actually thanking us to do it? When the divorcee is pissed you know you have done something! We've never ever pissed a football divorcee off!

I just need to see this Roster take shape.

[Political Hack]

The excitement around the program will generate Mo eye hich will flow into NIL transfers year 1. I expect us to be fighting for Omaha annually from this point forward.

[Ranchdawg]

Another thing to consider was high school players and portal players did not really want to come to MSU because of the coaching. First Lemonis didn’t recruit after the Natty, then players stayed away because of Foxhall and then players were seeing lazy coaching from Lemonis.

Now we have a legit coach that has an impeccable resume, knows what it takes to win, knows how to recruit, knows how evaluate players, knows how to coach them up and puts players in the major league. Which is what every player wants. To be coached and a chance to the bigs.

[BrunswickDawg]

I love the hire! We finally took a coach away from a legit program and didn't settle for the Equipment Manager in what is an important sport to Most of Us!

Can you imagine State taking someone's head football coach and then not actually thanking us to do it? When the divorcee is pissed you know you have done something! We've never ever pissed a football divorcee off!

I just need to see this Roster take shape.

Um, it's only been 5 years since we took a P5's sitting football HC. And no, most Wazzu fans didn't thank us for doing it.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Another thing to consider was high school players and portal players did not really want to come to MSU because of the coaching. First Lemonis didn’t recruit after the Natty, then players stayed away because of Foxhall and then players were seeing lazy coaching from Lemonis.

Now we have a legit coach that has an impeccable resume, knows what it takes to win, knows how to recruit, knows how evaluate players, knows how to coach them up and puts players in the major league. Which is what every player wants. To be coached and a chance to the bigs.

Then there should be no excuses why we do not have a top 5 portal class. None. It is a failure if we do not.

[basedog]

Nailed it right here! O'Connor and his staff are being given EVERYTHING they need to assemble whatever they need to win now. I have heard that Selmon was basically given a blank check to do whatever was needed to assemble staff, rosters and whatever else was needed to win now and long term.

Now Cc24, several on ED have stated Selmon doesn't care for baseball, he is a nobody"**** LOL.

This baseball staff is lining up to be one of the best i the nation. Selmon has been doing good things and I love where he doesn't let his ego get out of hand while being very private! I like him a lot.

[CaptainObvious]

Um, it's only been 5 years since we took a P5's sitting football HC. And no, most Wazzu fans didn't thank us for doing it.

Um. There were many WSU fans who thanked him for leading them and wished him the best. There some glad to see him gone and a few were typically pissed because they think he took a huge step down from them.😂😂😂

But make no mistake, we were Leach's retirement home. We were Jackie's retirement home. We were Rockey's retirement home. We were Emory Bellard last college job. We were Croom's one and only Head Coaching job. See a pattern with our Football program. We offered Mullen more than Florida did but it didn't matter! I don't believe Lebby is the answer either. Look at SMU, Tulane and a few other former also-rans. And it isn't just because of the conference they are in. They were in those conferences when they sucked too. They have been to New Year's Day Bowls and even a playoff appearance. Remember the success Cincinnati had in football. Memphis used to be not just a doormat but ours and ole misses doormat. I know. I know. They aren't in the SEC. So why do we have to be one of the 2 or 3 doormats in SEC football?

[The Federalist Engineer]

The SEC grind was WAY overvalued by the NCAA selection committee this year. No way this league is all that great when you have the top two seeds get run out of their own stadiums by MUCH lesser programs.

The bottom 3 SEC teams Oklahoma, Miss State, and Kentucky made their regional Finals, dog.

It was the top teams that laid an egg: Texas, Vandy, and UGA. But other top-seeds failed too, USM, Oregon, and Clemson. Even Florida State needed 9 players and Umpires to beat the SEC 3 seed, otherwise they were toast too.

The big learning is that the other teams are not bad. It would be badass to have 32 teams play a Playoff series to make the NCAA tournament. They could opt-out of their Conference tournament and play-in to the NCAA as 4 seeds. It sucks small schools have to win their tournament to make the NCAA.

UTex Rio Grande, UConn, UVA, and Troy could have had good regionals.

[Coach34]

The SEC wasnt overrated. College baseball is just the most competitive sport there is

BOC gets no pass on anything. Its host and be top of the SEC from Day 1. You have the money now along with everything else. The top of the SEC cant buy our guys with more money. If they leave- its because they just want to. We should devour G5 schools for talent. We expect to host now every season. Our expectation is a Super. We wont make that every year but we better not miss that 3-4 years in a row

[Todd4State]

Apparently a medical redshirt for one of his years.

He's listed as a Jr on hailstate.com with a medical redshirt in one of his prior seasons.

AWESOME!!!!

[Todd4State]

Apparently a medical redshirt for one of his years.

He's listed as a Jr on hailstate.com with a medical redshirt in one of his prior seasons.

Another thing to consider was high school players and portal players did not really want to come to MSU because of the coaching. First Lemonis didn’t recruit after the Natty, then players stayed away because of Foxhall and then players were seeing lazy coaching from Lemonis.

Now we have a legit coach that has an impeccable resume, knows what it takes to win, knows how to recruit, knows how evaluate players, knows how to coach them up and puts players in the major league. Which is what every player wants. To be coached and a chance to the bigs.

From my view it was more of an issue with roster evaluation and also loyalty to certain players that simply didn't meet expectations. For example "Why do we need a catcher? We have Ross Highfill." We did not evaluate signability very well either. And as a result we lost some recruits in the draft and portal signees and didn't really do a good job of replacing them or having back up options. Our whole rotation hinged on Travis Smith and getting him to campus would have completely changed our rotation and season.

I mean, we were getting guys drafted and putting them in the Big Leagues. Loo was a first round pick last year and Khal Stephen is probably going to make it to MLB and that was just last year. Mershon is already in AAA and Dakota Jordan yeah he definitely struggled and dropped in the draft but he still got his money and will probably make it so I can't really say we screwed him up.

This year we had the pieces even without Smith to at least host a regional but struggled to put the right guys on the field, had pitcher tryouts against teams we had no business doing so and got burned, and to your point about lazy coaching there were definitely fundamentals issues that hurt us a lot, plus we kept leaving pitchers in too long.

Those were more of the main issues we had than recruiting.

[99jc]

Been a State fan for 61 years of my 72 on this planet. I'm just saying we better temper our expectations. At least until we see the Roster he puts together this Fall. I expect football to go 15-0 every year but it never happens. I expect a Final 4 for Basketball but it has happened once in my lifetime. I expect Omaha every year. I'm usually disappointed for a Day. Then I realize
We are MState. There are weak spots all over this current Roster. He has work to do!

it is quite obvious that dementia has set in on your 72 year. it explains everything about your mentality. you are an old grouchy fart at the end of his existence. I can say this because i am one also!

[CaptainObvious]

it is quite obvious that dementia has set in on your 72 year. it explains everything about your mentality. you are an old grouchy fart at the end of his existence. I can say this because i am one also!

And apparently it is setting in earlier and earlier from reading some of the posters on here.😂

[Brobi-wan]

I never would’ve picked you guys as the old dudes on the board.

[CaptainObvious]

I never would’ve picked you guys as the old dudes on the board.

I'm a "young" 72. 😎

[99jc]

LOL

[99jc]

I never would’ve picked you guys as the old dudes on the board.

i AM 65 BUT HAVE A BILL BELLICHECK YOUNG WIFE!