Should Ron Polk's name be on the new stadium?

[dawgoneyall]

Yes Polk's name should stay on the stadium. And from what I have heard MSU has attempted to reconcile. The ball is in Polk's court on that. Not holding my breath on that changing.

I am completely tired of Polk's childish behavior.
Since about 92-93 for him it has been more about himself than MSU....and that is a long time. Time to move completely on.

[Maroon Wizardry]

i'm no old timer but LFL from my understanding was around before he was there and we had moderate success as well. That being said i'm indifferent about it.

[Dawgface]

Yes Polk's name should stay on the stadium. And from what I have heard MSU has attempted to reconcile. The ball is in Polk's court on that. Not holding my breath on that changing.

If the ball is in his court and he is not willing to reconcile, no way I would put his name on the stadium.

[confucius say]

There are acts against our university that should be unacceptable no matter who you are. No individual eclipses the program overall.

What acts?

[confucius say]

We were good before Ron Polk. Saying baseball is good because of RP is wrong.

I remember Paul Gregory and the LFL was because of his program.

Ron Polk played a big part, but he also caused problems that should not happened. Thank the Ninja!

Define "good." I think all will agree pilk took it to another level. He made it what it is.

[shannondawg]

Mistake then. Mistake now.

[gravedigger]

Since the grand ole lady is about to come down, somebody convince me his name should be there. Has there been any effort to reconcile? Discuss.

Anyone have an idea who is responsible for having a baseball program that warranted the stadium in the first place? I forget.

Hell Polks name should be on every stadium not named Alex Box.

[basedog]

Define "good." I think all will agree pilk took it to another level. He made it what it is.

CWS appearance, Back to back Sec championships, crowds unheard of, winning records year after year. We were considered a baseball power program.

The beginning of LFL, I remember playing OM who had really good teams late 60's and early 70's and we had over 9,000 attending and a huge fight broke out in LFL.

Hey, I'm not gonna go all out stating my fact about us beginning good way before RP, but I remember and we have always been near the top in the Sec long before RP.

We were one of the first if not the first, to install lights, we were ahead of many programs. Btw, someone donated 100K for the lights, i want to say spring of 71.

Just saying confuius

[BulldogtheMS]

We've had this discussion before and until he gets his ass off his shoulders and gets back into good standing it shouldn't be displayed.

[Drugdog]

Hell No. how do you honor somebody who is Still actively trying to destroy your program. He has Coached AGAINST us with 3 different teams. Are you kidding me. He is the enemy now. He ruined the relationship. Not MSU. ABSOLUTELY NO.

[Mobile Bay]

I am not up to speed, what did Ron Polk do to make people so mad?

[confucius say]

CWS appearance, Back to back Sec championships, crowds unheard of, winning records year after year. We were considered a baseball power program.

The beginning of LFL, I remember playing OM who had really good teams late 60's and early 70's and we had over 9,000 attending and a huge fight broke out in LFL.

Hey, I'm not gonna go all out stating my fact about us beginning good way before RP, but I remember and we have always been near the top in the Sec long before RP.

We were one of the first if not the first, to install lights, we were ahead of many programs. Btw, someone donated 100K for the lights, i want to say spring of 71.

Just saying confuius

I honestly didn't know. Was a serious question. Wasn't born until 83 and I'm only aware of one cws appearance pre polk- 1971.

[Todd4State]

Yes, it is very true that MSU baseball was successful LONG before Ron Polk. There's a reason why Dudy Noble has HIS name on the field as well. He was a good coach. After him RP Patty came in and won the SEC a couple of times, and then Gregory was after him and won the SEC four times and took us to Omaha for the first time ever. Bragan was really our only unsuccessful coach- but he was only here a year and he left for MLB. Who knows if he would have been successful or not? Polk then came in and did his thing and took us from a local/regional baseball power- back in those days the college baseball powers were mainly on the West Coast and in Texas- to a National type of program. McMahon continued to have success but he wasn't here for very long.

If you look at it historically, Polk II was probably our worst baseball coach hire if you give Bragan a pass. He only had two winning SEC seasons after he returned and we only hosted a regional one time. That gets glossed over because he did take us to Omaha in 2007 and won the SEC Tournament in 2005. And had Clemson not upset the one seed in their regional we would not have hosted the SR in 2007. He also only won the Governor's Cup twice upon return- and treated it like an exhibition game which to me was disrespectful to the game of baseball and maybe even more importantly our fans that showed up and gave their time and money to watch one of our outfielders pitch against Ole Miss's midweek/third starter while we lost that game FIVE years in a row. I won't even get into how he left- we all know how that went down and how unacceptable that was. Cohen came in and basically rebuilt us into what we were and took us even further than Polk did. He deserves a lot of credit for getting our recruiting back on a National level, dealing with all of the crap he did, giving us more of a presence in MLB with former players and also now former coaches throughout the SEC. He should also get a lot of credit once the new stadium is built as well- but that's to come. Now Cannizaro has taken the baton and based on what I have seen so far this is the most excited I have been about MSU baseball since 2013.

Now all of that said- Polk should still have his name on the stadium. As I said- he took us from local power to national power. And with it, the SEC. I would honestly say that he is one of the most influential if not the most influential baseball person in the South and Mississippi. That was good and bad for us. It's good that we get to claim him as one of us. It was bad because it also meant that he didn't always focus on MSU baseball like he should. His book and his coaching clinics and camps in the 70's and 80's helped Mississippi High School baseball coaches immensely- and because those programs got better it meant that they produced better high school baseball players. A lot of those baseball players dreamed of playing at MSU- and some have lived that out and have had major impacts for us- Jake Mangum, Konnor Pilkington, Hunter Renfroe, Jonathan Holder, Jacob Lindgren, Ed Easley, Mitch Moreland, Jeffrey Rea and etc. Compare that to the 1985 group and where the best players on that team were from- Clark (NOLA), Palmeiro (Miami), Brantley (Birmingham), and Thigpen (Florida). That's what was brilliant about Polk's overall vision- he knew that by making our program a National product and developing the local high schools it would help us be a powerhouse for years to come. Without Polk- Delta State, USM, and as much as they aren't going to like it- Ole Miss baseball programs aren't as strong as they are today. Because since we started to care and show them how to do it- they started to care too. The Mayor's Trophy was also Polk's idea as well- which has become the biggest and best neutral site college baseball game in the country and it was also the first. It even outdrew the Atlanta Braves exhibition game a few years ago.

And beyond Mississippi the SEC isn't what it is without Polk and Bertman. The talent in the SEC wouldn't be what it is without them and without Polk specifically the stadiums in the SEC wouldn't be what they are either.

As far as the bad stuff at the end- I blame LT much more for that. It was a lazy hire and we basically brought in a guy that was old, had a lot of cronies and his name on the stadium and therefore impossible to fire, and had a known history of not focusing on winning a NC that had showed no signs of ending. Polk should have never, ever been allowed to come back. It was obvious at least to me from the beginning that all he was going to do was tarnish his reputation and it wasn't going to end well. That's exactly what happened. That's not on Polk for wanting to come back. That's on LT for being incompetent and allowing him to come back. If LT doesn't bring him back- his reputation is intact.

[Bully13]

What acts?

Dude.

[Drugdog]

Polk committed modern day treason against MSU. He turned on MSU. The program is bigger than 1 short man. You cannot honor a traitor. End of discussion. Maybe someone could post pictures of him in other uniforms coaching AGAINST US!!!!

Todd, your wrong on this one.

[fader2103]

Yes. Polk is a legend!

[Coursesuper]

Define "good." I think all will agree pilk took it to another level. He made it what it is.

Baseball in the SEC was an afterthought before Ron Polk.

[Drugdog]

Yes. Polk is a legend!

So is Bigfoot and Nessie. And they didn't coach against us or try to bring the program down!

[Todd4State]

CWS appearance, Back to back Sec championships, crowds unheard of, winning records year after year. We were considered a baseball power program.

The beginning of LFL, I remember playing OM who had really good teams late 60's and early 70's and we had over 9,000 attending and a huge fight broke out in LFL.

Hey, I'm not gonna go all out stating my fact about us beginning good way before RP, but I remember and we have always been near the top in the Sec long before RP.

We were one of the first if not the first, to install lights, we were ahead of many programs. Btw, someone donated 100K for the lights, i want to say spring of 71.

Just saying confuius

This is all true. Dutch McCool donated the lights you are talking about.

I'm not sure when exactly the LFL started but my guess is whenever we started playing at the current location. Unless it started at the Dorman Hall location. It was definitely there when my parents were there- which was when Gregory was the coach. According to my parents it was basically just a bunch of people in pick-up trucks or students hanging out behind the OF fence. I'm not sure when it morphed into rigs. Also per my parents we drew pretty well for baseball then- even though at that particular time we weren't at the top of the SEC. Which shows that our fanbase was already pretty good.

It was much more difficult to get to Omaha in Gregory's days as well. A lot fewer teams went to the regionals or I think they used to call them playoffs. You pretty much had to win the SEC to go to the regionals.

[Bully13]

Polk committed modern day treason against MSU. He turned on MSU. The program is bigger than 1 short man. You cannot honor a traitor. End of discussion. Maybe someone could post pictures of him in other uniforms coaching AGAINST US!!!!

Yep. But what irked me more is what he said and the trashing of the player and recruitment records . He did his best to 17 Cohen before the door hit his ass on the way out. He didn't even stop after that. Some our early Cohen woes are directly attributable to that drama queen.