Henderson has earned the right to turn it down, if he doesn't want it

[preachermatt83]

I think the problem at that time was you not only had the Polk and Raffo stuff but you also had Cohen people, you had people that wanted Steve Smith, you had Brian Shoop people....just a lot of different factions.

Polk is the ultimate "clinging to a coach" situation. We have so many fans that only really watch MSU baseball that they thought that Polk's way was THE ONLY way to play the game. I think we had a lot of fans that tried to make Cohen like Polk- complaining about cussing in the dugout and all of that crap. You had Polk ripping Cohen behind his back too. It was just a really rough time. I honestly don't know how Cohen turned it around other than just sheer will and stubbornness.

What the story on this?

[Really Clark?]

Good comparison... other than Dabo who has been untra successful after being promoted from interim to HC?

Phil Fulmer at Tenn in college football.

[BulldogBear]

I agree. If he wins the natty, I?d consider it then. If not, let?s hire the best coach for the job.

Exactly, strong emphasis on the word consider.

I really don't get it. Why does winning the national championship change your opinion. Miami made that mistake with Larry Coker. If we go with Henderson, that's fine, but it shouldn't be based on the next week of play.

Thus season is awesome.... but it's also weird. Yeah, apparently Henderson was the right man to pull this off. But these are not normal circumstances. Even if we win it all there is no evidence to say he can get it done in a normal offseason and season where you recruit, weather the draft, develop players, hire assistants, not screw coeds or staff, stay employed as head coach, meddle, endure ED criticism, and get to CWS that way.

I wonder if there could be some handshake politics here if the university or baseball program is worried about image because of not hiring a guy that wins the CWS. You know the Ole Miss led media will be all over it. Perhaps he should be offered the job but be instructed to turn it down. I believe he should be taken care of with a nice office job with 6 figures and go out as a legend.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Would you be saying the same thing if MacNamee didn't manage to take our final strike of the season over the wall in Tallahassee?

Would Saban be the best if his teams got called for holding, or were not allowed to run out of bounds and back in?

[Jarius]

Phil Fulmer at Tenn in college football.

And neither of those had 8 years of previous head coaching experience proving they were going to suck long term. If Gary had never been a head coach before this year the job would already be his. No one wants a guy who has already proven he can?t get it done long term. He had a lifetime to turn that program around and went to 2 regionals.

[msstatelp1]

If Cohen hires Hendo, I'm gonna hope he turns out like Bill Belichick. Belichick's first HC job in Cleveland didn't end so good but NE gave him a second chance.

[Really Clark?]

And neither of those had 8 years of previous head coaching experience proving they were going to suck long term. If Gary had never been a head coach before this year the job would already be his. No one wants a guy who has already proven he can?t get it done long term. He had a lifetime to turn that program around and went to 2 regionals.

To play devils advocate, then NE should have never hired Belichick, USC shouldn?t have hired Pete Carroll, and the vast number of MLB manager retreads that didn?t have great success in their first gig is just too numerous to count. But Tony La Russa is one that coached the White Sox for several years, even won a COY award (sound familiar) and was the interim coach when he was first given the head gig, fired 2-3 years after his COY and hired immediately by the A?s. And look and Joe Torre’s career prior to the Yankees and the fan and media blasted them for hiring Torre...he was pretty good there

Again, I?m not an advocate for Henderson because I don?t believe prior to this run he was a candidate in Cohen?s mind but you can find countless examples, especially in baseball, where it?s the 2nd or 3rd time around where the manager finds greats success

[Todd4State]

What the story on this?

Just some posters on the old Genespage complaining about Cohen's language in the dugout.

[Liverpooldawg]

This is not college football. Nationally, no one will care. Rick Cleveland and Kellenberger May would write smn negative, but no major traction.

Also, I'd rather get this hire right (even if that's Hindu) than look nice.

The college baseball coaching community will care.

[MarketingBully]

Word in Omaha is Schloss is telling anyone who will listen that he wanted and still wants our job. Bo Bounds was saying it on OOB this morning. Would be hilarious if we still ended up with him.

[Liverpooldawg]

To play devils advocate, then NE should have never hired Belichick, USC shouldn?t have hired Pete Carroll, and the vast number of MLB manager retreads that didn?t have great success in their first gig is just too numerous to count. But Tony La Russa is one that coached the White Sox for several years, even won a COY award (sound familiar) and was the interim coach when he was first given the head gig, fired 2-3 years after his COY and hired immediately by the A?s.

Again, I?m not an advocate for Henderson because I don?t believe prior to this run he was a candidate in Cohen?s mind but you can find countless examples, especially in baseball, where it?s the 2nd or 3rd time around where the manager finds greats success

Even Saban failed at Miami.

[MarketingBully]

Even Saban failed at Miami.

8-8 isn’t failing in the NFL. Had he stayed he would have been successful imo. That’s just how he’s wired. He just prefers the college level but trust me his process could work on any level of the sport.

[ChillOutDog]

My issue is, in baseball all you can ask is to be in position for a championship. Henderson has shown he can do that...

Your first sentence is 100000% correct. Your second is the opposite.

The first sentence equates to HOSTING... REGULARLY. Gary Henderson has never hosted a regional.

[ChillOutDog]

The college baseball coaching community will care.

They want to keep the sleeping giant down.

[Liverpooldawg]

8-8 isn’t failing in the NFL. Had he stayed he would have been successful imo. That’s just how he’s wired. He just prefers the college level but trust me his process could work on any level of the sport.

It would be considered failure for MSU baseball to finish at .500.

[Liverpooldawg]

They want to keep the sleeping giant down.

I'm talking about those that might think about taking the job down the line.

[BrunswickDawg]

This is a really unusual and difficult situation to be in. The only other Interim coach of any kind taking a team and pushing toward a championship I can think of was in 2012 when Chuck Pagano got leukemia and Bruce Arians took over, goes 9-3 and leads them to the playoffs. He is the only Interim HC in NFL history to be named Coach of the Year.

Interestingly, Arians was a long-time assistant coach with a great rep who had coached in many winning programs, who had had only one shot as a HC (a shitastic run with Temple), and was probably viewed as too old to build a team.
Arians gets hired by Arizona - coming off a 5-11 season - and proceeds to go 10-6, 11-5, & 13-3 with an NFC Championship game loss. He then went 7-8-1 and 8-8 to finish out his run there.

Could Henderson be like Arians? I don't know. I don't know what the solution is.

[cheewgumm]

So the goal is to win the National championship.

Some of you are saying that after decades and decades and decades of trying, we finally win a national championship and our response is going to be to immediately fire the coach and find someone else?

When the press asks why, what will be Cohen's response? "We need someone that can take us to the next level". He'd look like a moron.

We are probably hiring Henderson now and DEFINITELY are if we win it. Not even a question.

[Jarius]

To play devils advocate, then NE should have never hired Belichick, USC shouldn?t have hired Pete Carroll, and the vast number of MLB manager retreads that didn?t have great success in their first gig is just too numerous to count. But Tony La Russa is one that coached the White Sox for several years, even won a COY award (sound familiar) and was the interim coach when he was first given the head gig, fired 2-3 years after his COY and hired immediately by the A?s. And look and Joe Torre’s career prior to the Yankees and the fan and media blasted them for hiring Torre...he was pretty good there

Again, I?m not an advocate for Henderson because I don?t believe prior to this run he was a candidate in Cohen?s mind but you can find countless examples, especially in baseball, where it?s the 2nd or 3rd time around where the manager finds greats success

You can’t find countless examples of a failed head coach turning it around. You can find a few, and you didn’t find a single one at the college baseball level (because you have to recruit and don’t just get handed the Yankees or cardinals roster that anyone could win with). I can find countless in all sports that got fired and were never hired again or were hired again and failed miserably again though. Would you like me to name those? I doubt we have enough bandwidth.

[Cooterpoot]

Belichick has the highest winning percentage of the last 10 Browns coaches. Bad example. Terrible franchise.