O'Connor is now 4-15 vs Top 10 Teams
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Fair enough. I’ll take one of those Nattys in first 3 years as well. Let’s see it!
Hasn’t been the most inspiring start to a coaching tenure, but postseason is still there for the taking. Hoping this is where he really shines as a coach.
There’s hope we got the next Saban. It looks like we got the next Moorhead, so far. Time for him and the team to step up!
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We haven’t hosted in 5 years and have only done it four times since 2003. Not inspiring is an interesting way to frame this season. It’s had ups and downs, no questions. But we are 40-17 and most people think we’ve left meat on the bone…. I think we’re gonna be fine in the hong haul with this coaching tenure.
I’m pretty sure we’re trending in the right direction finally.
How would you feel if I told you that the #1 program in all of college baseball in ALL things (fan support, NIL, talentbase, history)….by a mile….one that won 2 of the past 3 national titles…..just finished 14th in the SEC, with all those advantages that they have EVERY year?
Oh yeah, and they did it in Year 4 of their current coach.
Takes a lot more than NIL and portal hauls to win in college baseball. And nobody….absolutely nobody….goes too long without a rough patch. College baseball is too volatile and cyclical for anyone to just buy title after title, or regional host after regional host. Tommy John surgery to a few pitchers, bad luck with the draft, a lot depends on luck. Our luck this year wasn’t great. Lost our #1 starter, who would have absolutely propelled us to a national seed if he was healthy all year. Still had a pretty damn good season that could potentially still be special. Everything that matters is still in front of us. That means we’ve got really good leadership.
No offense, but if we are going to just make excuses, we should have just kept on with Lemonis. 4-15 vs top 10 is horrendous. AWFUL. TWICE as bad as what Lemonis averaged over his tenure. You can chalk it up to whatever you want but there’s no sugar coating it. It’s BAD and if you aren’t concerned I don’t know what else to say. If you are hoping for a miraculous turn around in post season I’m right there with you as an MSU fan.
Anything can happen, it’s baseball. We could get hot. I firmly believe it’s a numbers game and the best path to Omaha is actually winning most games like I described and host a super. We FAILED on that front. That’s on the head man. Let’s hope he bucks the trend. It’s not a good start for him.
Yes. And absolutely nothing has changed in college sports in the last 19 years, so that reference is completely applicable.
Who said nothing has changed? He made the dumb post alluding to Saban being a dominant force in Y1 at AL. I just pointed out that this just isn't true.
So he faced a Top 10 (19) times in a single season/going on post. He a first year coach who just came from the ACC and had no real clue what this team would ultimately look like. We lost a TON of close games this year. Almost went undefeated in Non-Con. We are Hosting; and flirted with being a National Seed going into the final 2 weekends. The #1 Team for most of the entire season, we beat them barring a ground rule. Granted we will see come Regionals, but My Hat is Off! Take that however you want. I ***** and yell with the best of them, but take a step back and see how this story plays out.
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I think the OP is just a troll. There is no way this season should be considered a disappointment.
Everybody who is not in the Top 10 has a similar such record against Top 10 teams. Not really sure why you’re trolling so hard on this. You waited until we lost with our #3 pitcher against the ace for the SEC champs - in a completely meaningless game - to just get all up in your feels about this?
Clown argument. We were a legit Top 5 team for Lemonis’ first 3 seasons. Thus, our record against the Top 10 (and everybody else) was pretty good…..way better than either record you listed. Why don’t you tell is what Lemonis’ record vs. the Top 10 was from 2022-2025 was? Those are the years that got him fired. That’s all that matters.
It’s bad if we ourselves were a Top 10 team. With a healthy McPherson, we were a Top 10 team….perhaps Top 5. Without him, we drop back to Top 15. Shít ain’t rocket science. Take the #1 starter away from any Top 10 team, they are no longer a Top 10 team.
I have done nothing but state some facts. You can name call all you want but that doesn’t change any of them. It’s end of regular season which is probably a good time to hash out some of these things as fans.
MSU baseball fan support is unparalleled… the absolute pinnacle of the sport. It’s a program that sells itself and is a baseball dream for most high school recruits. Forgive me for not being absolutely thrilled with performing twice as bad as Lemonis did vs top 10 competition.
There is very little doubt in my mind that you can drop Perd Hapley in there as head coach for those 19 games (the most important games) and do as good if not better than 21% winning percentage.
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For all intents and purposes, he was out for 9 of the 10 weeks. Pitched against Arkansas, left injured mid-game against Vandy (fortunately we didn’t really need him). 2 rehab stints where we really got nothing from him against Auburn and A&M. We got one legit start from him in 10 SEC weekends.
Here are some other facts which you decided to leave out:
1) Hosting a regional for the first time since 2021.
2) Hosting a regional in Year 1 of a new coach’s tenure after a 4-year drought.
3) 39 wins was the most in the regular season since 2021.
4) Are still playing baseball, and currently have a record of 0-0 in games that actually matter in the grand scheme of things, by MSU standards.
Lemonis's last 4 seasons:
9-21, not even close to making a Regional
9-21, not even close to making a Regional
17-13, did not host or win a Regional
7-14, fired midseason, likely would not have made a Regional had we kept him all year
O'Connor immediately comes in and hosts in year 1, despite having our best pitcher hurt half the year, and our fans say "we should have just kept on with Lemonis!!"
9-21, not even close to making a Regional
9-21, not even close to making a Regional
17-13, did not host or win a Regional
7-14, fired midseason, likely would not have made a Regional had we kept him all year
O'Connor immediately comes in and hosts in year 1, despite having our best pitcher hurt half the year, and our fans say "we should have just kept on with Lemonis!!"
That’s all fine and good and perfectly fair. It’s also fair to say, barring some major luck out of our control, we will NOT be hosting a super regional PRECISELY because of what I describe. Do you think LSU, a program that is second fiddle to msu baseball in terms of fan support, would be happy with Kiffin being 7-5 in year 1? Would they be saying “well all is good we got ourselves a nice bowl Independence Bowl game”… no chance, I guarantee you most of their fans would be absolutely livid.
As a University, we pay O’Connor and our players like LSU football does Kiffin. We also have a program that is the envy of the entire college baseball world. 4-15, half the winning percentage as Lemonis. Sugar coat it all you want. It’s still 21% to Lemonis 40%. I can pick out Lemonis best year and put it against O’Connor’s worst year as a head coach but we both know that isn’t a fair way to make a point.
You have completely lost the plot.
LSU leads the nation in attendance every year. They play second fiddle to no one in college baseball. In any category.
How about Jay Johnson going 9-21 in Year 4?
Have you ever been to LSU? I think not. Their baseball facility is an absolute dump compared to Dudy Noble, you know the Mecca of college baseball? It’s not even a remotely close comparison in the baseball world.
They didn’t lead the nation this year, we did, from what I have seen. i could be wrong.
Nothing about this season is close to equivalent to 7-5 or the Independence Bowl. Your entire analogy is a farce.