John Cohen was hired as the MSU Head Baseball Coach. (ScoobaDawg post and link on ED reminded me of so much I had forgotten)
The 'Ninja' is coming back to town and John Cohen has to know that he wouldn't be the HC at MSU 'without' Greg Byrne's gutsy call. Great article here.
I do remember how Polk reacted to the hire but had forgotten that Greg Byrne .. who made the call .. was not even 'officially' the AD. LT didn't leave until July.
That was a huge call for a 'first time' AD in the face of vocal opposition from Polk and others who wanted Raffo. He also had to call Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky AD and his old boss, to tell him he was about to hire his coach that he did not want to lose and tried desperately to keep.
Also, forgot that John turned down a 10-year contract that would have paid at least $100K more a year .. to come home . "Had John accepted our offer, in my opinion, he would have had one of the top five contracts in the nation for a baseball coach," Barnhart said.
I will always admire both the Ninja and Cohen for the way they responded to Polk and the critics. Byrne took the 'high road' and refused to criticize Polk even after Polk call Byrne "unqualified." And even after Polk told Cohen not to move so that Raffo would get the job and that he was going to "actively work to dismantle key components of the MSU program," Cohen responded .. "I wouldn't be who I am without Ron Polk," Cohen told fans in Starkville. "I understand his position and I admire his loyalty. Obviously I'd love to have his support. But we've still got to win a national championship, and that is my primary goal. For Mississippi State baseball, anything less than Omaha is unacceptable."
Also this .. I overheard my wife on the phone and someone asked her why I wanted to take the job and coach at Mississippi State," Cohen said. "She said, 'Every musician wants to play Carnegie Hall, and Dudy Noble is the Carnegie Hall of college baseball.'"
The 'Ninja' is coming back to town and John Cohen has to know that he wouldn't be the HC at MSU 'without' Greg Byrne's gutsy call. Great article here.
I do remember how Polk reacted to the hire but had forgotten that Greg Byrne .. who made the call .. was not even 'officially' the AD. LT didn't leave until July.
That was a huge call for a 'first time' AD in the face of vocal opposition from Polk and others who wanted Raffo. He also had to call Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky AD and his old boss, to tell him he was about to hire his coach that he did not want to lose and tried desperately to keep.
Also, forgot that John turned down a 10-year contract that would have paid at least $100K more a year .. to come home . "Had John accepted our offer, in my opinion, he would have had one of the top five contracts in the nation for a baseball coach," Barnhart said.
I will always admire both the Ninja and Cohen for the way they responded to Polk and the critics. Byrne took the 'high road' and refused to criticize Polk even after Polk call Byrne "unqualified." And even after Polk told Cohen not to move so that Raffo would get the job and that he was going to "actively work to dismantle key components of the MSU program," Cohen responded .. "I wouldn't be who I am without Ron Polk," Cohen told fans in Starkville. "I understand his position and I admire his loyalty. Obviously I'd love to have his support. But we've still got to win a national championship, and that is my primary goal. For Mississippi State baseball, anything less than Omaha is unacceptable."
Also this .. I overheard my wife on the phone and someone asked her why I wanted to take the job and coach at Mississippi State," Cohen said. "She said, 'Every musician wants to play Carnegie Hall, and Dudy Noble is the Carnegie Hall of college baseball.'"
