Ok, Fess Up, Regular Season is over...

[HotMop]

Who doubted this hire?









I may have been apprehensive, better than anyone could have expected. Lemonis is a keeper after his 1st season.

 

[tired]

Not saying he's not a keeper, but these same players made a run last year with a different coach. I want to see him recruit and develop.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Bought in early on

anybody that can take Indiana to post season, 3 out of 4 years...

It will work.

 

[West Tn Dawg]

Not saying he's not a keeper, but these same players made a run last year with a different coach. I want to see him recruit and develop.

Exactly

 

[aTotal360]

He ain't won **** yet!11!1!1!1!!!

 

[imissplatinumplus]

The “intense bastard”. Knows baseball.

Lemonis inheriated a great team.

All he had to do is NOT 17 it up

This coaching staff and team top to bottom is elite and we will look
back on this year/team in an 85 kinda way!

cheers! Enjoy the ride!

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[MSUDC11]

Thought we’d be over .500 in the league, possibly host and maybe be a national seed . Did not expect us to be a slam dunk national seed. We’ve exceeded expectations for the regular season. Get to at least a Super too and I’m content with the season. Another Omaha trip and I’m elated.

 

[PearlRiverCoDawg]

It's funny how people are gonna use the "he inherted a good team and then bash him for the success he had, which is par none to any first year coach in the sec. Then vice versa they say JoMo inherted a good team but it wasn't good enough for them.." Both guys could have easily sucked under the pressure, especially Lemonis. I think he will be here a very long time.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Seems like there were some doubters in the media and on this board.

https://forums.sixpackspeak.com/sho...all-6th-in-West&highlight=baseball+prediction

I can't find our preseason predictions.

 

[drummerdawg]

He did inherit a great situation and did what he was supposed to for the most part. Let's see how he does postseason

 

[The Fatboy]

How many Miss. State coaches have won 20 SEC games in season?

Maybe 4 or 5?

That stat ought to tell you something.

He exceeded expectations

 

[o_dawgnabit]

He exceeded my expectations. I have to say, I was not excited at first simply because I felt we were hyped up with all these big names and this was an off the wall hire. So early on I thought we’d be a regional host. Never would’ve imagined us to only lose 1 NC game, undefeated on the weeknights, and have the SEC record we have

 

[patdog]

I doubted the process, had an open mind about the hire itself. Cohen didn't get his 1st, 2nd or maybe even 3rd orignial choice, but he did a great job recovering to make a fantastic hire.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

Lemonis did more with what he was left than Moorhead did with what he was left.

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

Exactly. Its too early to gloat. If he loses b4 the cws im sure someone will start this same thread in opposite fashion

 

[BossDawg78]

I did!

I had a really, really bad feeling about Lemonis. But I'm pessimistic anyway when it comes to State. Partly because it helps just in case we do bomb and partly because it's sort of my reverse-jinx I try to slip by the Natives. Anyway yeah, I doubted the hell out of Coarch Lemon.

 

[WrapItDog]

How many Miss. State coaches have won 20 SEC games in season?

Maybe 4 or 5?

That stat ought to tell you something.

He exceeded expectations

Polk, Cohen, & Lemonis

 

[patdog]

45 regular season wins. As far as I know, only the 89 and maybe 90 teams matched that record.

 

[Cat Duck]

I doubted the process, had an open mind about the hire itself. Cohen didn't get his 1st, 2nd or maybe even 3rd orignial choice, but he did a great job recovering to make a fantastic hire.

I wish people would quit acting like we whiffed on this whole line of coaches simply because we whiffed on Corbin, Schlossnagle and McDonnell. Those are 3 of the best in the business. And we actually had Schlossnagle until our CWS run.

Essentially we landed our #1 guy once the realistic candidates were interviewed.

 

[memphisbulldog]

Yes we had most of a CWS team coming back but we were very fortunate last year. With a couple of weeks left in season we almost mathematically could not make a regional. Then won region and super regional at last at bat. That’s why we were picked low. Lemonis did a great job.

 

[Cooterpoot]

I’ll wait til we’re done before judging. It’s a good hire. Is it great? I don’t know yet.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I'll just second this emotion......

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Season is not over yet.... since only about 10-15% of NCAA schools even care about baseball, Omaha should be expectation, not a goal.

 

[bulldogbaja]

So a guy who "we had until our CWS run" was not a "realistic candidate"?
Argument fail...

 

[Cat Duck]

Probably the same bunch who declare Moorhead a failure (and try a little too hard in doing so).

 

[hatfieldms]

Such a dumbass comment

 

[Cat Duck]

So a guy who "we had until our CWS run" was not a "realistic candidate"?
Argument fail...

You have elementary level ability to reason. That actually helps my point, which is clearly that Cohen did a good job and MSU got the coach it deserved. This fallacy that we swung and missed a bunch of times and that the coaching search was bungled, is a hit angle. Again, a total fallacy.

 

[The Peeper]

Verdict is still out on both head coaches for me. Lemonis "stayed the course" or picked up where the team left off last year. Joe, not so much. Prime example, look what Mingione did @ KY w/ Henderson's foundation, now look at him few years later

 

[archdog]

I doubted it, but every game we played strengthened my support. This cat has only made maybe 5 decisions all year long that I disagreed with, even given my limited knowledge of the players.

He left a couple pitchers in top long a few times, he should have bunted Mac when he was slumping, he should have told Rowdey to stop with all the dancing behind home plate, etc. In contrast, I questioned probably 30 calls by henderson last year. Same with Cannizzaro. Dude does manage a good game in my opinion. Except maybe the shifts sometimes with pitching outside.

 

[Go Budaw]

Not saying he's not a keeper, but these same players made a run last year with a different coach. I want to see him recruit and develop.

Recruit and develop great assistant coaches too. Cohen was very good at this. Gautreau is going to be gone sooner rather than later.

 

[Go Budaw]

I’ll wait til we’re done before judging. It’s a good hire. Is it great? I don’t know yet.

Right. We still gotta make sure we don’t have a Bianco on our hands as far as postseason coaching acumen. This season won’t tell the whole story either way in that regard. But it will be a very significant data point.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Season is not over yet.... since only about 10-15% of NCAA schools even care about baseball, Omaha should be expectation, not a goal.

^^ [eye roll emoji]

 

[bulldogcountry1]

I had never heard of him, so, yeah, there were doubts.

I recall searching the board after the hire, and there wasn't one single mention of Lemonis on this board before word got out. So, I don't think anyone here can gloat about it.

More than anything, I wanted us to hold onto Gautreau. Say what you will about AC, but he got us Geautreau and Allen.

 

[Shamoan]

I have a close friend that grew up an OM fan that played baseball in the ACC and played AA ball. He had some interesting remarks on Lemonis. Basically, he said he was reserving judgment because he inherited a cws team, but his thoughts were that Gautreau is basically keeping the train on the track and without him, we are going to struggle. He questioned playing for a guy like Lemonis vs a guy like Vitello based on appearance and questioned his commitment to recruiting. I told him that we won’t know that for a while and pointed out the huge advantage the new dude will give us.

 

[Shmuley]

Since I’m the guy with the bastard’s famous quote as my signature, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that I was a wholesale doubter. He gets credit for not 17ing up what he inherited, and he gets credit for his part in getting Ginn. Bastard will continue to get **** from me over the way he handled the search. Glad Lemonis seems to be overcoming bastard’s terrible process.

 

[HomeBoyDawg]

It's really pretty simple and I don't say this to take anything away from Lemonis: first year coaches get an undeserved share of the credit if a team does well and an undeserved share of the blame if a team does bad. Second, third, and even fourth years really prove a coach's worth.

 

[GooseyPoo2]

Had no idea who Lemonis was. Was I let down when we didn’t sign one of the big names that was being thrown around before the hire? Absolutely. But I honestly went into it trusting that Cohen had done his homework and made the best hire for the program. I love what I see with Lemonis and how the players respond to him. It can be a challenge playing for a new coach, but the transition, at least this year, as been seamless. The players play hard for him and it honestly feels like we are never really out of any game, regardless of what we are trailing by. And I think Lemonis trusts his assistant coaches. You got to believe that Gautreau was telling him to have patience with Rowdey at the beginning of the year when he was going through his slump. All these small things go a long way. And of all the things I’ve read about Lemonis, his ability to recruit was mentioned most often. I look forward to seeing what he does with bulldogs!

 

[diggidydog]

Didn’t doubt the hire but did not expect this year from these guys. Everybody except Magnum, Rowdey and MacNamee made huge jumps (maybe Tanner should be included here too)...Skelton sucked behind the plate and at the plate last year and now you can’t run on him and he has good at bat after good at bat, Small is as dominant as we’ve ever had statistically, Ginn is as good as advertised, Foscue & Westburg killed the ball all year and then all of our new players that we plugged in can hit. Everybody can hit! We finally look like a SEC baseball team physically. Don’t know who gets credit for that but I think Lemonis and his staff deserve a ton of credit for this season. Our bullpen has been a roller coaster and this team won 45 freakin games. Holy cow, what a season regardless what happens from here.

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

I definitely doubted the hire, moreso because of the big promises not exactly being fulfilled than Lemonis himself. I do agree with most that Jake staying on is a big part of this success. I also think that Lemonis has done a spectacular job of hiring assistants. The jobs by Cheesebrough and Foxhall have been paramount to our success. Foxhall took over a bullpen that was shaky at best and has really been able to find some reliable arms. Leibelt has been a huge surprise and like the development I've seen from Colby White and Brandon Smith. The job Cheesebrough has done with the catchers has been otherworldly. Skelton has become a big part of the success being able to handle the staff the way he has and obviously his hitting has been outstanding too, although I'd attribute that more to Jake. Obviously we all know now what we knew when he was hired in June, his first year success will be determined by one thing.......did this team get to Omaha?

 

[Cat Duck]

I have a close friend that grew up an OM fan that played baseball in the ACC and played AA ball. He had some interesting remarks on Lemonis. Basically, he said he was reserving judgment because he inherited a cws team, but his thoughts were that Gautreau is basically keeping the train on the track and without him, we are going to struggle. He questioned playing for a guy like Lemonis vs a guy like Vitello based on appearance and questioned his commitment to recruiting. I told him that we won’t know that for a while and pointed out the huge advantage the new dude will give us.

That is pretty typical OM concern trolling. Lemonis is known as a great recruiter so your close friend's opinion is off base.