J
JR
Guest
He is arguably the best college coach in the Southeast, as he has proven after creating a dominant program at Ole Miss.</p>
J
JR
Guest
He is arguably the best college coach in the Southeast, as he has proven after creating a dominant program at Ole Miss.</p>
J
JR
Guest
He is arguably the best college coach in the Southeast, as he has proven after creating a dominant program at Ole Miss.</p>
I'm sensing some sarcasm, but that would be entertaining to watch if it were to be pursued as a true option. Both fanbases would go nuts.
O
Ole Miss Grad
Guest
No offense, but the answer is because he wouldn't consider it.
If he turned down LSU, where he played.....not to mention the Catholic connection down there; he wouldn't consider MSU.
The money wouldn't turn his head either.....he already makes more than what is being mentioned as new salary at MSU....which is a whole lot more than Polk made.
.....and he just recently built a new house too.....for whatever that's worth.
If he turned down LSU, where he played.....not to mention the Catholic connection down there; he wouldn't consider MSU.
The money wouldn't turn his head either.....he already makes more than what is being mentioned as new salary at MSU....which is a whole lot more than Polk made.
.....and he just recently built a new house too.....for whatever that's worth.
that he is not ready for a program like LSU or MSU. No disrespect to UM but he will never feel the pressure there that he would at a major program. Granted Bianco has done a great job at UM but he needs to prove that he can go further in the postseason before moving on to a bigger name.
O
Ole Miss Grad
Guest
O
Ole Miss Grad
Guest
I disagree. He's feeling the pressure now.....and will really feel it once the 18 million $ expansion (or whatever it is) is complete.
I don't think you realize how much Ole Miss baseball has changed.
Sure you have a better past in baseball. We have a better past in football.
Thing is, neither one mean a damn thing now.
I don't think you realize how much Ole Miss baseball has changed.
Sure you have a better past in baseball. We have a better past in football.
Thing is, neither one mean a damn thing now.
One thing is our past is still pretty much our present. Anomaly or not, we made it to the CWS last year.
and he has built UM a great deal. UM was very fortunate to get him and should hope to keep him. However, despite the poor year we had this year, MSU is one year removed from the College World Series. Its not a slight to the UM program but despite their excellent play of late they are still running second fiddle.
People were mumbling last year when he fell just short of a CWS yet again, and they're mumbling this year about the poor offense, the loyalty to pitchers who aren't getting the job done, etc. Anybody who doesn't think the UM job is a big-time job with pressure to win doesn't understand UM baseball, or thinks it's the same as it was 15 years ago. If anything, they've been quicker to let a coach who isn't getting the job done go than we have been.
Still, Ole Miss baseball isn't going away. I really don't think we will dominate like we once did ever again in the State. We just need to host some regionals, Supers, and go to the CWS every few years. Host a regional 3 out of 4 years, host a SR 1 or 2 out of 4, and go to CWS once every four or five. Those are my expectations.
it was damn near a miracle. I told you last year that our program was still in bad shape. I think everyone agrees with me about that now. Our present (even with the CWS appearance) isn't anything near like our past was. We used to be ranked in the top 5 or 10 for most of the season pretty much every other year (and sometimes for 2 or 3 years straight). We've barely even sniffed the top 20 a couple of time in the past 7 years. 93-110 in SEC games says about all that needs to be said about what the present of our baseball program is.
Regardless, we made the CWS. I agree our present is not the same as our past but we are 1000 times closer to our baseball dominance than Ole Miss is to their football dominance. The only similarity is that Ole Miss was successful when there was only white players and State baseball was successful only with white players...I kid...I kid.
That made me laugh.
I'll tell you why I don't want Bianco. Because McDonnell was the brains behind that program. Wait another year and you will see what I mean. (Cue RebelBruiser) Yeah, Raffo sucking compounded things, but McDonnell was a great recruiter, no matter who we had.
And I do agree with pretty much all the Ole Miss fans that have said that he won't leave. He is going to get a new renovation to their stadium, he is paid well, and he is generally well liked, it seems. His job security has got to be pretty good despite this season. If Ole Miss had a baseball season like ours this year, I think the chances are pretty good that he would still be around- on the hotseat, but still kicking. If he was going to leave, it would have been for LSU a couple of years ago. I don't blame him for not leaving, though. He's going to keep taking Ole Miss to Regionals, and that's going to be good enough for a lot of Ole Miss fans. He may even take Ole Miss to the CWS one day to.
I don't think that it's out of the realm of possibility that the McDonnell/Cohen matchups in Kentucky are previews of the future of college baseball in Mississippi.
I'll tell you why I don't want Bianco. Because McDonnell was the brains behind that program. Wait another year and you will see what I mean. (Cue RebelBruiser) Yeah, Raffo sucking compounded things, but McDonnell was a great recruiter, no matter who we had.
And I do agree with pretty much all the Ole Miss fans that have said that he won't leave. He is going to get a new renovation to their stadium, he is paid well, and he is generally well liked, it seems. His job security has got to be pretty good despite this season. If Ole Miss had a baseball season like ours this year, I think the chances are pretty good that he would still be around- on the hotseat, but still kicking. If he was going to leave, it would have been for LSU a couple of years ago. I don't blame him for not leaving, though. He's going to keep taking Ole Miss to Regionals, and that's going to be good enough for a lot of Ole Miss fans. He may even take Ole Miss to the CWS one day to.
I don't think that it's out of the realm of possibility that the McDonnell/Cohen matchups in Kentucky are previews of the future of college baseball in Mississippi.
On paper, our recruiting is actually better than with McDonnell. I think Dan kind of mailed it in recruiting the last year he was here when he was looking for a HC job. I think the difference is that McDonnell and Stuart Lake (who are both now head coaches) weren't "yes" men and would tell Bianco what they thought. Currently 2 of our 3 assistants are under 30 and are former Bianco players at OM, in their first coaching job. I think we are bringing in the same caliber high school players that we were when Dan was here but our on field coaching isn't near as good, nor is our player development. Alot of McDonnell's recruits that turned into big time players weren't wanted by MSU. Stephen Head and Zack Cozart come to mind. That probably goes back to your point about Raffo not recruiting that great. Obviously we miss McDonnell and Lake alot. I think some of that has to do with who we replaced them with though.</p>
about your assistants.
Polk fell into the ego trap thinking that high school kids would flock to State to play for him because of his legend status, and the fact is you actually have to try to convince them to come. I think Polk's attitude was "if they want to play for me, they'll come to the camp and ask to be on the team". The problem is, the guys that are asking around for scholarships are the ones that don't have very many offers for the most part- hence they aren't as good. It's common sense- if I'm a State fan and they don't offer me a scholarship and Ole Miss does, I would probably take it. It would be safe to assume that Ole Miss wants me, and State doesn't.
Polk also wants a lot of players to do like Grant Hogue- go JUCO for a couple of years and then walk-on. But again, that's not going to work in a lot of cases because of the example above.
Not taking anything away from McDonnell- like I said, I think he would have recruited well even if we had Tim Corbin recruiting for us.
Polk fell into the ego trap thinking that high school kids would flock to State to play for him because of his legend status, and the fact is you actually have to try to convince them to come. I think Polk's attitude was "if they want to play for me, they'll come to the camp and ask to be on the team". The problem is, the guys that are asking around for scholarships are the ones that don't have very many offers for the most part- hence they aren't as good. It's common sense- if I'm a State fan and they don't offer me a scholarship and Ole Miss does, I would probably take it. It would be safe to assume that Ole Miss wants me, and State doesn't.
Polk also wants a lot of players to do like Grant Hogue- go JUCO for a couple of years and then walk-on. But again, that's not going to work in a lot of cases because of the example above.
Not taking anything away from McDonnell- like I said, I think he would have recruited well even if we had Tim Corbin recruiting for us.
O
Ole Miss Grad
Guest
True or not, the perception of MSU baseball isn't what it used to be. You really only have to look at SEC preseason rankings to see that. I remember the days when MSU would be preseason ranked high even if it appeared they would have a down year. That's no longer the case.
True or not, most people see the 2007 2&0 CWS appearance as a fluke.
Let's be honest, back when MSU was one of the top baseball programs year in, year out....most didn't put a lot of effort into it.
Now they do and from looking at all the SEC teams jumbled at 14-16 wins, parity is now the norm.</p>
</p>
True or not, most people see the 2007 2&0 CWS appearance as a fluke.
Let's be honest, back when MSU was one of the top baseball programs year in, year out....most didn't put a lot of effort into it.
Now they do and from looking at all the SEC teams jumbled at 14-16 wins, parity is now the norm.</p>
</p>
O
Ole Miss Grad
Guest
or respect for MSU baseball. I grew up in the LFL....during the days of Castoria (in this thread or another one), Clark, Palmeiro, etc.
I can remember taping a tarp inside the bed of my truck to make a huge rolling cooler for weekend series.
Times have changed somewhat, but it sure was fun.
I can remember taping a tarp inside the bed of my truck to make a huge rolling cooler for weekend series.
Times have changed somewhat, but it sure was fun.
When I was in school we could always find them on Southfarm during the school year. Do they still grow out there?</p>
I think losing McDonnell hurt as well. He definitely was the main recruiter for us and did a great job at that post.
Of course, I also agree with rebel law that a lot of our problems have more to do with the assistants we've hired recently. If you're a good coach and build a good program, your assistants are going to get job offers elsewhere, and they're going to leave. The trick is that you have to be able to replace them with top notch coaches to keep things going. I don't think we've done that. The good news is that it's a problem that can be fixed.
Either way, I don't think our program is going to go away. The investment is there for the program now. The facilities (stadium, offices, locker rooms, and work out facilities) are going to be among the best in the country (alongside MSU's). And of course, the expectations are there now. Even though we haven't made it in over 30 years, the expectation for the program is to get to Omaha and be able to compete for national titles. We'll have up and down years, but we'll remain competitive enough to be able to make runs every few years.
Of course, I also agree with rebel law that a lot of our problems have more to do with the assistants we've hired recently. If you're a good coach and build a good program, your assistants are going to get job offers elsewhere, and they're going to leave. The trick is that you have to be able to replace them with top notch coaches to keep things going. I don't think we've done that. The good news is that it's a problem that can be fixed.
Either way, I don't think our program is going to go away. The investment is there for the program now. The facilities (stadium, offices, locker rooms, and work out facilities) are going to be among the best in the country (alongside MSU's). And of course, the expectations are there now. Even though we haven't made it in over 30 years, the expectation for the program is to get to Omaha and be able to compete for national titles. We'll have up and down years, but we'll remain competitive enough to be able to make runs every few years.
Bottom line is Oxford is not Starkville when it comes to closing the deal in a Super Regional. It was nothing short of miraculous that we made the CWS last year but get a Super Regional to Starkville and we have a better chance to advance than most thanks to what built MSU baseball...the fans. The electricity and emotion at that Super Regional last year was unlike anything I've seen and drove those players and gave them the confidence that...crap. I forgot. Emotion has nothing to do with it.
and not eventual national champion Texas in our super regional (and yes I know Mississippi also lost to Miami in another super regional). The fact is, the crowds Mississippi drew to their super regionals were great crowds. Better than 90% of the teams in college baseball could ever hope to draw.
Edited to add that our great fans (and our fans are great) didn't do jack **** to help us beat North Carolina in the 2003 regional.
Edited to add that our great fans (and our fans are great) didn't do jack **** to help us beat North Carolina in the 2003 regional.
O
Ole Miss Grad
Guest
That's a fair post. I was thinking the same thing, without saying it here.</p>
The luck of the draw does come into play at times.</p>
</p>
The luck of the draw does come into play at times.</p>
</p>
Texas was just Texas. Even though the SR took place in Oxford and OM won game 1, you just had a sense that Texas wasn't going away. They lost the national championship the year before and just looked determined to get back, kind of like the Oregon State team last year that rode experience and determination to another national title. Last year OM had to go to Arizona State, a virtual death sentence. Miami, on the other hand, was a team OM should have handled.
Still, Ole Miss hosted 4 straight regionals and had been to 3 straight regionals with two hosted before this year. That's a pretty darn good run, especially considering what their baseball history looks like.
Still, Ole Miss hosted 4 straight regionals and had been to 3 straight regionals with two hosted before this year. That's a pretty darn good run, especially considering what their baseball history looks like.
Latest
-
01
Maroon and White Football
Mississippi State WR Zion Ragins speaks on rapid Bulldogs offense
-
02
Maroon and White Football
Points of Focus from Mississippi State HC Jeff Lebby heading into Week 4
-
03
Maroon and White Football
Mississippi State DL Diesel Moye and Trevion Williams to miss rest of 2026 season with injuries
-
04
Maroon and White
Sunday Notebook: Mississippi State 41-34 South Carolina
-
05
Maroon and White Football
Mississippi State PFF Grades from the 41-34 win over South Carolina