Ahem....Cohen has another commitment.

[TilloDawg]

Ben Bracewell, RHP/SS from Briarwood Christian in Alabama. He was a 2008 honorable mention All-American

 

[TilloDawg]

Ben Bracewell, RHP/SS from Briarwood Christian in Alabama. He was a 2008 honorable mention All-American

 

[muddawgs33]

I saw Ole Miss had called, so you know we "over payed" for this guy.

 

[patdog]

I just hope Cohen runs our program into shambles like he did Kentucky's.</p>

 

[FlabLoser]

"Overpay" a handfull of guys and then ask some other good guys to walkon and play with a team loaded with badasses that are going to compete for championships.

As has been said here before, reality is the good players are players whose familes could afford putting kids through select teams, travel teams, etc growing up. They can afford college anyway.

 

[dawgphd]

our last coaches sucked at recruiting. Most amazing stat is Cohen is on the job only three weeks. FWIW, I'm told the best is yet to come with out of state players. Thank you Greg Byrne.

 

[Todd4State]

He's doing this all without a camp.

Let's see, camp, or go recruiting.

Hell, let's keep the Diamond Girls and scrap the camp.</p>

 

[windcrysmary]

championships under 20 some odd years under polk has absolutely NO bearing about how optimistic we should be about our chances to bring it all home to starkvegas in the next 5 years..

what's happened since cohen got here is 180 degrees different...

kiss my *** polk to you issue a public apology....

 

[OEMDawg]

Why not us? UGA and LSU won national titles in the 90s. Florida and Georgia have played in the title series in the last 4 years. Since the "national seed" was instituted in 1999, NINE different SEC schools have claimed one including Bama (3 times), Auburn, Arkansas (2), Florida, Georgia (3 times), LSU (3 times), Ole Miss, South Carolina (2), and Vanderbilt.

Pat on the back to Cholk for putting MSU baseball on the map in the 80s, yet he's also responsible for us falling OFF the map in the 90s and a good chunk of this decade.

Cohen has shown he can win the SEC, something that Cholk failed to do at MSU since 1989. It will be a refreshing change if Cohen can actually give us a chance to win the SEC for once and then we can use that to springboard to a regional and hopefully beyond.

 

[Coach34]

"no national championships under 20 some odd years under polk"

Somebody reminded me a few weeks ago about my father saying back in 1985 that if Polk couldnt win it with the team he had that year, he wasnt ever going to win it. I'm not sure if he was just saying that cause he was surprised we lost or really believed it, but when you think about it, there really is no excuse for not having a NC in baseball. It really isnt.
We have had the money, tradition, facilities- everything you need to compete for national title. We have been the ones with the advantage over so many others schools....

 

[Maroon Eagle]

[No message]

 

[thrill1]

Took Bracewell info out of much larger story. Love this kid's quotes. Seems like a Cohen type already.

Bracewell earned Shelby County Pitcher of the Year honors after posting the second-lowest earned run average in school history as a junior, including the lowest mark since Briarwood moved up to Class 5A. Bracewell finished the season 5-3 with a microscopic 0.86 ERA and 96 strikeouts.</p>

Despite his success on the mound, Bracewell cited a moment at the plate as his favorite baseball memory.</p>

"I can still remember when I hit my first home run off a pitching machine in a game when I was seven," he said.</p>

Bracewell is eager for July 1st when college recruiters can start offering rising juniors. There should be plenty of interest in the right-handed pitcher.</p>

"I've been getting a lot of interest," Bracewell said. "We'll see who's for real and who is not."
</p>

Bracewell expects to keep the interest level high and the scouts buzzing during his senior year.</p>

"Next year I expect to <span style="font-weight: bold;">get lower</span> than my 0.86 ERA," Bracewell said. "It's my personal goal to beat what I did this year."</p>

 

[KurtRambis4]

was as badass at predictions as you...

 

[Todd4State]

as opposed to the come to the camp and kiss my *** strategy.

And if you think about it, if you have 11.7 or whatever scholarships, and you can stretch it out to about 14 80% scholarships doing it that way. Then you have five walk-ons. That should be 19 players taken care of right there. Then you maybe get a Jeremy Jackson or two type of player who gets a full ride on academics, that's 21, so that leaves six more that you have to find grants and other things for. I also guarantee you that Cohen is using MTAG whenever he can on guys like Bright and Stratton. I don't know what 80% of a scholarship would pay for- as in is that tuition only or all expenses. At any rate that's almost all of their tuition, probably won't cover books, and housing though. They could probably get a better deal on an apartment in Starkville anyway. Get two or three of your teammates together and you could spend about 400 bucks a month (including utilities) on a pretty nice apartment.

Now think about this- if the NCAA by some miracle accepts the SEC's proposal to have 14 scholarships, You could stretch that out to 17.5 80% scholarships. (OK the .5 scholarship wouldn't be an 80% scholarship /McClure) But the point is you could stretch it out even further. That would be HUGE.

Here's what he's thinking (assuming the 80% theory is true, which we all know it's not) if you get 14 really good players into your program, that's enough to field an entire team, a starting rotation, and a closer, and a set-up guy or midweek guy. Then your nerds and walk-ons are your role players filling out your bullpen and your bench.

(McClure on any and all mathematical mistakes and calculations, all of which were done in my head, and no I'm not an engineer, so I don't do math for a living.)</p>

 

[Todd4State]

but I'll tell you what the excuse is- and I know you already know it- laziness, not being able to change with the times, and arrogance.</p>

 

[SLUdog]

technically but after they have spent the money on all those other things you mentioned it sure is nice to get a scholarship. Scholarships, for the most part, are based on ability not need.

 

[DerHntr]

question....should we just do away with the camp altogether? it may piss some people off but i bet their anger could be subsided with a few more trips to Nebraska.

/discuss

 

[Coach34]

question....should we just do away with the camp altogether? it may piss some people off but i bet their anger could be subsided with a few more trips to Nebraska.

/discuss

</p>because it is very useful to recruiting as well...its just not the only way to recruit. It also helps better the kids in your state because most of your campers will be local. Summer camps are extremely important, they just dont need to be the only source of evaluating recruits.

 

[Todd4State]

again I agree with Coach. I'm just joking when I'm saying that we should do away with the baseball camp.

It can be a good recruiting tool, and as Coach said it shouldn't be the only recruiting tool that we use. We couldn't expect a top prospect from say California to fly all the way out here to Mississippi just so our lazy assed former staff could "evaluate them".

But beyond recruiting, the camp has some other uses as well. It can help make money for the baseball program and the athletic dept. It's a way to involve kids and teach them about the game. It's a good way to foster relationships with alumni, as the parents meet the coaches and become involved in the program, it's a good recruiting tool for the University in general, and it's a good way to foster relationships with high school coaches in the area.

So, yes, ending the baseball camp all together would be a huge mistake. I don't think Cohen plans on doing that.

I do think that we should "think outside the box" a little bit. I remember when Pat Harrison, of all people, was the coach of Ole Miss. They had a baseball camp at Madison Central High School- of course the coach at MC then was Micheal Rosamond, who's son played at Ole Miss then, and there were rumors around town that Rosamond was trying to kiss butt to get an assistant coaching job there, but anyway, it was a good idea.

Another thing that we should never, ever do is schedule a baseball camp at the same time as the CWS- even if we have a team like we had this year.

 

[patdog]

I didn't fully appreciate it then, but that team was LOADED. 4 future MLB All-Stars and the "role" players were guys like Dan Van Cleve, Gator Thiessen, Jon Shave (another future major leager although he spent most of his career at AAA), Gene Morgan, etc. Those "role" players would have been the star players on recent teams.

 

[patdog]

How do you go only 5-3 with a 0.86 ERA?</p>

 

[Shmuley]

nm

 

[patdog]

I'll never forget this quote from Skip Bertman, who was in his second year at LSU at the time, "When you play Mississippi State you just hope you can somehow salvage the Sunday game." Man, I miss those days.

 

[beachbumdawg]

again I agree with Coach. I'm just joking when I'm saying that we should do away with the baseball camp.

It can be a good recruiting tool, and as Coach said it shouldn't be the only recruiting tool that we use. We couldn't expect a top prospect from say California to fly all the way out here to Mississippi just so our lazy assed former staff could "evaluate them".

But beyond recruiting, the camp has some other uses as well. It can help make money for the baseball program and the athletic dept. It's a way to involve kids and teach them about the game. It's a good way to foster relationships with alumni, as the parents meet the coaches and become involved in the program, it's a good recruiting tool for the University in general, and it's a good way to foster relationships with high school coaches in the area.

So, yes, ending the baseball camp all together would be a huge mistake. I don't think Cohen plans on doing that.

I do think that we should "think outside the box" a little bit. I remember when Pat Harrison, of all people, was the coach of Ole Miss. They had a baseball camp at Madison Central High School- of course the coach at MC then was Micheal Rosamond, who's son played at Ole Miss then, and there were rumors around town that Rosamond was trying to kiss butt to get an assistant coaching job there, but anyway, it was a good idea.

Another thing that we should never, ever do is schedule a baseball camp at the same time as the CWS- even if we have a team like we had this year.

Back throughout the 90's, LSU used to hold a 3 day camp in Picayune, MS at Friendship Park.......Bertman would attend along with 1 or 2 assistants and like 3 or 4 players........
And if you go to the local wal-mart in Picayune you will find 2-3X more LSU apparall than that of MSU/UM combined.....about the only place you can find MSU gear is at the local Hibbets</p>

 

[AROB44]

and then Skip started juciing his players to create gorilla ball and win 5 NC,

 

[thrill1]

Yeah, they were only 17-16, but won their division at 5-1. Didn't advance very far in the 5A playoffs, obviously. It was pretty much Bracewell and one other kid that got them that far.

 

[Ford76]

I was also about 9, so I really don't remember those teams. But I don't know how ron or pat couldn't win a title with the 97 or 98 teams is beyond comprehension. Especially that 97 team. Dubose and Jackson were there for the weekend rotation. Adam Piatt at third, Richard Lee at first, Brad Freeman and Travis Chapman up the middle. Brooks Bryan had an absolute cannon for an arm in right. Damien was the fastest white man alive in center. Rusty Thoms in left who had his on cult following in Omaha. Barry Patton behind the plate. Ron and Pat wasted that opportunity. .