Strike Two: Coaching Wheel Starts Spinning</p>
The first Southeastern Conference job opening this year happened at Mississippi State, with Ron Polk announcing his retirement. Polk coached his last game (for now) on Saturday, a 15-10 loss to Arkansas that may have saved the Razorbacks' NCAA tournament hopes. Leave it to Polk to take one for the Southeastern Conference in his final game. </p>
The Mississippi State rumors all center around Polk's coaching tree, with names such as Kentucky's John Cohen, Alabama-Birmingham's Brian Shoop, and current MSU assistant Tommy Raffo among the primary rumored candidates. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger aimed a bit higher in its rumors, including former Bulldogs player Nat "Buck" Showalter, who of course has been a big league manager of the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers and currently contributes to ESPN's "Baseball Tonight."</p>
Now Tom Slater has resigned at Auburn, which comes at no surprise. Slater's Tigers missed the SEC tournament for the fifth consecutive season, including all four of Slater's seasons, a huge no-no. Slater had a four-year overall record of 115-113 and an SEC record of 43-77. If he hadn't resigned, he would have been fired, and frankly he would have had no argument.</p>
Now the question is, who replaces Slater? Twice since Hal Baird retired after the 2000 season, the Tigers have chosen a coach with Baird ties, first Steve Renfroe and now Slater. It would seem that Auburn might go in a different direction this time if it wants to go in a different direction than, say, missing the SEC tournament.</p>
One direction it could go would be to follow the SEC trend and hire a former Jack Leggett assistant. The Clemson coach has placed three of his coaching progeny in the SEC-Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt), Todd Raleigh (Tennessee) and Kevin O'Sullivan (Florida). One that makes sense for Auburn would be John Pawlowski, a former big leaguer who has built an excellent program at College of Charleston. He's got Leggett ties and head coaching experience.</p>
Another fast-rising coaching star is New Orleans' Tom Walter, who has guided UNO to a regional last year and another likely bid this year, despite the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit soon after Walter arrived from George Washington. Walter's not an SEC guy per se, but he's clearly on the rise, as his teams have won 37 or more games seven of the last nine years. If he doesn't land at Auburn, he probably should land at a BCS-league program sooner than later.</p>
If Auburn wants to land a hot assistant coach, however, as Florida did with O'Sullivan, it could choose from several excellent candidates. Chad Holbrook has helped North Carolina become a monster program as recruiting coordinator. Coach Mike Fox has said he has two outstanding assistants, and with Holbrook directing recruiting and pitching coach Scott Forbes, he does. Both will be excellent head coaches someday. Billy Jones at Oklahoma State also has helped build winners in his last two gigs, at North Carolina State and now with the Cowboys, and is highly regarded as a recruiter as well.</p>
BA's 2006 Assistant Coach of the Year, Baylor's Mitch Thompson, has SEC ties as a former Polk assistant and is also highly regarded for his ability to identify talent and bring it to campus. Tulane's Mark Kingston could become the next Rick Jones assistant to become a successful head coach, following Jim Schlossnagle's footsteps. And if you're talking about Leggett's tree, Vanderbilt assistants Derek Johnson (one of the nation's best pitching coaches) and Erik Bakich could start the Corbin coaching tree. (Wait, though, Bakich played for LeClair at East Carolina, and five former LeClair players are Division I assistants, so which tree is he on? This is getting confusing.)</p>
The point is, as the regular season ends, the coaching rumor season begins. Last year brought the saga of the Oregon hire, which ended up shaking up the West with George Horton leaving Cal State Fullerton for the Ducks job, starting the drama at Fullerton that brought Dave Serrano back to the Titans and Mike Gillespie, replacing Serrano at UC Irvine, back to college baseball.</p>
The big story this year probably won't be at one of the obvious openings. Will Augie Garrido retire at Texas? If so, will Texas again look to the Atlantic Coast Conference for a head coach, as it has for football (former North Carolina coach Mack Brown), and both basketball teams (former Clemson men's hoops coach Rick Barnes and former Duke women's hoops coach Gail Goestenkors)? Is Arizona State's Pat Murphy looking to leave with the Sun Devils' program under investigation, and his team having one of its best seasons?</p>
It'll be fun to watch and more fun to report.</p>
The first Southeastern Conference job opening this year happened at Mississippi State, with Ron Polk announcing his retirement. Polk coached his last game (for now) on Saturday, a 15-10 loss to Arkansas that may have saved the Razorbacks' NCAA tournament hopes. Leave it to Polk to take one for the Southeastern Conference in his final game. </p>
The Mississippi State rumors all center around Polk's coaching tree, with names such as Kentucky's John Cohen, Alabama-Birmingham's Brian Shoop, and current MSU assistant Tommy Raffo among the primary rumored candidates. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger aimed a bit higher in its rumors, including former Bulldogs player Nat "Buck" Showalter, who of course has been a big league manager of the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers and currently contributes to ESPN's "Baseball Tonight."</p>
Now Tom Slater has resigned at Auburn, which comes at no surprise. Slater's Tigers missed the SEC tournament for the fifth consecutive season, including all four of Slater's seasons, a huge no-no. Slater had a four-year overall record of 115-113 and an SEC record of 43-77. If he hadn't resigned, he would have been fired, and frankly he would have had no argument.</p>
Now the question is, who replaces Slater? Twice since Hal Baird retired after the 2000 season, the Tigers have chosen a coach with Baird ties, first Steve Renfroe and now Slater. It would seem that Auburn might go in a different direction this time if it wants to go in a different direction than, say, missing the SEC tournament.</p>
One direction it could go would be to follow the SEC trend and hire a former Jack Leggett assistant. The Clemson coach has placed three of his coaching progeny in the SEC-Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt), Todd Raleigh (Tennessee) and Kevin O'Sullivan (Florida). One that makes sense for Auburn would be John Pawlowski, a former big leaguer who has built an excellent program at College of Charleston. He's got Leggett ties and head coaching experience.</p>
Another fast-rising coaching star is New Orleans' Tom Walter, who has guided UNO to a regional last year and another likely bid this year, despite the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit soon after Walter arrived from George Washington. Walter's not an SEC guy per se, but he's clearly on the rise, as his teams have won 37 or more games seven of the last nine years. If he doesn't land at Auburn, he probably should land at a BCS-league program sooner than later.</p>
If Auburn wants to land a hot assistant coach, however, as Florida did with O'Sullivan, it could choose from several excellent candidates. Chad Holbrook has helped North Carolina become a monster program as recruiting coordinator. Coach Mike Fox has said he has two outstanding assistants, and with Holbrook directing recruiting and pitching coach Scott Forbes, he does. Both will be excellent head coaches someday. Billy Jones at Oklahoma State also has helped build winners in his last two gigs, at North Carolina State and now with the Cowboys, and is highly regarded as a recruiter as well.</p>
BA's 2006 Assistant Coach of the Year, Baylor's Mitch Thompson, has SEC ties as a former Polk assistant and is also highly regarded for his ability to identify talent and bring it to campus. Tulane's Mark Kingston could become the next Rick Jones assistant to become a successful head coach, following Jim Schlossnagle's footsteps. And if you're talking about Leggett's tree, Vanderbilt assistants Derek Johnson (one of the nation's best pitching coaches) and Erik Bakich could start the Corbin coaching tree. (Wait, though, Bakich played for LeClair at East Carolina, and five former LeClair players are Division I assistants, so which tree is he on? This is getting confusing.)</p>
The point is, as the regular season ends, the coaching rumor season begins. Last year brought the saga of the Oregon hire, which ended up shaking up the West with George Horton leaving Cal State Fullerton for the Ducks job, starting the drama at Fullerton that brought Dave Serrano back to the Titans and Mike Gillespie, replacing Serrano at UC Irvine, back to college baseball.</p>
The big story this year probably won't be at one of the obvious openings. Will Augie Garrido retire at Texas? If so, will Texas again look to the Atlantic Coast Conference for a head coach, as it has for football (former North Carolina coach Mack Brown), and both basketball teams (former Clemson men's hoops coach Rick Barnes and former Duke women's hoops coach Gail Goestenkors)? Is Arizona State's Pat Murphy looking to leave with the Sun Devils' program under investigation, and his team having one of its best seasons?</p>
It'll be fun to watch and more fun to report.</p>