Buy/Sell

[cowbell9]

mississippi has enjoyed their flash in the pan in baseball. Will be a non factor during Cohens tenure.

Bbbbbbbuy

 

[cowbell9]

mississippi has enjoyed their flash in the pan in baseball. Will be a non factor during Cohens tenure.

Bbbbbbbuy

 

[patdog]

Bianco's proved he's a good coach and can consistently win games. They'll be good as long as he's there. If Cohen's as good as I think he is, we'll be better though.</p>

 

[Coach34]

and I do agree we will gain hand back in the state of Mississippi, I still think they reain a factor in the West every year. I really look for us, LSU, and Mississippi fighting for the West title by Cohen's 3rd year and thereafter. Look for Bammer, UPig, and Auburn to be the also-rans of the West

 

[cowbell9]

...he should have made the CWS at least twice. How many does he have? Good coach?

 

[DowntownDawg]

...we are going to join the party, but they aren't leaving. The rivalry will be intensified. In this regard, Cohen = Jackie.

 

[SnakePlissken]

and I think Mississippi has now got themselves a program. I don't think they will ever surpass State, but with Bianco they will be a good baseball team and program.

 

[patdog]

and won 4 regionals to Polk's 1. When you're consistently good, you'll eventually break through. Polk was consistently mediocre (at best).</p>

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

I think this is going to be interesting.

1. I think OM has a good coach in Bianco. I think he is a very good coach, in fact.
2. Now, for the first time in, well, ever, they (OM) are going to have someone actually going out and recruiting against them.
3. Cohen is a good coach. I think he is a very good coach, in fact.
4. I am not sure if the state can support two very good Div IA baseball programs.

I will neither buy nor sell.

 

[cowbell9]

....and at the end of the day....thats all that counts.

 

[CuzDawg]

I can very well see a scenario whereby Cohen gets us back on top, and then you add in LSU's resurgence under Mainieri. Assuming that puts us both fighting it out in the West, that would take up two host spots from the SEC. And assuming almost every year, the East will have at least one host, then that leaves the entire rest of the conference fighting for, at most, one more host spot (most years). This is the road to Omaha and the CWS. If you don't host, you really don't have a chance.

Also, even though most agree both programs don't necessarily recruit head to head as we both will be going out of state, I do see us gaining our advantage back in the State which does have some good players. Taking the above scenario into account with our renewed commitment to recruiting, I could see Ole Miss going to regionals every year but being on the road. Since they don't win on the road, the fanbase that was spoiled, due in part to our own ineptness, could handle this poorly and give Bianco a hard time.

Bottom line is other teams have to slide back down the ladder when other teams move back up (MSU and LSU).

 

[cowbellpresident]

<font size="5">This is the road to Omaha and the CWS. If you don't host, you really don't have a chance.</font>

Didn't a four seed win the College World Series without hosting?

</p>

 

[Todd4State]

And I want to make some points here about MSU and Ole Miss baseball:

First of all, no they are not going to go away. I do think that they are going to start to go down, mainly because McDonnell is no longer there. At the same time, they aren't going to revert to Kessinger era 96-98 bad or Gibbs late 80's bad. I think that most years they will be a regional team, similar to this year. And I also think that they will continue to have some good teams that will make a SR, and who knows, maybe even Omaha, probably with a team that no one exepcts to make it.

Secondly, I don't think that Ole Miss being bad is parallel to us being good. If Ole Miss hadn't hired Bianco and had some success, better than what we've had over the past five years, then we might not have gone to bat and gotten Cohen. If Ole Miss had remained bad, and we had continued to beat them, we have too many fans that would have been OK with that, and we might be lamenting the Raffo era right now. So, thank you Ole Miss. And again, right or wrong, Ole Miss maintaining a high level of success just means that we're going to have to keep the bar high ourselves. Competition can be a good thing.

Next, I don't think Ole Miss will go away because they rely so much on Memphis for recruiting. This is an area that I really hope that we take back. In fact, what would hurt Ole Miss more than us hiring Cohen would be the University of Memphis hiring a good baseball coach from a recruiting aspect. I suspect that Polk abandoned Memphis because of Lucky Day and Lottery Scholarships in Tennessee.

Also, I highly suspect that Ole Miss will be better than us next year, especially of the Scott Bittle rumors are true. (Went out on a limb there) But I do think that our long term future is better. I expect us to lose the Gov. Cup and lose the series in Oxford, but I also think that we will probably be a lot more respectable when we play them.

 

[cowbell9]

nm

 

[Todd4State]

Don't question the man who wrote the book, *****.</p>

 

[patdog]

We'll have a hell of a lot more than that now that we've got a coach who actually cares about winning for a change.</p>

 

[patdog]

If the rumors are true, then I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him have injury problems next year. If the Yankees thought his shoulder would hold up, they would have gone ahead and signed him.

 

[Todd4State]

If the rumors are true, then I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him have injury problems next year. If the Yankees thought his shoulder would hold up, they would have gone ahead and signed him.

</p>Obviously, there's something wrong.

 

[JimHalpert.nafoom]

If history has taught us anything, it's that it will only make us better. Regardless of the sport, Ole Miss and State are at their best when the other school is constantly challenging them.

 

[Todd4State]

History would say that this is the beginning of the end for Bianco.

Swayze and Gregory were on fairly even terms.

Then Gibbs came along, and Ole Miss was better at the end of the Gregory era, and then you had Bragan thrown in there.

Then Polk I came along, and MSU became better and eventually by the late 80's Ole Miss baseball was in pretty bad shape. You then made a mistake in bringing in Kessinger, who while he was a fan favorite I'm sure, you could've brought in a better coach in all likelihood, nonetheless, it allowed MSU to continue to be better in the 90's. Then you hired Harrison, who was universally disliked, although somewhat successful while we had McMahon.

Finally, Ole Miss made a good hire for baseball with Bianco, and when McMahon left, we made the mistake of bringing in Polk II, which helped Ole Miss to finally reclaim themselves as the better team. And our team this past year sort of reminded me of Ole Miss baseball circa 1985.

Now we have Cohen, and I'm thinking that it may be possible that McDonnell may not be too far behind as the next coach in Oxford- if history repeats itself.

 

[RebelBruiser]

First off, neither program is going to rely solely on in state recruiting. Both programs can and will recruit both regionally and nationally at times. Therefore, I see very little direct correlation to the ability for there to be two quality baseball programs in the state. If we both relied almost solely on in state talent, then I might see a scenario where there would be room for only one solid program in the state. However, that's not the case, so I see the Cohen hire as having about the same effect on us as if Alabama or Arkansas had hired him.

Now, all that said, another reason we won't go away as a program is the investment in the program. Will Auburn's football program go into the tank because Alabama hired Nick Saban? No, because 1) they don't have to recruit only in Alabama, and 2) Auburn has enough money in their program that if they begin to struggle, they will be able to go out and make the necessary changes to maintain a solid program.

That's basically where we stand in baseball now. Our stadium, our coaching salary, and our overall facilities are good enough that we will be able to go out and get quality coaches if the ones we currently have aren't getting it done. Essentially, I look at it more as a program status type thing. The investment in our program is one of the best in the country, so the program should survive unless our fans and administration decide to quit supporting it for some reason.

 

[Todd4State]

The investment in our program is one of the best in the country, so the program should survive unless our fans and administration decide to quit supporting it for some reason.

</p> you start losing? Kind of like Ole Miss basketball?

 

[RebelBruiser]

The investment in our program is one of the best in the country, so the program should survive unless our fans and administration decide to quit supporting
it for some reason.

you start losing? Kind of like Ole Miss basketball?

</p>

Big difference. We've never started investing seriously in basketball. Therefore, the administration was slower to react when things went bad. If Bianco had two bad seasons in a row, like missing the NCAA tourney twice in a row, he'd be out the door immediately. Since we didn't put anything into basketball, Barnes was allowed to stick around for 4 straight losing seasons before being forced out finally. During Barnes's first couple losing seasons, the fan support was still decent. It didn't get bad until the 3rd or 4th losing season, because they let it get that far.

I'm guessing you're just ribbing me, but I think you can tell the difference between the investment we have in our basketball and baseball programs.

 

[Pa Hish Hed]

For a couple of reasons : First of all Cohen has a ton of connections in MS obviously , but second what scares me the most is how Bianco hired #%@@@#% Mossberg and Lafferty , neither stellar recruiters with no MS connection other than they played at UM versus Cohen who hired 2 bad *** former MS high school players .

 

[RebelBruiser]

For a couple of reasons : First of all Cohen has a ton of connections in MS obviously , but second what scares me the most is how Bianco hired #%@@@#% Mossberg
and Lafferty , neither stellar recruiters with no MS connection other than they played at UM versus Cohen who hired 2 bad *** former MS high school players .

</p>

And the plus side is that I think Cohen's hiring will help force Bianco to go out and make some quality assistant coach hires. He's let the quality of his assistants slide since he started, and I doubt it'll take long before he realizes he can't get away with that, especially with Mianeri at LSU putting even more pressure on him as well.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Something tells me Bianco will be leaving in a couple years.

 

[DiamondReb]

And this is in no way a flame or some **** kicking fight or anything. What about just the simple fact that you have John Cohen as your head coach, will make you better than OM and a national title contender or at least a year in and year out SEC title contender. I mean what has he really done that makes you all so optimistic? His success at Kentucky, while a good acheivement is nothing in a relative sense. He has never won a regional right? It surely can't be his recruiting, we have a first hand example of how recruiting doesn't win games. I don't get it. I have seen nothing but posts of "I expect to make a regional next year, and then challenge for the SEC every year after that." You see teams go every year assuming that a simple coaching hire is going to take a team to the promised land based soley on that hire. Please explain.

 

[Todd4State]

in a rational way.

First of all, I'm not going to say that we weren't trying, but at the very least Polk wasn't trying as hard as he could have in terms of trying to win Championships. Polk essentially turned our team into a glorified social club where the players were selected based on how much *** they kissed at the high school baseball camp. If you were lucky enough to kiss enough ***, you could reap the benefits of the "experience of playing baseball at MSU". You get first choice of the Diamond Girls, the nice facilities, and if the fans get upset at you because your a pitcher and you give up seven home runs or you have a Dan Uggla-esque 08 All-Star game performance, don't worry because the fans are frustrated with their lives, hate themselves, their wife is a fat Peg Bundy who doesn't work, and the guys that yell at you get yelled at work and are simply venting.

NOW we have a coach that is at least freaking going to try to win. He has stated that his goal is to win a NC at MSU- now whether he will do that, remains to be seen, but dammit, at least he's trying. Even if he doesn't, I'm sure that he will have a lot of success. He is going to hold the players accountable instead of coddling them. At the very least, he will restore the pride that the players should have when they play for MSU.

As far as recruiting- you are aware that he had one of the top classes on the country (#5?) last year AT KENTUCKY. What he did at UK would be like a football coach going to Vandy and taking them to a bowl game every year. Plus, he had been at UK only about five years, and I think that when he left he had finally really gotten their program going. I feel pretty confident that he would have won one had he stayed there in a few years. Not to mention that he won an overall SEC title. He also has won at Northwestern State, which is also not an easy place to win. UK wanted to keep him and was willing to pay top dollar to keep him. That's not exactly a baseball school. You say what he did was nothing, but the fact is when he was the coach, that was the most sustained success that they have had in baseball.

That said, Cohen is without a doubt a great coach, but MSU is his dream job. I think that is going to drive him even more to succeed. He also knows about MSU and our rivals- that would be you among others. I think he is going to unite our fanbase in baseball- it was split before- and then you add in the other things like tradition, history of putting guys in the big leagues that have had great careers, facilities, and the fans...if someone really works hard, they can do great things at MSU. Ultimately, I do think that he will recruit nationally and bring in top talent, it already looks like he is winning Mississippi. You've got guys like Jarrod Parks wanting to sit out a year to play for this guy.

Like I said, Ole Miss won't just go away, but I have to think that State is definately on the rise.</p>

 

[patdog]

Try to imagine if Vandy won an SEC title in football and played in a BCS bowl. How good do you think that football coach would be? Well, that's John Cohen.

 

[DiamondReb]

You would equate losing a regional as the one seed at home as playing in one of the top four bowl games in the country? At least Todd actually had something to say. Your post pretty much sums up what I'm talking about. Hey state fans what makes John Cohen such a great coach...MSU fan response: "Give it two years then you'll know". That just doesn't hold water.

 

[futaba.79]

I like the Cohen hire alot but, goodness gracious, that's a pretty far out analogy

 

[patdog]

Including winning a conference title at the Vandy of SEC baseball and turning them into a consistent contender. And yeah, the football equivalent of winning an SEC title is playing in a BCS bowl game. BTW, Cohen has coached in the CWS before, at Florida. It didn't take but about 2 years after he left there for McMahon to be fired. I really don't give a **** what you think of our baseball coach. The rest of the world knows we have a damn good one, including most of your Rebel brethren.