Has anyone asked Polk this question?

[MSUArrowCS]

Ron, Have you such little confidence in your choice of successor that you do not believe he could earn the job on his own merit? If Raffo is the man for the job, wouldn't that become clear in a legitimate search?

I haven't seen it, but I would love to hear Polk's answer to this.

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

hasn't seperated himself from reality enough to realized that anyone would be a fool to take a chance on an unknown as head coach in lieu of a proven winning Div I head coach -- absent his ringing endorsement. I am quite sure that he firmly believes that his knowlege of the game, of all the coaches involved in it, etc. means that he has knowlege that far outweighs the usual basis for a decision.

He honestly believe he knows more about baseball than anyone else and there is no way he could be wrong.

 

[DerHntr]

that if you asked just about any objective minded, knowledgable person about the qualifications necessary to be hired as head coach at a large SEC baseball program, they would likely say that prior head coaching experience would be one of the top requirements.

Polk would stick to his guns if you asked that question. He would likely repeat the same things that he put in his resignation letter and may come up with a few more "good" reasons to hire Raffo while he is at it.

 

[Todd4State]

I think this is more Polk trying to protect his staff if anything.

Here is a different angle on this:

Lets say Polk resigns and then supports Cohen (for example) for HC rather than someone on his staff. He is essentially telling his staff that he thinks they are incompetent, and remember these coaches still have to work with him and help him try to win. If he essentially told them, hey I'm gone, which probably means you are to, so good luck, they probably would totally mail it in and may try to sabotage some things.

It definately is a crazy situation, but I hope that Byrne takes charge and does the right thing.

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

tell them privately he is going to put a good word in for them, then?

 

[Todd4State]

but apparently at least some of the players like Raffo, and if he doesn't at least support him somewhat, some of them might have already transferred or quit as well.

But I do agree with what you are saying- Polk has gone way over the top with this, and doesn't deserve to name his successor.

 

[tossedoff]

Polk would have been better served to keep out of it altogether. But sadly, that train has sailed.

 

[wpnetdawg]

Given that the players know Raffo already and it appears that only some of them want Raffo to be the coach is a reason not to consider him. If the players were comfortable with Raffo and were confident in his ability to take the program where they wanted it to go, the support among the team would be virtually unanimous.