I hear the stars are aligning for...

[Todd4State]

And about Cohen. If we made an offer that UK matched, I don't think he'd take our job. The guys that Polk coached are pretty loyal to one another, those that were teammates even moreso. Cohen may be a jerk, but I don't think he wants to be percieved by the "Polk family" as the guy that screwed over Raffo. Him and Tommy being friends makes it worse.

you have to do what is best for yourself. I hope coming to MSU is what's best for Cohen. You can't worry about what others think about you.

 

[muddawgs33]

And about Cohen. If we made an offer that UK matched, I don't think he'd take our job. The guys that Polk coached are pretty loyal to one another, those that were teammates even moreso. Cohen may be a jerk, but I don't think he wants to be percieved by the "Polk family" as the guy that screwed over Raffo. Him and Tommy being friends makes it worse.

you have to do what is best for yourself. I hope coming to MSU is what's best for Cohen. You can't worry about what others think about you.

If this is where Cohen wants to be, then he will be planning on finishing his coaching career here at State. So, who gives a fck if it hurts Polks or Raffo's feelings. Plus, if they are as close as they say, then they should be happy for Cohen if he got the job. He's an MSU guy and a proven winner. If they can't be happy about State hiring a head coach like that, then they don't have MSU or the baseball team in their best interest. But I guess we aren't looking at the important things like the diamond girls and baseball camps. Who cares about winning baseball games. </p>

 

[thetruth08]

nm

 

[Agentdog]

you have to do what is best for yourself. I hope coming to MSU is what's best for Cohen. You can't worry about what others think about you.

If this is where Cohen wants to be, then he will be planning on finishing his coaching career here at State. So, who gives a fck if it hurts Polks or Raffo's feelings.</p>

That is ridiculous. You don't <17> over your long time good friend and well respected ex-coach. Especially, when you have a perfectly good job and will have a shot at the State job again in the future. Also, baseball players are a pretty tight faternity. I am sure all the ex-players have their opinions. However, I am sure they would all respect Cohen's decision to not apply because of his respect for Raffo and Polk. But would not appreciate Cohen 17ing over Raffo and going against Polk wishes for selfish reasons.

 

[Eureka Dog]

who are LT backers ?

 

[Coach34]

"You don't <17> over your long time good friend and well respected ex-coach."

If Cohen gets offered the job, he isnt 17'ing anybody over. He was thought of as the best man for the job by our administration. Byrne would actually be 17'ing Tommy over, as would Polk who promised him a job he couldnt deliver.

"Especially, when you have a perfectly good job and will have a shot at the State job again in the future."

Who's to say he would have another chance? Tommy might sustain 15 years of mediocrity here and get into regionals just enough to keep his job like Ricky does. This might be Cohen's only chance to coach his school.

"However, I am sure they would all respect Cohen's decision to not apply because of his respect for Raffo and Polk."

Actually, the ones I talked to want Cohen to go ahead get the job. They love Tommy to death, they just dont want him to be the next coach

 

[ArrowDawg]

....his 100th retirement, my first open thought was to congratulate Raffo on getting the job. I didn't say that because I felt he should get it. I said it because I know how MSU operates, at least for all the years under Templeton.

MAYBE Byrne will be different, but he hasn't done anything yet as AD to indicate he'll either keep things status quo or take MSU athletics in a new ditrection. His decision in the baseball hiring process will determine whether he's for real or just "LT jr."

 

[ArrowDawg]

If we hire Raffo, it will be because we get turned down by everyone else.

I don't believe that for a second. That's what Byrne and the rest of the MSU administration will want you to believe, but I call ******** on that. There's a snowball's chance in hell that some experienced, winning coach out there isn't looking to make the jump to a traditional program like MSU in the best baseball conference in America. If we hire Raffo, it'll be for the same damn reason that we always hire someone like him.............because he's cheap and easy.

</p>

 

[futaba.79]

today that wants Raffo to get it the worst way. The guy likes Cohen but doesn't like his style of ball.

Talked to a more recent player (this decade) that thinks our slide is the fault of every coach but Raffo. He tells me that if Tommy had his way, we'd play a different brand of ball and would be a top tier SEC team.

Yet another player told me anybody but Smith.

Who knows what will happen?

 

[Todd4State]

For example, Jay Powell said MSU deserves a National Search.

What a lot of people don't realize is that as much as they love Polk, they love MSU baseball even more, and know that what we have/had was special. We are on the verge of losing it though. Very sad indeed.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

First of all, the guy hasn't <17> it up yet. Second of all, the guy does have a good history of hiring successful baseball coaches.

None of us know really what's going on behind the scenes except for Byrne. I don't doubt that the cigar boys are mounting up, because that's what they've always done. But Byrne MIGHT be a little bit different from LT in that he may not buckle under the pressure. He obviously hasn't buckled under Polk's pressure- yet. We know he IS doing a national search. What might be happening is some kind of under the table deal with Cohen to stay at UK from the cigar boys, and if that happens, we will probably just end up hiring O'Conner or someone like that, that they have no clue about. What might happen is Byrne tells them to screw off. Remember, Byrne's strength is in fundraising. If a couple of cigar boys are pissed off, and threaten to not donate- which won't happen because they won't give up their luxury boxes even if we hire Pat Harrison. Byrne can probably offset what they refuse by making a good choice. LT couldn't do that, so he had to rely on the cigar boys more.

Also, what did Byrne say- that there would be 6-7 candidates? He has already contacted three- Casey, Raffo, and Smith, and I'm going to assume Cohen. That leaves two-three more, who we have no clue about. So, let's give Byrne a chance to <17> it up before we panic.

I seriously doubt that Byrne wants to start his tenure off with a majority of the fanbase pissed off at him. He knows how we feel because he has actually talked to people. Also, wasn't one of his criteria head coaching experience?</p>One more thing- what happened to the coup that was supposed to keep LT in charge? That hasn't happened yet either. We just have to wait until July 1st and see what happens. It's going to be a LONG month for us.

 

[megadawgmaniac]

Talked to a more recent player (this decade) that thinks our slide is the fault of every coach but Raffo. He tells me that if Tommy had his way, we'd play a different brand of ball and would be a top tier SEC team.

Raffo just might have a plan that will put State back on top. No one knows for sure.

I'm wondering if Raffo could turn out to be like Byrne: the assistant that (apparently) knocked the socks off of the administration during the interview and got the job. But Raffo just has too much going against him right now, unlike Byrne did.

AA - not knocking Byrne, we still cool, right?

 

[muddawgs33]

You don't <17> over your long time good friend and well respected ex-coach.

What the fck do you think Polk did?

You can say what you want to but Kentucky is not a good job. Cohen has paid his dues and deserves to be offered the job at MSU.

But would not appreciate Cohen 17ing over Raffo and going against Polk wishes for selfish reasons.

Selfish reasons? If you think Cohen would be screwing over Raffo, then you sir are a dubmass. It's not like he would be taking the job just to keep Raffo from being a head coach. The only one I see that's selfish is Polk. I think he was selfish in the way he acted this season, and I also think he was selfish by the way he publicly endorsed Raffo. This may be Cohen's only chance at his dream job. So I don't see how anyone can say Cohen is selfish or screwed Raffo over if he accepted the job.

 

[Todd4State]

if Raffo really wanted the job he should have gotten some head coaching experience. (Dead horse).

And to all these people that are saying that Raffo has a plan, and will be different than Polk- what did people say when Polk came back? That he had the fire back. The only plan Raffo has for MSU baseball is to continue what's been going on. The people that say that Raffo is different than Polk are blowing smoke up everyone's *** trying to make themselves feel better. What makes everyone think that? He is still the same ****** recruiter. He's not going to turn into Tim Corbin over night. He lost practically every game that Polk let him have the keys to the car. And he will probably keep McNickle around, which is going to hurt our reputation with pitching recruits. Parents of pitchers are already talking, and they don't want to send them to State because they're afraid that they are going to get hurt. </p>

 

[8dog]

its the quality of ballplayer we are bringing in, and most people will at least acknowledge that McNickle, for all his faults, is the one that ramped up our recruiting plan and efforts.

 

[Temple of the Dawg]

Second of all, the guy does have a good history of hiring successful baseball coaches.

Byrne is in his first job as the man. At Oregon State & UK, he was in the athletic office but he was NOT the A.D., so he did not make the decision to hire Casey or Cohen. As a matter of fact, per the wikipedia entry for Byrne, he went to OSU in 1998 and Pat Casey was hired by OSU in 1995. He may have had inputs or shared his opinions on Cohen with his boss, but even that is doubtful since he was

<p class="">Greg Byrne has spent more than 15 years in intercollegiate athletics, serving prior to his MSU position as associate director of athletics for fund-raising and development at the University of Kentucky and in a similar role at Oregon State University.</p>

I'm as hopeful as everyone else here that Byrne will make the right hire, but this is his first rodeo. Its going to take some serious cahones for him to step out and do what the hell he wants. I hope he has them because this choice could help define his career. Make the right one, and we win big and he wins big as well by adding to his resume. Screw it up & we are stuck with more mediocre baseball and he could end up spending his entire career at MSU (not that that is a bad thing, but I gather it would not suit him since he seems to be focused on moving up).

 

[patdog]

While you are technically correct that he didn't actually hire him, he did have a lot of input into that hire. So he's 1 for 1 on baseball coaching hires.</p>

 

[Temple of the Dawg]

<span class="post-title"><span class="post-title">Byrne was on the search committee that recommended Cohen for the Kentucky job. While you are technically correct that he didn't actually hire him, he did have a lot of input into that hire. So he's 1 for 1 on baseball coaching hires.</span></span>

Being on a search committee doesn't not equate to being 1 for 1 on baseball hires. Being on the committee means he was one of probably at least 8 or 9 people that interviewed, debated, & discussed. Then they made a recommendation.

Now, I'm sure he gained a lot of experience that is helping him a lot now (and I'm happy for that), but being one member of a committee that made a recommendation to the AD does not equate to being 1 for 1 on baseball hires.