It's interesting to compare Polk's endorsement of McMahon in '94 and the program in general with the BS that comes out of his mouth these days. There are a lot of similarities but some stark differences as well.
His 14 year old comments about his age and not wanting to handicap the program are also interesting.
<a href="http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/alumnus/fall.94/33polk.htm">Several gems in here:
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</p> <dl> <dd> <h1>A candid conversation with Ron Polk</h1> </dd> <dd> <h3>The dean of SEC baseball coaches talks about Pat McMahon, the program's future, and life after baseball.</h3>
By</dd> </dl>
Bill Wagnon
Four years from now, Ron Polk will have been coaching collegiate baseball for 32 years. Including his playing days at Grand Canyon University in Arizona, more than three-fourths of his life will have been spent on the collegiate baseball diamond. He's won more than 900 games, 279 against Southeastern Conference competition. His teams have been to the College World Series five times, appeared in 15 NCAA regional tournaments, and won four SEC championships. He's had 15 All Americans and more than 90 pupils who have gone on to play professionally.</p>
Earlier this summer, Polk, Mississippi State's head baseball coach for the past 19 years, signed a four-year contract extension to continue coaching in Starkville until 1998. Many, Polk included, believe it will be his last contract with the university to coach the Diamond Dogs. He'll be only 55 when the contract expires, still plenty of time left for coaching. But the competitive fire may be burning low; time to pass the torch.</p>
To say that baseball is Ron Polk's life is an understatement of major proportions. He is everything that embodies America's favorite pastime. Not only does he love coaching the game, but he has a genuine concern for the game itself. The college game in particular, and for all those who play it and dream of playing it. A concern for those who watch it and support it with a passion. For 28 years now, Polk has endured 16- to 20-hour days nearly year round, endless nights on the telephone, 56-game seasons, hundreds of speaking engagements, constant requests for interviews, clinics, summer camps, coast-to-coast traveling, the pressures of recruiting -- and the list goes on. Surprisingly, none of it has burned him out, yet. If he had to do it over again, he would. But something is putting a damper on Coach Polk's fire. And it just might be his love for the game.</p>
Ron Polk has likely fought harder during his career than any other person to preserve collegiate baseball as we know it today. His trademark is challenging the NCAA. He speaks out for what is right when others won't. Run-ins with the NCAA, however, may finally be taking their toll. This summer, Polk hand-picked his successor and secured Mississippi State's baseball future. In August, Mississippi State Alumnus magazine talked with Ron Polk about the next coach, the future outlook of the Diamond Dogs, about his distinguished career, and about his pending retirement and future plans.</p>
Alumnus: Coach, it was no surprise to Mississippi State baseball fans that Pat McMahon was brought back to Starkville this summer as your associate coach. Most expected that one day he would be the head coach. But the timing might have been a surprise. What events prompted you to advance your agenda for bringing McMahon back to Starkville?</p>
Polk: There are a lot of things that go into that. Because of my college baseball struggles with the NCAA, my job at Mississippi State is more challenging than ever, as it is for all college baseball coaches across the country. In four years time I will have 32 years of college baseball coaching under my belt, and so I started thinking in terms of what the future holds for me personally. I feel unless we have some major NCAA restructuring, that physically -- as I get older -- I probably could not do what I need to do or what the program needs to do to maintain the level of excellence that we have established. I knew that in some point in time I was going to retire. It was just a matter of when. That's why we hired Pat McMahon this summer as associate coach. I felt if he did take a baseball job at a very fine university, it would be tougher getting him to return here when I retired. And, since this is where Pat McMahon wants to be, he is coming back now with the understanding that he will become the head coach when I retire. I'm thankful Dr. Zacharias and Larry Templeton have allowed me to put this plan in place. There are not many places in the country where the present coach is allowed to pick or help name his successor. It worked very well for our staff because Steve Smith, who was our pitching coach and recruiting coordinator and who did a tremendous job, is now the head baseball coach at Baylor University. I was not going to work this out with Pat if it meant losing any of our present coaches, because they've done a tremendous job.</p>
Alumnus: There has been a lot of talk about just when your retirement might come. Care to fuel the speculation?</p>
Polk: I'd like to think it's going to be four years. It could be a year or two earlier. I don't think so. Or, it might be a year or two after that. Pat has told me on many occasions he's here to help Mississippi State baseball and to help me out. When the point in time comes that I get more frustrated with the NCAA, then he's in a position to step in and take over the program so we don't miss a beat. A lot of people have assumed from reading articles that have come out that I will retire next year, but that is not the case. I still immensely enjoy coaching. I enjoy working with college-age student-athletes and I'm going to miss that when I retire. But, I'm certainly not going to miss the NCAA rules and regulations that affect baseball like they do. And that's the only reason I'm considering potential premature retirement at the age of 55.</p>
Alumnus: What qualities have made Pat McMahon a winner at Old Dominion and made him your choice as the next head baseball coach at Mississippi State?</p>
Polk: Like any good coach, he is a people person. He communicates tremendously well with student-athletes. He's an outstanding person -- very loyal, very sincere. He has a tremendous knowledge of the game of baseball and understands what recruiting is all about and how to compete at the level that we compete. I feel like he's one of the top baseball coaches in America.</p>
Alumnus: How long have you known he would be your successor?</p>
Polk: When I accepted the job as executive director of the American Baseball Coaches Association in 1991, Pat McMahon was brought in for an interview. You can talk to Larry Templeton, but I'm sure Pat was going to be offered the position. But after a lot of thought and soul searching, I decided to stay at Mississippi State and Pat remained at Old Dominion. I think Larry and I knew that when that time came, whether it was four years, 10 years, or 20 years, that if Pat McMahon was still available, he would get the job.</p>
Alumnus: When McMahon's hiring was first announced, his duties weren't completely outlined. Now, with the departure of Steve Smith to Baylor, have his duties been more defined?</p>
Polk: He's going to take over Steve Smith's major involvement with the on-the-field pitching, but all coaches, as Steve did, have to work with the hitters and the fielders. All coaches recruit, but he'll be the recruiting coordinator.</p>
Alumnus: With Smith's departure, will Tommy Raffo remain an on-field coach?</p>
Polk: Yes. The biggest problem I had in hiring Pat was dealing with the NCAA's restrictions on coaching staffs in college baseball. It did force one of our coaches to go off the field, but things have worked out great. Steve Smith is happy he got the head job at Baylor, where he played. Now our staff basically falls back into the same fixtures that we had before Pat came in.</p>
Alumnus: How are things working out so far?</p>
Polk: Well, he hasn't been here much. I've had him on the road. You're only allowed to have two coaches on the road, so I've covered some tournaments, Steve Johnigan has covered some, and Pat has. We've shared that responsibility.</p>
Alumnus: While we're on recruiting, what's your assessment of this year's recruiting class that some publications have ranked as high as the second best in the country?</p>
Polk: We've had the best recruiting year I think we've ever had. We've lost two of our signees, Billy Blythe and Roger Goedde, and also two juniors from the team, Carlton Loewer and Gary Rath. But, I'm bringing in for Pat McMahon better things for the long term. We're bringing in a pretty good crop of young players. It would be different if the magazines ranked classes after the kids had signed, but the difference between our sport and any other sport is that if your class is ranked No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3 in the country, that could spell disaster on draft day.</p>
Alumnus: What's your outlook for next year's team?</p>
Polk: We're going to have a very young ball club, especially on the infield. We should have an experienced outfield. Our starting catcher is back and we signed two good freshmen. We are going to have a mixture of experience. For our pitching staff, it's going to be some young pitchers and some experienced pitchers. It's going to be an interesting year. Last year, if we had played all our games on the road, we may have been national champions. We had the best road record in the SEC and were only 4-7 at home, which is totally opposite from every year that we've been here. People ask what happened and I have no idea. It's not going to be a rebuilding year, but it's going to be a "plug-in-some-holes" type of year.</p>
Alumnus: Over the years, you have tried to play several smaller colleges across Mississippi to allow players to play in front of "hometown" crowds, or as close as possible. Since the NCAA doesn't "consider" non Division I-A games, how will that affect future scheduling?</p>
Polk: We're down to only three non-Division I games next year, and we will not be traveling to non-Division I schools in the state of Mississippi. That's a very unfortunate thing for college baseball, not only for this state, but for other states as well. That's what baseball is all about, you play a lot of games. We don't have the luxury of flying so we need to play games close to home. What the NCAA is doing is forcing schools to miss more classes and spend more money and that goes against everything that they say, which is cost containment and keeping the players in school.</p>
Alumnus: As for facilities, are there any future plans for expansion at Dudy Noble?</p>
Polk: We have a lot of season-ticket holders and a lot of them can't get chair-back seats. There is a need for expansion, even though when people come to games they see empty seats, especially during weekday games. But, those seats have already been sold. If money becomes available for luxury sky boxes and additional seating, then that would probably be the final phase of what we need to have done here before I retire.</p>
Alumnus: You've said you might coach two more years; until your contract is up in four years; or until you are 70. When will you know it is time to turn over the reins to Pat McMahon?</p>
Polk: When I'm just tired -- tired of 16-hour days. I enjoy them right now, but I think when I get older I probably won't. I'll know. I never want to get to the point where I'm a handicap to any program or athletic department or university, which I don't think I am right now. My health is good. But when you get to the point where you've been doing something 30 years, you have a tendency to get stale. It just happens. I'm on the border of getting to that point. I think the frustrations with the NCAA are going to be the key. The fact that you can have a tremendous recruiting year and have it wiped it out in one day by the draft is a key. I don't want to go out losing. I hope in three or four years before I retire we can get to Omaha and maybe have a chance to win the national title. I'd love to go after doing that. I'm not going to retire when we lose. And I don't think we will lose. I think we can be competitive even though this conference is getting tougher. I've enjoyed Mississippi State and I don't want to leave. I'm hoping I can go the four years. And again, I'm hoping there will be restructuring in the NCAA and thus some relief for college baseball. If that happens, then I may go longer than four years. If I'm still enjoying coaching, still in good health, and doing a good job, then it would be foolish for me to just get up and walk away from it.</p>
Alumnus: You've accomplished a lot in your illustrious career. Is there one thing that you haven't accomplished that you feel necessary for you to consider your job "complete??</p>
Polk: Ninety-nine percent of the coaches in college athletics are going to leave the profession without helping a team win the national championship. That's always the ultimate goal. I've been the president of our coaching association, I've got the leading textbook out right now, and I've spoken at every baseball clinic there is in the country. I've coached the Pan American team and been on the Olympic coaching staff. There are not too many other things left out there for me do except help this program win the national title.</p>
Alumnus: If you were to retire today, what would be your fondest memory of baseball at Mississippi State?</p>
Polk: Well, there are so many of them. One would be working out the financing to build the stadium. We needed that for our fans. It got to the point before the stadium was built that our fans had to be in their seats hours before the game. I felt like the expansion had to be accomplished for us to get to the next level. That's probably my fondest memory, Mississippi State University coming up with the funds through a bond program to build the nicest baseball stadium in the country.</p>
Alumnus: What would you consider your biggest contribution as Mississippi State's head baseball coach?</p>
Polk: When I came to the SEC 20 years ago, they had a lot of stupid baseball rules. I was one of the young guys and we got them changed. I and a few other coaches convinced the athletic directors and the presidents that we could be somewhat self-sustaining, that we wanted to make a commitment to college baseball in the SEC. I've worked diligently trying to get people to see that college baseball is a viable sport and there's a lot of enjoyment for the kids and fans.</p>
Alumnus: You've said if you retire in four years it will mainly be because of the changes the NCAA doesn't make. What changes would the NCAA have to make for you to change your mind?</p>
Polk: There are a lot of things, the most important being the number of scholarships per participant. We are by far on the low end of the spectrum for men and women. Secondly, the NCAA needs to increase the number of coaches. Again, we are on the low end for men and women. Then we can talk about practice restrictions. People say it affects all sports across the board. It affects baseball more because the nature of our game and the nature of our practices. The NCAA has taken away our nice foster parent program, and now they are taking away our baseball trading cards because they say we are exploiting the student-athlete. They are taking away the athletic dorms next year. It won't be long before they take away the training table. The next step, there's no question, will be to limit roster sizes in all sports, which I think is totally wrong.</p>
Alumnus: Finally coach, we've all read and heard about Ron Polk the baseball coach -- totally dedicated to the game, 24 hours a day, a stickler for details. What about Ron Polk after baseball. What will he be like and what will he be doing?</p>
Polk: I have no idea what I'll be doing. I could possibly take a position in the front office in the major leagues in player development. I just don't know. I'll travel and probably do a lot of speaking, clinic work, and book selling, which I already do. But I'm not worried about that right now. I'll worry about that when the time comes.</p> <p align="center"></p> <p align="center">
</p> <p align="center"><font size="-1">Updated and adapted by Chris Brown <[email protected]>.
For questions or information about this page, contact Bennet George.
For information about Mississippi State University, contact [email protected].</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="-1">Last modified: Friday, 14-Jun-2002 15:48:05 CDT.
URL: http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/alumnus/fall.94/33polk.htm
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