I do agree to an extent with what everyone has said on here, but I do disagree about Polk not being able to accomplish what he is capable of. And that's part of the problem- I think he has done as well as he could possibly do. He is a great baseball teacher, but he doesn't have the "killer instinct" to make critical decisions that go against the grain, which ultimately help win championships. Things like leaving a pitcher in too long, playing station to station, and etc. Also, we don't have as many players that are "can't miss" like Clark and Palmeiro where you come out to BP just to watch.
And I'll go ahead and throw my two cents in even though this is a reply. Polk plays a boring brand of baseball unless you have power hitters. Also, our athletic dept hasn't really promoted baseball very well. I hope the current administration changes this. OK yeah, we draw 3,000 on an SEC weekend game with bad weather, and that's better than most people, but we can do a lot better. We need to try to shoot for having 10,000 people on SEC weekends and 3,000 on midweek games. But our AD has basically relied on the lore of MSU baseball to sell itself. Of course that strategy has led us to games populated with a bunch of old farts in the grandstands and the loungers. Baseball is something that has to be promoted. Give away coupons for free cheese sticks at the Cotton District Grill, and my butt will be there. How about Shug Jordan night when everyone with a cowbell gets in for free?
Now, as far as Polk, he is a legend and I respect what he has done for baseball and MSU. I appreciate that, but everyone has a point where they need to move on. He is not going to win a NC at MSU. Basically, we need a younger coach who will recruit aggressively, who is able to have teams that are fundamentally sound on defense, can pitch, can hit for power and at the same time play small ball. We need someone that values winning a NC and taking what Polk built to the next level of winning a championship. I don't necessarily think that the coach needs to be "fiery", though. If that's his personality that's fine to.
As far as our next coach, what we really need to do is make a commitment to find the very best baseball coach that we can find and make him the highest paid in the country. We need to make a statement that we want to be at the championship level.
Also, it's time for a Dudy-Noble field renovation.
