Justin Parker gives first comments as Mississippi State Interim Head Coach

In one day, pitching coach Justin Parker went from preparing Mississippi State’s hurlers for the Memphis Tigers to leading the program as the Interim Head Coach.

Director of Athletics informed head coach Chris Lemonis that he was relieved of his duties on Monday morning and Parker took over the wheel immediately. On Tuesday night, Parker led State to an 18-4 victory in his first game as the head man.

The coach followed that by speaking to the media for the first time in that position. He spoke about the crazy turn of events, how his team has handled it and whether or not he is a candidate for the permanent position.

Question: What have the last 24 hours been like for you?

JP: “Well once the game started, it was great. The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind and very emotional. With that being said, it was back to business when the game started. That piece of it was nice. I know everyone was looking forward to it and it was nice to be back on the field.”

Q: What was your first message to the team?

JP: “They all showed up today and that’s what I told them – that’s what life is going to be like for the rest of their lives. There’s going to be tired days where you’re going to be beat up. You’re going to hate your job, you’re going to love your job and whatever it is you’re going to have to show up. That’s what it’s about, getting back to work and getting refocused and recommitted. They weren’t going to cancel anymore games or the rest of the season, our mission is still ahead of us and we have full control of our destiny. That was our message to the guys today.”

Q: How have the coaches mixed the responsibilities around?

JP: “It’s been about 30 hours of change. Really we haven’t done a whole lot different, just a few minor things. We added Bobby Austin to our coaching responsibility list and he coached first base tonight. Other than that, it’s kind of status quo for the most part. We have good players and we have good coaches. Their vision is good, their message has been good. I felt like consistency was important. I think the guys got a breath of fresh air tonight, played free and easy and played really well.”

Q: What do you think will be key to finish the season strong?

JP: “I think confidence is very important and preparation leads to confidence and confidence leads to success and success leads to more confidence. I think that’s cyclical. I think playing like we did tonight is a good first step in the right direction.”

Q: How do you balance maintaining your duties as pitching coach and being the manager of the team?

JP: “I’m not sure yet. Tonight was a little bit of a trial run. Today was of course Pico (Kohn’s) bullpen day. I had a message for the team that I will be more involved and hanging out with the other group of position players. I plan on splitting a little bit more and using more resources where normally I’m very locked in on the pitching. It’s kind of a work in progress.”

Q: It seemed like the team came out focused tonight. What do you attribute that to?

JP: “I think you’re crazy if you’re one of those players and you’re sitting here through what’s happened to them and you don’t sit up a little straighter and you don’t stiffen your spine a little bit. Everyone here was on full attention. I think we did a great job in the first taking the edge off by scoring three runs with two outs and everyone settled in and breathed and played good baseball from there.”

Q: The margin is relatively thin but you have a chance to do big things the rest of the season. What’s your message to the team coming into the weekend?

JP: “We’ve just got to play good baseball. The bottom line is we’re in the position that we’re in because of what we’ve done. We’ve got to play good baseball in all three phases. We’ve got to pitch throwing strikes, we’ve got to defend at a high level, we’ve got to play smart and we’ve got to hit at the same time. Tonight was a good step in the right direction.”

Q: Have you given any thought about whether or not you want to be considered as the full-time coach?

JP: “It’s obviously a destination job here. This is the best ballpark and the best fan base in college baseball. While my thoughts have mostly been on our guys and our families, it certainly is quite the honor and quite the opportunity.”

Q: What were the conversations like with Zac Selmon?

JP: “Yesterday after lunch and right before we had a short workout, he communicated the vision moving forward. Like I said before to our players, it was time to go to work today. That’s what he called on us to do yesterday and that’s what we did today. That’s pretty much how it happened.”

Q: What’s your impressions on Kentucky?

JP: “I haven’t dug into them a ton this year other than watching them in passing. You know they’re going to be high tempo. You know they’re going to run. You know they’re going to do the short game. They’re going to exploit a lot of your weaknesses defensively. They always throw strikes. Their pitching coach is a friend of mine and I highly respect him and what he does.

“We’re going to have our hands full and play good baseball. It’s going to be a more taxing weekend from a tactical standpoint. We’re going to have to really defend and work on the short game and run game. It’s a little bit unique from an SEC style standpoint.”

Q: What do you need from this fanbase to propel your guys?

JP: “I got goosebumps tonight watching our team for the first time without coach Lemonis breakdown in shallow left field. That was a player-led meeting out there where it’s usually coach Lemonis leading it. I was in the dugout watching it. When they broke down and watching our fanbase come to its feet, that’s the kind of passion that we need. These kids are wonderful kids. They work incredibly hard and they feel responsible for the position that we’re in. Nobody is going to play harder this next month, I promise you that.