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[KurtRambis4]

Cohen/Polk. Interesting stuff. If Polk ever expects the fans to forgive him, he needs to be the one that reaches out to make amends.

http://m.omaha.com/om/pm_107389/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=A8D3v359

 

[Sumralldawg]

I've heard that Polk and Cohen are on good terms and I'm pretty positive Polk has stopped by at practices in the fall.

At this point some people are going to fuss regardless if he shows up or not. If he doesn't it will be because he's still bitter. And if he does its bedside he wants people to talk about him.

Personally I hope he shows up and is there when the Dawgs win it all.

 

[godlluB]

Maybe, but sending him a ring if 17'ing ridiculous.

 

[Heawww]

Agreed. The bickering is nonsense. It's done and over.

 

[TulsaLawDawg]

Nah. But mail me one too. I coached/played in the exact same number of games Polk did this year.

Did Croom get Gatorbowl swag? Should have...

 

[patdog]

Completely agree. That's ridiculous. Whatever your feeling about Polk are, he had absolutely nothing to do with this team.

 

[DerHntr]

Sending Polk a ring is about as smart as Stricklin selling his soul to the Horrible Jersey Devil.

 

[Big Sheep81]

It's never a bad move to take the high ground in situations like this. If Polk

rejects a ring or fails to attend the CWS, that's on him. Stricklin and Cohen are making the right moves. Cohen apparently has no hard feelings and in fact has made every effort to show respect to Polk. Stricklin has done the same. I've always admired Polk for what he did for our program through Polk I and Polk II. I will forever be disappointed in how he reacted to Cohen's hiring. It was puzzling and frustrating.]

In the end, all that matters is Cohen is our coach and we are in the CWS finals, a place Polk never took us. Polk gets credit for our past success. Cohen gets credit for getting us to the Really Big Show. I'm satisfied with both.

 

[Original48]

Incorrect.

I've heard that Polk and Cohen are on good terms.

At least according to a former player who has spoke with Polk within the past two weeks. I appreciate what Cohen has done crediting Polk in the media and continuing to talk about what he has meant to Mississippi State. But it's about time to stop. I appreciate what Ron Polk did to make us a "baseball school" and compete at a level most schools would dream about. But now..he is not our friend. I have no problem saying that as bad as you may think ole miss wants us to choke this away, Polk wants us to lose it more. Let that sink in.

 

[TimberBeast]

At least according to a former player who has spoke with Polk within the past two weeks. I appreciate what Cohen has done crediting Polk in the media and continuing to talk about what he has meant to Mississippi State. But it's about time to stop. I appreciate what Ron Polk did to make us a "baseball school" and compete at a level most schools would dream about. But now..he is not our friend. I have no problem saying that as bad as you may think ole miss wants us to choke this away, Polk wants us to lose it more. Let that sink in.

It is absolutely amazing to me that someone capable of speaking in complete sentences would actually believe that Polk wants us to lose the CWS. Just think about what you are saying for a minute.

 

[Snog]

I agree, sheep. How Polk reacts will be very telling.

 

[Woof Man Jack]

Nah. But mail me one too. I coached/played in the exact same number of games Polk did this year.

Did Croom get Gatorbowl swag? Should have...

If you don't understand why Ron Polk deserves a ring, then you're narrow minded as hell. The Croom comparison is simply asinine... Croom tore down the football program. Polk built baseball at MSU.

 

[Original48]

Maybe I should have kept this information to myself.

It is absolutely amazing to me that someone capable of speaking in complete sentences would actually believe that Polk wants us to lose the CWS. Just think about what you are saying for a minute.

Some people still dont want to see it..and I get that. But I have no reason to doubt information from someone who loves Ron Polk very much. Let me ask you this. It's obvious you care a lot about Polk. And many do. As did I pre 2008. But did you ever in your lifetime believe that a man who had done so much for a school would turn on a dime and try to sabotage a job search, beg a former player not to take the job, contact boosters and former players and ask them to stop supporting the program, publicly demean and childishly criticize our AD, threaten to take his name off the field and withhold financial support among who knows what else? I never saw that coming. And he is STILL not over it. So with that..I can tell you it didnt take the conversation I had the other evening to have a good idea where Polk stands in relation to Mississippi State winning the CWS in a manner that was not blessed by him. And in case people have forgotten...from AP June 7, 2008...

"I wouldn't be who I am without Ron Polk," Cohen told fans in Starkville. "I understand his position and I admire his loyalty. Obviously I'd love to have his support. But we've still got to win a national championship, and that is my primary goal. For Mississippi State baseball, anything less than Omaha is unacceptable."
​"When incoming athletic director Greg Byrne made Cohen, and not Raffo, his first hire, Polk lashed out. He called the 36-year-old Byrne unqualified and said he will be taking his name off the stadium and the athletic department out of his will."
"Polk said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press that he asked Cohen not to move so Raffo, Cohen's former Bulldogs teammate under Polk from 1987-90, could get a shot at his first head coaching job. He threatened to actively work to dismantle key components of a program he helped build into one of the nation's best."
"I'm not totally ticked off at John," Polk said in a phone interview from Athens, Ga., where he is attending a super regional at Georgia. "This is not John. This is Greg Byrne. John felt like if he didn't take it, someone else would. I told John everything I was going to do and he still took the job. Boy, he must've really wanted it bad."

 

[MagnificentBastard]

We are much better off with Polk back in the fold. Especially as we start raising money for a new stadium.

 

[Wicked Pissah]

Polk wants us to lose. Dont send that guy a ring. Hey, here is something you had no part in earning and couldnt do in 30 years of coaching. It was done by a coach you opposed.

Ron Polk's ego wont allow that to happen. He will have to admit that cohen was a better hire than raffo.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

Polk quit on State THREE times

Some people still dont want to see it..and I get that. But I have no reason to doubt information from someone who loves Ron Polk very much. Let me ask you this. It's obvious you care a lot about Polk. And many do. As did I pre 2008. But did you ever in your lifetime believe that a man who had done so much for a school would turn on a dime and try to sabotage a job search, beg a former player not to take the job, contact boosters and former players and ask them to stop supporting the program, publicly demean and childishly criticize our AD, threaten to take his name off the field and withhold financial support among who knows what else? I never saw that coming. And he is STILL not over it. So with that..I can tell you it didnt take the conversation I had the other evening to have a good idea where Polk stands in relation to Mississippi State winning the CWS in a manner that was not blessed by him. And in case people have forgotten...from AP June 7, 2008...

"I wouldn't be who I am without Ron Polk," Cohen told fans in Starkville. "I understand his position and I admire his loyalty. Obviously I'd love to have his support. But we've still got to win a national championship, and that is my primary goal. For Mississippi State baseball, anything less than Omaha is unacceptable."
​"When incoming athletic director Greg Byrne made Cohen, and not Raffo, his first hire, Polk lashed out. He called the 36-year-old Byrne unqualified and said he will be taking his name off the stadium and the athletic department out of his will."
"Polk said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press that he asked Cohen not to move so Raffo, Cohen's former Bulldogs teammate under Polk from 1987-90, could get a shot at his first head coaching job. He threatened to actively work to dismantle key components of a program he helped build into one of the nation's best."
"I'm not totally ticked off at John," Polk said in a phone interview from Athens, Ga., where he is attending a super regional at Georgia. "This is not John. This is Greg Byrne. John felt like if he didn't take it, someone else would. I told John everything I was going to do and he still took the job. Boy, he must've really wanted it bad."

The first time was in 1991, when he was burnt out and LT talked him into staying. After that, Polk was just collecting a paycheck and getting vested in the MS retirement system. He quit in 1997, when he gave reins over to Pat MacMahon. When Polk II came back, all he did was rail against the NCAA and run good players who wanted to play at State to Ole Miss. If Polk was all fired up about hiring Raffo, he should've quit after the 2007 season when they went to Omaha and NOBODY would've questioned it. Raffo would've inherited some very bad teams, but he would've been given about a 3-4 year pass, and maybe we'd be a consistent tournament contender right now. I remember watching State play Ole Miss in 1985, when they played at the old Swayze Field. State looked like a pro team while Ole Miss (who had been to a couple of World Series under Jake Gibbs) looked like a high school program...fast forward to 2008, when it looked like the EXACT opposite-Ole Miss looked like a bunch of MLB prospects while State was undersized and undertalented.

 

[DerHntr]

What's funny is he was interviewed from Georgia while there to watch a super regional of his old team, the shorter tenured one, while our team was getting ready for summer ball or looking for a job.

Yet now we are in the biggest show for college baseball and he isn't around, Cape Cod League be damned. This is all you need to know about how Polk thinks.

Either he shows up this week in Omaha or not. That will be your answer. A lot of people would forgive him if he showed up.

 

[Crazy Dawg]

How old are you guys that are hating on Polk? I'm 28 and I see why he got so upset. He never married, never had kids, State baseball was his life! He worked so hard during times when baseball was irrelevant. Was the way he handled it ******? Yes. He did fell like he could hand pick his replacement and I can't blame him. He built the 17n program! P.S. I do love Cohen though!

 

[DerHntr]

No one is bigger than the program

And actually that is true for a lot of things.

 

[Wicked Pissah]

He didnt marry because it is illegal in mississippi.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Old enough to know baseball at MSU was damn good pre-Polk. MSU gave Polk the tools to do what he could do a hell of a lot better than coach and that was to promote and he did a great job of it. At the end of the day coach Polk turned out to be an eccentric nut-case who thought he was more important to MSU than the baseball program itself. He wasn`t.

 

[WrapItDog]

Saban places a ring on Bears grave after each national championship**

 

[Woof Man Jack]

Big Sheep nailed it. MSU HAS to take the high road, how Polk reacts is on him.

Ditto to your entire post, Big Sheep.

 

[HD6]

He did get to pick his replacement. That replacement's name was Pat McMahon. Picking your replacement twice is a luxury nobody gets.

 

[Crucifictorious]

Sending him a ring is pure genius. It makes Cohen and Scott look like good guys. Polk, if he keeps it, improves his image. If he sends it back, he's a goat. And the subtext behind it is. 17 you, we won without you!

All of this, though, is moot unless we win.

 

[dawgenstein]

Sending him a ring is pure genius. It makes Cohen and Scott look like good guys. Polk, if he keeps it, improves his image. If he sends it back, he's a goat. And the subtext behind it is. 17 you, we won without you!

All of this, though, is moot unless we win.

I'm hoping Polk puts the ring on eBay so I can buy it.

 

[The Peeper]

​​IF Polk had kept his mouth shut when John was hired I wouldn't have a problem w/him getting a ring. Hell, even if he had said it all privately and kept it out of the public eye I wouldn't object. But when he PUBLICLY aired his dirty laundry, threats, tried his blackmail,etc. I lost every ounce of respect I had for him (which was a whole lot) and I'm one of the older posters on here. Yeah, I hope the university takes the high road here and PRIVATELY tells him we don't want him or his name anywhere near The Dude.

 

[Hump4Hoops]

This isn't mentioned enough.

 

[Philly Dawg]

First or second time, you don't get to pick your replacement when the team is that bad.

 

[engie]

What's funny is he was interviewed from Georgia while there to watch a super regional of his old team, the shorter tenured one, while our team was getting ready for summer ball or looking for a job.

Yet now we are in the biggest show for college baseball and he isn't around, Cape Cod League be damned. This is all you need to know about how Polk thinks.

Either he shows up this week in Omaha or not. That will be your answer. A lot of people would forgive him if he showed up.

Exactly. Plus, I just read an article saying that he had a speaking engagement in MS last week. Ron Polk goes and does as he pleases. So, the "he's working getting his team ready in the Cape Cod League" line is ********.

I don't know why people can't see what's obvious. We've been in Omaha for roughly ten days now and we've got zero public coment from Ron Polk -- and you know ESPN and everyone else is reaching out for him to go on the record. That in and of itself is very telling.

And people try to tell me he's "congratulating or supporting" Cohen behind the scenes -- when he won't do it in the public eye? Yeah right...

I'd be shocked if he shows up in Omaha or otherwise has any comment on this run whatsoever...Everything he's done to this point has showed the opposite.

 

[TulsaLawDawg]

Ok, then what about Stansbury? In the off chance the new guy learns to win more than 10 games, how is that different? Does Stansbury get a ring? He actually left in a very classy way.

 

[drt7891]

Exactly. The sad part is there are a lot of old hats who still don't like Cohen. There is an older guy I sat near who continuously rails him by saying his players hate him because all he does is scream, throw fits, and cuss them (which he doesn't now... I've been to more than one practice and know he doesn't do that 95% of the time). In reality, he may not be a player favorite sometimes, but most of his players damn well respect him and are willing to go the extra mile.

When he got here, he had a tough challenge because we all realized that Polk left him almost nothing in terms of talent to build a program on. It became very very easy to see after a year or two. Hell, many people on here wanted he and Thompson fired. Amazing how things have turned... and level headed people now realize who Polk really was... or wasn't... depending on your perspective. Polk never really liked Cohen, I imagine because Cohen doesn't kiss up to anyone... he's brash and scrappy.

I really hate it because our program could even take a bigger step forward if Cohen had Polk's full support instead of his childish temper tantrums. College baseball would eat it up... you have a "legend" supporting one of his former players to the fullest extent... who is a promoter and a mouthpiece of MSU baseball. Amazing what the possibilities could be...

ETA: ESPN was loving showing Skip Bertman there with LSU and telling all kinds of stories about the past and what kind of support Manieri gets from him.

 

[maroonmania]

Well, just keep living in your fantasy world...

It is absolutely amazing to me that someone capable of speaking in complete sentences would actually believe that Polk wants us to lose the CWS. Just think about what you are saying for a minute.

of how you would like for things to be. If you really believe this then you understand very little about Polk and his ego. Even over the years where I went to alumni gatherings when he was our coach (and I'm talking about early 90's and so) and would mingle with the crowd he would walk around like he was royalty and acted like so much of our program was all about him. I know he cared a lot about the guys that played for him but that doesn't change the fact that he needs a HUGE does of humility.

 

[patdog]

Thanks for sharing that info. It's amazing to me how far some people will go to try to make excuses for that *******. I guess the truth is just too hard for some people to believe so they live in a state of denial. Polk is NOT a friend of MSU. He tried to sabotage us. And 5 years later, he has still not even apologized. Not that an apology would make any difference.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Exactly right...MSU has done nothing wrong to Ron Polk...except hire him twice. Should`ve never happened the second time.

 

[Jgbishop]

I think the better comparison would be giving Jackie one

If we ever win a football championship

 

[haildearoldstate]

Disagree with your disagree.....I saw Polk at some fall practices and saw him

speaking with JC.....Don't think he was telling him to step down or to take his name off the stadium.

 

[patdog]

Who do you think left us in a 9-21, 9-20, 6-24 bind? You can't tear down a program any more than that. Even Croom didn't leave us in that bad shape.

 

[thekimmer]

Several comments......

Cohen/Polk. Interesting stuff. If Polk ever expects the fans to forgive him, he needs to be the one that reaches out to make amends.

http://m.omaha.com/om/pm_107389/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=A8D3v359

First of all I suppose its fairly evident that Ron Polk, while doing good things for our program, unfortunately considers himself bigger than the program. That is indeed a sad saga for everyone involved.

Polk really is at a crossroad here. Up til now he has been able to play the aloof, scorned legend. But by continuing this stubborn course of action while his successor eclipses his accomplishments he risks becoming a forgotten footnote in the pages of bulldog baseball history. Had he gotten over himself and embraced the team his legend and legacy would have taken on new heights. And I agree that sending him a ring (if we can pull it off) is really genius. It would establish the high ground for our AD and force RPs hand.

 

[Crucifictorious]

This reminds me of how Clark reacted when all the steroids stuff came out about Palmeiro. Clark immediately called into ESPN radio to bash Raph. If we end up losing to UCLA, I bet Polk will make himself known.