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Polk doesn't realize this
But he would be the equivalent of Boo Ferris at Delta State if he would genuinely apologize. Cohen is going to do what he is going to do with or without Ron Polk. If he wins a National Championship without Polk's support, it's not like he could have done more with Polk.
But he would be the equivalent of Boo Ferris at Delta State if he would genuinely apologize. Cohen is going to do what he is going to do with or without Ron Polk. If he wins a National Championship without Polk's support, it's not like he could have done more with Polk.
Actually, he quit before that
He told my Dad circa 1987-89 that if he couldn't win the NC with Clark and Palmeiro, he wasn't going to win one. I think after that CWS loss, instead of working harder to win one, he went another direction into college baseball philanthropy.
The fact of the matter is, we were going to have to deal with Polk and a big tirade at some point. It was a powder keg. Even if we had promoted Raffo, Polk would have stayed around and Polk would have been the one running the program- see the article quote about all the things "Polk would have done" in this very thread. Basically, it would have been a Wizard of Oz situation. And when we fired Raffo for not winning- and I'm 96% sure he wouldn't- Polk would have had his tirade then. Byrne saved us 3-5 years of crap.
He told my Dad circa 1987-89 that if he couldn't win the NC with Clark and Palmeiro, he wasn't going to win one. I think after that CWS loss, instead of working harder to win one, he went another direction into college baseball philanthropy.
The fact of the matter is, we were going to have to deal with Polk and a big tirade at some point. It was a powder keg. Even if we had promoted Raffo, Polk would have stayed around and Polk would have been the one running the program- see the article quote about all the things "Polk would have done" in this very thread. Basically, it would have been a Wizard of Oz situation. And when we fired Raffo for not winning- and I'm 96% sure he wouldn't- Polk would have had his tirade then. Byrne saved us 3-5 years of crap.
If anyone deserves to get shipped a ring, it's the Ninja. Did the right thing even when it was unpopular with the cigars. Had the vision to hire the right guy. Send him Polk's ring, grasshopper
Are you sure? How do you know that if he did come back into the fold that he wouldn't immediately start to write letters again to the NCAA pissing them off? How do you know he wouldn't undermine Cohen's coaching style? I sure as hell don't trust that he wouldn't do those things.
It's not and here is why. He gave up all his energy in his second stint with us to make the legitimate argument that the scholarship deficit that some states have due to the lottery creates an insurmountable disadvantage in the sport. Our winning the CWS would, on it's surface, discredit that argument. The fact is that the principle of the argument Polk made is correct and the fact that some sports media outlet hasn't completely taken the NCAA to task OVER AND OVER until they rectify it is shameful. I'm thinking it's not Cohen envy. It's that it serves to make his battle with the NCAA less legitimate.
My opinion is that Polk did amazing things for the MSU Baseball program and for SEC Baseball but as he aged he forgot that he was there to coach baseball and that it wasn't about him or his fight with the NCAA. I'll always have respect him for what he did for MSU but it's with a caveat due to the harm he did to the program and his letting other SEC schools pass us by.If he doesn't want anything to do with the program in support then that's his lost. I remember when Delta State won their National Championship in baseball, as soon as the coach got the trophy, he took it into the stands to Boo Ferris. Coach Ferris is a presence at DSU but doesn't try to run that program.
To me
what Polk II did was 1000x worse that even the crooms error. He lucked up somehow and got to Omaha in 07, but other than that, a good deal of the SEC passed us by. Then, he goes and pulls that stunt with the threats. tHEN, he basically tells Cohen he better not take the job. tHEN, he goes and sabotages Cohen. I mean he completely ruined his legacy. Completely. It could all be forgive. If he'd just come out and admit his mistake. He'll never do this, though. Never.
Cohen has been nothing but a complete class act about it, too. He continues to mention Polk in a positive light, when asked about the subject. MSU has already taken the high road...again and again, for those that allude to this.
At some point, Polk is going to have to admit his errors. If he doesn't, ever, I say we take his name off the mother 17er. I know it will never happen, but that move would not be 1/2 the amount of disrespect that he's shown Cohen, Stricklin, Byrne, and MSU fans.
Some point out that he deserved to chose his successor. He did. Pat McMahon. If he would have given two ***** about MSU the second go round, and recruited (done his job), we wouldn't have been in such a ****-pile to which the only way out was to go completely outside of that regime. Instead, he took the opportunity to fight the NCAA with his typewriter.
what Polk II did was 1000x worse that even the crooms error. He lucked up somehow and got to Omaha in 07, but other than that, a good deal of the SEC passed us by. Then, he goes and pulls that stunt with the threats. tHEN, he basically tells Cohen he better not take the job. tHEN, he goes and sabotages Cohen. I mean he completely ruined his legacy. Completely. It could all be forgive. If he'd just come out and admit his mistake. He'll never do this, though. Never.
Cohen has been nothing but a complete class act about it, too. He continues to mention Polk in a positive light, when asked about the subject. MSU has already taken the high road...again and again, for those that allude to this.
At some point, Polk is going to have to admit his errors. If he doesn't, ever, I say we take his name off the mother 17er. I know it will never happen, but that move would not be 1/2 the amount of disrespect that he's shown Cohen, Stricklin, Byrne, and MSU fans.
Some point out that he deserved to chose his successor. He did. Pat McMahon. If he would have given two ***** about MSU the second go round, and recruited (done his job), we wouldn't have been in such a ****-pile to which the only way out was to go completely outside of that regime. Instead, he took the opportunity to fight the NCAA with his typewriter.
This current situation is his own doing....period.
He is the one that reacted like a spoiled child and apparently continues to act like one. The fans had NOTHING to do with this. The fans can only observe the situation and react to how they see it and the vast majority, even those who felt some commiseration with him, will admit ron polk continues to handle this very, very poorly. He can even blame his own ego for Raffo not getting the job because had he truly been concerned about raffo he'd have retired the previous year when tommy would have been in like flynn. Heck the one person he was so POed with and the man who hired him are both long gone so who's he still mad at? I have come to the conclusion that John Grisham discovered something about Polk a few years before we all did. It also appears that they are both cut from the same cloth when it comes to holding a grudge.
Personally, I had always supported polk as a legend and at one time felt he had earned the right to be our coach as long as he wanted. I am now officially done worrying about Ron Polk. Its last chance time in my book. If he wants to get back as a supporter of our program its now or never. If he chooses never that's fine but that's it. Write him off, take his name off the stadium and forget about him.
We (State fans) have always loved MSU baseball way more than we ever loved ron polk. The feeling was not mutual as he thought he WAS the program. He made us make a painful but obvious choice and we did.
He is the one that reacted like a spoiled child and apparently continues to act like one. The fans had NOTHING to do with this. The fans can only observe the situation and react to how they see it and the vast majority, even those who felt some commiseration with him, will admit ron polk continues to handle this very, very poorly. He can even blame his own ego for Raffo not getting the job because had he truly been concerned about raffo he'd have retired the previous year when tommy would have been in like flynn. Heck the one person he was so POed with and the man who hired him are both long gone so who's he still mad at? I have come to the conclusion that John Grisham discovered something about Polk a few years before we all did. It also appears that they are both cut from the same cloth when it comes to holding a grudge.
Personally, I had always supported polk as a legend and at one time felt he had earned the right to be our coach as long as he wanted. I am now officially done worrying about Ron Polk. Its last chance time in my book. If he wants to get back as a supporter of our program its now or never. If he chooses never that's fine but that's it. Write him off, take his name off the stadium and forget about him.
We (State fans) have always loved MSU baseball way more than we ever loved ron polk. The feeling was not mutual as he thought he WAS the program. He made us make a painful but obvious choice and we did.
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...and publicly insult the A.D., try to shove a coach down our throats that is currently 1 game below .500 in the Sunbelt Conf since he got there, pitched a public ***** about removing his name off of the stadium, talked to the then existing players about transferring, etc.... Who knows what he did quietly behind the scenes if these were the things he was doing publicly.
One of my friends is a sports journalist who went to USM. Obviously being a USM fan he has a hard-on about trying to one-up me and my UM friend when it comes to anything. I've never heard him speak positively about either school, but when USM went to the World Series a couple of years ago he surprisingly spoke very highly of Ron Polk... going as far to say USM was in the position it was in having a quality program because of him.
Then he mentioned how for about 4 innings everyone boo'd him while he was there with UAB.. specifically calling him out and harassing him. Went on an on about how much he hated Ron Polk, but how he's one of the reasons for their success because he made college baseball a priority and a popular sport. Especially in Mississippi.
That's exactly how I feel about him. He is a no good piece of ****, but he's a Hall of Famer because of his contributions to the game. He did more good to the college game as a whole than he did specifically to MSU. He's one of FOUR coaches to take us to the big show. People act as if the other 8 appearances were all his. 6 were his. The 3 other guys weren't here for 100 years like he was, so we've also had some other great coaches here before and after... who's to say someone else couldn't have amassed ~6 appearances in the same amount of time.
That last part is an absurd thing to say. I realize that. But people need a reality check when it comes to WHY Ron Polk was great. It wasn't specifically for the winning...... which he did a lot of too......
Then he mentioned how for about 4 innings everyone boo'd him while he was there with UAB.. specifically calling him out and harassing him. Went on an on about how much he hated Ron Polk, but how he's one of the reasons for their success because he made college baseball a priority and a popular sport. Especially in Mississippi.
That's exactly how I feel about him. He is a no good piece of ****, but he's a Hall of Famer because of his contributions to the game. He did more good to the college game as a whole than he did specifically to MSU. He's one of FOUR coaches to take us to the big show. People act as if the other 8 appearances were all his. 6 were his. The 3 other guys weren't here for 100 years like he was, so we've also had some other great coaches here before and after... who's to say someone else couldn't have amassed ~6 appearances in the same amount of time.
That last part is an absurd thing to say. I realize that. But people need a reality check when it comes to WHY Ron Polk was great. It wasn't specifically for the winning...... which he did a lot of too......
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That a coach feels he is entitled to hand pick his successor should be all anyone needs to hear to know the guy is an emotional baby.
You are saying that since he dedicated his life to a game and was successful over the long run, the entire system MSU has set up(AD, hiring, etc) should be set aside? No way.
Once a coach feels entitlement like this, they are past the point of being an asset.
S
Exactly. I ran across this interview back during Polk's tempter tantrum and to me it shows that Polk really knows better, or at least he did at one time. http://www.msstate.edu/web/alumnus/fall.94/
In his defense, Cohen is basically a .500 conference coach, so it's not like we are really better off with Cohen than Raffo.
**
Pretty sure this whole thread is celebrating Polk's. Somebody tells me they will do whatever they can to dismantle Mississippi State's baseball program, I got no choice but to believe em.
Coach Polk, let me clarify. His overall record (not just conference) is 1 game below, and that is while playing in the SBC, which while not a bad conference just doesn't compare. Some of his out of conference games last few years are against Bradley, Lyon College, South Dakota St, W. Illinois, etc.
How can you even say that?
How can you even say that?
I'm fairly certain he's joking. Raffo would have been the Croom of baseball. Just as under qualified. Got to where he is by riding other people's coat tails.
I have nothing against Raffo but he didn't come out publicly and apologize either. I'm sure Polk had offered him the job, but when we hired the Coach of the Year with infinitely more experience and saw his 17 buddy (still believe it's true) throw a fit he should have said something along the lines that he understood and saved himself an ounce of professional credibility.
I have nothing against Raffo but he didn't come out publicly and apologize either. I'm sure Polk had offered him the job, but when we hired the Coach of the Year with infinitely more experience and saw his 17 buddy (still believe it's true) throw a fit he should have said something along the lines that he understood and saved himself an ounce of professional credibility.
No reason to drag Raffo through the mud with Polk. He actually took the high road the whole time -- and probably would have overall. He didn't do anything wrong that needed to be apologized for...
He simply chose the wrong path toward getting a shot to be HC at MSU -- and John Cohen chose the right one... Raffo's primary fault was having too much faith in Polk...
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As I said, no ill will towards Raffo what-so-ever. He's a Bulldog just like any of us. I know he wanted it, but surely he saw the writing on the wall that we were going with a veteran coach who just came off of rebuilding a doormat SEC program and could understand why. He could have separated himself from Polk's antics... He didn't. He just stayed quiet.
I hope he has all the success in the world. I honestly do. He could have stopped it though.
Instead we're all expressing hate towards the SEC's winningest coach for making statements that ended with "John must have really wanted it." Ironically, Tommy must have really wanted it.
I hope he has all the success in the world. I honestly do. He could have stopped it though.
Instead we're all expressing hate towards the SEC's winningest coach for making statements that ended with "John must have really wanted it." Ironically, Tommy must have really wanted it.
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I've got no beef w/ Raffo either, he was caught in the middle of the whole thing. I just felt like @ the time he wasn't the man to follow the man. Thats a tough spot for anybody, let alone somebody that had never been a head coach. I wish him well and you always hope you can get a qualified alum to run your programs for you, but so far, he hasn't done much to make me think he will be capable of taking over our program anytime soon. I don't know if he would want it but Chris Maloney would be high on my list right now if we had to replace John @ any time in the future. He probably aspires to be a big league manager one day and thats understandable.