Cannizaro post mortem...

[thekimmer]

I never met coach cann personally. All I knew about him was through watching games, media coverage, social media, and word of mouth. Based on all of that, I thought very highly of him and was satisfied with his team's performance on the field.

But, as Jack was fond of saying, hindsight is 20/20. Thinking back, I asked myself, was there anything about him that gave me any pause or concern about coach cann that maybe somehow fits with yesterday's events.

The only thing thing that came to my mind was a perceived lack of maturity. His exuberance and youthful appearance no doubt colored this a bit but to me he tended to come across as more like a player than a head coach. Of course I readily admit there have been more than a few 'seasoned citizens' that have fallen into the same trap he did.

That's it. Anybody else have any similar or different observations?

 

[GhostOfJackie]

I never saw it as a lack of maturity, just that he was still a young coach and wanted to have fun with the social media stuff to attract recruits. He still might be a good guy, just made one hell of a bad decision.

I wonder if that dog house has a weight room?

 

[bulldogcountry1]

The phrase that comes to mind is "too good to be true."

Last week before the USM series, I was thinking that his social media presence was cool in the off season, but it's time to go to work. I wondered how he manged to do it all and still be an elite baseball coach. After all, he hand't given us any reason to think otherwise. Why question him? Well, it's becoming clear that he wasn't being an elite baseball coach.

 

[msu86]

Granted I am not a teenager anymore so I don't really know what appeals to them as far as who I want recruiting me.....but personally I was always picking on him for being so vain having people video him so he could post it on social media. I know for a fact from one of our current baseball commits who is on a travel team with a LSU commit that he would send text to the LSU commit that would be a video of him benching or doing maxout squats that would say something to the effect, "can your head coach bench 400 lbs".
And no I didn't follow him on Twitter. The people I follow on twitter are solely news and sports analyst so I can see the news without watching all the fluff on tv.

 

[Bulldogg31]

He's not a kid. He's almost 40 years old. He's a man.

 

[the dog is on the loose]

I personally think we will come out ok on this. I believe Mingione will be our next coach and that’s a good thing.

 

[thekimmer]

That's another thing. His hangout buddies appeared to be predominantly student aged. Not saying there is anything inherently wrong with that but is just seemed to be a bit odd or maybe that he didn't 'act his age'.

Once again though, I will say I was not dissatisfied with him at all until yesterday.

 

[HumpDawgy]

If he truly wants our forgiveness and that it matters to him, then he must tell us what he needs to be forgiven for, not just "I made mistakes". Hell, I made a few mistakes yesterday, but it did not cost me my job. I was expecting more from his statement. I understand Cohen and the MSU media not giving us more info due to legal reasons, but Andy should have been more clear in his statement. Andy, why are you no longer the Head Coach of our baseball team?

 

[BulldogBlitz]

He's not a kid. He's almost 40 years old. He's a man.

Too bad he didn't have a mullet.

 

[patdog]

No. We don't need all the sordid details made any more public than they already are. We all know what he asked to be forgiven for. And for the record, he didn't say "I made mistakes," he said, "I made some poor decisions." Huge difference in personal responsibility between those two statements. It's over. Let it go.

 

[CooterDavenport]

I'd never heard anything bad about him until all this. But since then I have heard from two independent connections to the baseball team that many of them hated Cannizaro. It seems a stark departure from Cannizaro's public and recruiting persona, so it shocked me. Of course, it could be just one of things that they would say now, and you would hear about players hating Cohen from time to time too.

 

[Hail State]

I think you’re exactly right. With the benefit of hindsight he was extremely immature. Spiked shoulder pads and bench pressing videos on Twitter, good grief.

Others have hinted this on here about this but I think he did a really good job of putting up a facade. I don’t think the culture of our team was near as healthy as we all were led to believe. I don’t think he had the respect from his team and ultimately I believe the final straw that set in place his departure happened over the past weekend and was brought to light from some of his subordinates.

This is all just my opinion but I’ve heard enough smoke to feel safe to form that opinion. The only people I feel sorry for are Cann’s wife and kids and Billy Begley.

 

[patdog]

What you've heard and your conclusions match up with what I've heard.

 

[Philly Dawg]

Mike Gundy says hi.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

I agree with you, but I wonder what changed from last year to this year with respect from his players. He had to have had respect from the players last season for them to get as far as they did with all the injured pitchers. Everything I heard in the offseason was positive. There were no rumblings of this before this past weekend that I know of.

Was it lost when they found out about his "poor decisions" made with two kids and a wife? It makes sense and that's all I can think of that would change their perception of the Head Coach.

 

[Dubs.sixpack]

I liked him but I only had a small body of work to study. We were still in the early dating stages and hadn't met the in laws yet.

In hindsight there were some warning signs. The social media presence and how he had to be the center of attention in everything he did was concerning. Carpool Karaoke, being filmed talking to the women's bball team, the workout video's, kicking field goals, and Road warrior shoulder pads. I don't know that any of those things as a stand alone were bad idea's but after a while it looked like he was more interested in building his brand than building his team. We ignored it because he made it to a super regional with a banged up team.

I talked to an area scout last week and he said he (this scout) and several other scouts had noticed a lack of intensity and focus in their practices compared to last year. He said Andy was secluding himself more than in the past. And yes, he did mention that he was constantly on his phone. When rumors were swirling Monday night, I reached out to him and at the time he had not heard anything. I say that to note that he didn't have a source that let him know this was coming. Those were strictly observations that should have been cause for concern.

 

[Digging dog]

I didn’t see any lack of maturity. I saw a young very energetic coach who was doing a dang good job in both coaching and recruiting. I liked the fact that he pulled for the other sports and would back them with social media.
Bottom line is he 17ed up royally and he knows it both personally and professionally.
I really liked the guy and thought Cohen made a great hire.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

I just find it hard to believe that Andy fell that much in love with a girl that he let their relationship effect our baseball program to the point of complete collapse opening weekend. Or maybe it shouldn't be that surprising....

 

[MSUDC11]

Andy is a great coach and recruiter and I still don’t think he’s a bad guy. He just lost focus and made an awful decision that potentially ruined his life and career.

I thought he would’ve been the one to bring us our first national title, but I think there are others out there who still can. Obviously the bigger name candidates are capable, but even guys like Mingione can get us there too, I think.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

Guys, don’t kid yourselves. There weren’t any ‘warning signs’. We were all jacking it to the dude a week ago and thought he walked on water. He was young, energetic, hyped up our school and kicked *** in recruiting. But he was a turd in his personal life and it started affecting the program it seems like.

 

[bobblob42]

If he truly wants our forgiveness and that it matters to him, then he must tell us what he needs to be forgiven for, not just "I made mistakes". Hell, I made a few mistakes yesterday, but it did not cost me my job. I was expecting more from his statement. I understand Cohen and the MSU media not giving us more info due to legal reasons, but Andy should have been more clear in his statement. Andy, why are you no longer the Head Coach of our baseball team?

so you want him to say something like "My fellow MSUians: I have not been entirely truthful with you. I did ga-googity that girl. I ga-shmoygadeed her ga-flavity with my googis, and I am sorry."[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Dubs.sixpack]

I agree that the girl didn't cause last weekend. What I think happened is he let the success of last season inflate his ego into thinking he was invincible. When this happens you lose your edge and make dumb decisions like have an affair. While he's not young in age he was a young head coach that climbed the ranks really fast. Also, he's never really failed anywhere he's been as a player or coach. There's something about failure that builds the humility necessary for longevity.

I think the Freeze situation was similar to him, not in severity of bad choices, but in mentality that caused them.

 

[Hail State]

That’s part of the immaturity we’re talking about, falling in punch drunk love like a schoolboy. Started falling down on his job. A seasoned and professional ***** mongerer like Freeze is smart enough to not get caught in that trap like Cann did.

 

[Dubs.sixpack]

I think we've heard all the public info we need to and are going to. I live in Memphis and I haven't had anyone bring it up to me. Not family, not friends, not coworkers. No one. This is a good thing and doesn't need to be disrupted by anyone from State making any more comments.

 

[patdog]

I think we've heard all the public info we need to and are going to.

Yeah. The small story that was on HailState.com isn't even on the front page of the site any more. You have to go into the Football section and it's not even the top story there. I don't think we're going to hear another word about this from the athletic dept.

 

[maroonmania]

I personally think we will come out ok on this. I believe Mingione will be our next coach and that’s a good thing.

Well, as long as he would not be the 3rd base coach. Worst 3rd base coach I've ever seen. Seems to be doing a nice job at KY though.

 

[Dawgzilla]

I stopped trusting him when he whipped out those shoulder pads.

 

[rem101]

From my understanding - He did let that girl effect his coaching of our baseball program. He was texting her in the dugout. He was so unfocused on the game, he tried to call for a pitching change with no one in the dugout.

Both a player and staff member noticed him on his phone and went to Cohen.

 

[BigBully]

^^^^This^^^^

I've heard some of this same information from folks very close to the team.

 

[dawgdoug1962]

If he truly wants our forgiveness and that it matters to him, then he must tell us what he needs to be forgiven for, not just "I made mistakes". Hell, I made a few mistakes yesterday, but it did not cost me my job. I was expecting more from his statement. I understand Cohen and the MSU media not giving us more info due to legal reasons, but Andy should have been more clear in his statement. Andy, why are you no longer the Head Coach of our baseball team?

He does need to confess it all to someone he considers his mentor/counselor/spiritual guide and to the One who offer forgiveness to all who will receive it, BUT he does not need to state it in detail to a fan base...that sentiment is just more of what our culture has become: seeking to get the gory details of 'whatever'....JMHO

 

[HotMop]

Was that this past weekend?

 

[Wizard of bulldogery]

i'm rarely ever on twitter so i went back and looked at some of his stuff... looks like someone i wouldn't want to work with regardless of position. kinda douchey but whatever. His problem is he acts before he thinks. We all do it sometimes, but geez boinking another woman while your wife is preggo? Dude needs his *** whipped... also looks like he's got napolean complex

 

[patdog]

Was that this past weekend?

Yes.

 

[Go Budaw]

No. We don't need all the sordid details made any more public than they already are. We all know what he asked to be forgiven for. And for the record, he didn't say "I made mistakes," he said, "I made some poor decisions." Huge difference in personal responsibility between those two statements. It's over. Let it go.

That’s whats funny. We all know (or think we know), but there hasn’t been a single public statement from a credible source that states what allegedly happened. Nothing indicating Cannizaro was involved in an affair with a specific staffer in the AD, nothing. Closest it ever got was the C-L citing that sources indicated “rumors of an infidelity were investigated”.

Contrast it to the Petrino situation where the girl’s name and position within the AD was in every news article. It’s very strange how widespread it has gotten without a single news tidbit.

 

[thekimmer]

From my understanding - He did let that girl effect his coaching of our baseball program. He was texting her in the dugout. He was so unfocused on the game, he tried to call for a pitching change with no one in the dugout.

Both a player and staff member noticed him on his phone and went to Cohen.

So then his performance this weekend did contribute to the dismissal. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

 

[ababyatemydingo]

I just find it hard to believe that Andy fell that much in love with a girl that he let their relationship effect our baseball program to the point of complete collapse opening weekend. Or maybe it shouldn't be that surprising....

she prolly let him put it in her butt. or she's got one of them, what they call, contracting cooters.

 

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

He was so unfocused on the game, he tried to call for a pitching change with no one in the dugout.

Not trying to act like a dick, just trying to understand what you mean by "with no one in the dugout?"

 

[Bulldogg31]

Not trying to act like a dick, just trying to understand what you mean by "with no one in the dugout?"

He probably means we had nobody throwing in the bullpen.

 

[klong-dog]

I stopped trusting him when he whipped out those shoulder pads.

This was the one thing that made me say.... Huh.... do wuuuuut? That is some cheeeeeesy ****.

 

[HumpDawgy]

so you want him to say something like "My fellow MSUians: I have not been entirely truthful with you. I did ga-googity that girl. I ga-shmoygadeed her ga-flavity with my googis, and I am sorry."

Yes. if he is asking for forgiveness, he must tell us what to forgive him for. "I had an extramarital affair" or "I had an inappropriate relationship" or " I lied about it to my boss when confronted", something to those effects. And no....we DO NOT KNOW what happened, just the rumours that are flying around.