Cohen's public comments

[jsireland]

I think the thing that some people, most notably the visiting Ole Miss fans, seem to be forgetting about Cohen's comments is what State fans have endured for the past few seasons, in baseball and football. Subpar performance after subpar performance, only to have the coach get on the radio after the game to mumble (Sherrill), talk about the team's character (Croom), or hack up a lung while telling us that we achieved our goal by playing well enough not to get swept (Polk). There is something pretty frustrating to a long-suffering fan when an already-poor team is obviously in further decline and the coach doesn't seem to care at all.

So while these comments may raise a lot more negative reaction from the State fan base if they continue over the next few years, many fans are happy to have someone who's also upset that we aren't getting the job done. At the moment, we're pleased with a guy who goes a bit overboard because he's pissed at a loss. Only last year, we had the guy that mumbled excuses about a "high sky" on the way to our first sub-.500 season ever. So while everything Cohen does may not be correct, we appreciate his passion and it's a welcome relief from what we've endured lately.

Please note this is only an explanation of why State fans are more likely to welcome the comments, and does not discuss the actual comments made. I am aware Ole Miss beat UK this past weekend. I know Cohen did not advance far into the postseason at UK. I will not tell my girlfriend she has a fat ***. Thus, there is no reason to start a 100-post thread including, but not limited to, the above-mentioned comments. Thank you.

edit: what's up with the spacing on chrome?

 

[dawgstudent]

That's a pretty sound explanation.

 

[OMlawdog]

I think the issue that some of us had is that I remember Croom saying the exact same thing in 2004 and 2005, throwing Jackie's players under the bus all day, and I remember most on here were saying the same thing which was that this was all Jackie's fault and today just replace Polk for Sherrill and the comments being thrown Polk's was is nearly identical.

I don't think Cohen's comments will affect recruiting one bit, kids that want to play for MSU and Cohen will still want to play for Cohen.

My only thought is that Cohen has reached untouchable status on the Pack. I think Mullen has as well. Stansbury is the whipping boy on the pack compared to those two. Im not sure this is as a result of them being Byrne hires, or if it based solely on merit. To me Stansbury is the most accomplished coach on MSU's campus right now, yet on here he would definitely catch the most heat.

Im just wondering what Cohen and Mullen have done to get such a free pass from the Pack? Cohen has built a solid resume at UK, and I think his hire was comparable to Nutt's hire at Ole Miss, both had been successful at SEC schools where it is difficult to be successful, but in his first year, Nutt caught hell during recruiting and early in the season. Mullen is not like O in really any way, but I would think a first year head coach would cause fans to have a critical eye, and I don't see that happening either.

Do fans just really think these coaches deserver blind loyalty or is it as a result of them being Byrne hires, and the Pack's faith in Byrne?

</p>

 

[8dog]

b/c they haven't done anything yet. What can we possibly ***** about as far as Mullen is concerned?

Stansbury is mostly a victim of his sport. Basketball is on tv so much and you can see every player and what they are doing so easily as opposed to football. Mix in the fact that so many people have played basketball and things get very opinionated.

 

[FQDawg]

I don't think Cohen and Mullen are getting a free pass as much as it is the honeymoon period. Both are obviously brand new and are dealing with issues they've inherited. Stansbury has been here for a while and whatever issues he has are his own doing. Give Mullen and Cohen a few years and people (well, more people because I'm sure some do already) will be bitching left and right.

 

[beachbumdawg]

I think the issue that some of us had is that I remember Croom saying the exact same thing in 2004 and 2005, throwing Jackie's players under the bus all day, and I remember most on here were saying the same thing which was that this was all Jackie's fault and today just replace Polk for Sherrill and the comments being thrown Polk's was is nearly identical.

I don't think Cohen's comments will affect recruiting one bit, kids that want to play for MSU and Cohen will still want to play for Cohen.

My only thought is that Cohen has reached untouchable status on the Pack. I think Mullen has as well. Stansbury is the whipping boy on the pack compared to those two. Im not sure this is as a result of them being Byrne hires, or if it based solely on merit. To me Stansbury is the most accomplished coach on MSU's campus right now, yet on here he would definitely catch the most heat.

Im just wondering what Cohen and Mullen have done to get such a free pass from the Pack? Cohen has built a solid resume at UK, and I think his hire was comparable to Nutt's hire at Ole Miss, both had been successful at SEC schools where it is difficult to be successful, but in his first year, Nutt caught hell during recruiting and early in the season. Mullen is not like O in really any way, but I would think a first year head coach would cause fans to have a critical eye, and I don't see that happening either.

Do fans just really think these coaches deserver blind loyalty or is it as a result of them being Byrne hires, and the Pack's faith in Byrne?

</p>

I think Cohen gets a pass based on his body of work at other places like Northwestern St and Kentucky.....and the cluster he inherited from Polk....while there have been some head scratching calls, the glaring differences in talent is just astonishing when compared to other SEC teams especially the middle infield(defensively speaking.....while butler and powers are serviceable they lack range in the field)............and the pitching is just atrocious outside of 2 or 3 arms....

Mullen gets a pass currently because he hasnt coached a game yet. If there are dumb decisions on gameday Im sure those decisions will be called out on the pack just like with Stansbury....

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

The fans on here got so tired of Polk and his "old ways" that they will take a new coach and his "new ways" no matter what. Cohen could jump into the stands and beat the ever-living-**** out of an 80 year old man and spit on his wife and the discussion around here would be "now that's what I'm talking about! Just what we needed! Some FIRE from our coach!"</p>

 

[OMlawdog]

after such a solid run the last few years, they can find something about Mullen if they want to, they just don't want to I guess. Heck without trying, you could say he ran off Anthony Johnson, the offense looked bad in the scrimmage, and his selection of defensive cooridnator was poor. These are things that you could choose to ***** and moan about the same way Stans get critized about players leaving, offensive sets, and his assistant coaches not getting hired by SWAC schools.

I haven't watched MSU in baseball this year, but Im assuming he gets a free pass completely for this year and any criticism thrown his way is unwarranted. I guess his record at UK has earned him that.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

I think that the people bashing Stansbury are pretty dumb. It's just a few people, really one in particular that bitches about it over, and over, and over, and over.

Secondly, as far as Cohen. Personally, I have been a baseball for a long time- since 1985 when I was in first grade. Not just an MSU baseball fan, but a baseball fan in general. I'm the kind of person that gets up at 3AM to watch Japan vs China in the WBC just to watch Yu Darvish pitch. I have read Ron Polk's book- it is a very good baseball book and I do respect Polk. I watch MLB Network like it's crack. The St. Louis Cardinals send me a Christmas card. My point is this- even though we are only 16-15 right now, I've seen a LOT of baseball. I've seen a lot of baseball programs- viturally everyone in the SEC be built up and struggle at some point. I've seen the team in person, and I've seen our team last year, and every team we've had since 1985 for that matter. It is very obvious that our baseball program is going in the right direction and has improved. Our record is better than it was at this time last year. We take better at bats. We run the bases better and more aggressively. We play better defense. We don't look scared out there, and we play hard and with effort and we don't quit. We are getting everything we can out of everyone. Even the pitching has improved. Unfotunately, because of lack of bullpen depth, we had to have everyone pitch capably. We have one guy who has disappointed, and it has messed us up. I'm not blaming this on Bowen- that kind of stuff happens, and we should not have put ourselves in the position we are in in the first place so that we could compensate if we had to. We have a good recruiting class coming in, and we have some players coming in that look very promising. I have no reason to believe that we are not going to get better in a very short time based on what we have coming back and the recruits that we have coming in.

Croom may have said some similar things as Cohen, but the differences are many- Cohen has won at two places and has won an SEC Championship. Cohen is a good recruiter. He is a highly respected hitting coach and he knows what he is doing. Cohen is all about winning at MSU and doesn't fawn all the time about some coach at Bama. Cohen may criticize the team from time to time- again ALL coaches do that- but he has shown me that he can get them to improve and play up to their ability. That was a big thing Croom couldn't do.

Lastly, Mullen will be a good coach I think. The jury is still out on him, but he isn't untouchable to me at this point. I do like the fact that he seems to know what he is doing.

 

[jsireland]

A fanbase generally hops on the new coach bandwagon, especially when he's the opposite of the coach they just ran off.

Croom took a million bucks from us and couldn't even get off his golf cart. He told us that we were gonna lose for a decade because his offense was just too complicated to learn any faster. We see Mullen hands on in practice, receivers already grasping their duties in his offense. We ran off the lazy loser, the new fiery guy who just won a NC is going to get a pass for awhile.

I've already gone into more depth on why Cohen gets more of a pass. Again, I never discussed whether or not he should have made the comments. I'm just pointing out when we just got rid of the old man who couldn't seem to be bothered, who made every excuse in the book and seemed more passionate about pursuits other than winning, we're much more likely to embrace the young, fiery coach who obviously gets upset when we lose.

Stansbury has been here a decade. We don't have five years of failure to point to and say, "maybe xx is about to transfer, but at least we've got a coach now who cares!"

Obviously there are exceptions, but I think you'll find that general trend the world round.

 

[fwsultan]

the fact that neither Mullen or Cohen have yet to become consistent losers at MSU. Should this happen the pass will be quickly withdrawn.