I admittedly don't follow Bulldog baseball as closely as I should. However, when Cohen was hired I remember being 100% confident that he would return our program to the top. After a few seasons with him as our coach, how confident are you that he's going to be able to do that?
How much confidence do you have in Cohen returning us to the top?
- Thread starter BCash
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I admittedly don't follow Bulldog baseball as closely as I should. However, when Cohen was hired I remember being 100% confident that he would return our program to the top. After a few seasons with him as our coach, how confident are you that he's going to be able to do that?
It's simply the landscape of the baseball scene nowadays. It's not like it was when we were on top, which if we're honest with ourselves, was 20 years ago. It's so much more difficult to compete at a high level now than it was before. The Vandy's, South Carolinas, and yes, even the Ole Miss's of the world are now a major player. Cohen can get the job done as far as putting together a better program than in past few years but I don't see us or anyone else becoming a dominant force that lasts for a decade or so. I'd like to think that if Cohen can get us in contention for the conference crown and get us back to Omaha in the nextcouple years, then he's done his job. We have to take a step back and remember we haven't won a conference regular season title since 1990. Heck, we've proven several times that it's perhaps easier to get to Omaha than it is to win our own league. But I'd take that every day of the week.
I feel fairly confident. Right now I think we look better than we have, but I don't think we will be able to judge until SEC play begins. The team is more talented, but until I see how we compare to the rest of the SEC, I can't really tell.
Out of the 3 major sports, I think baseball is the 2nd toughest to rebuild. Less players than football, so a few poor recruits makes a bigger impact on your team. I understand the 3 year thing in football for rebuilding.But for baseball I think it's more 4 to 5 years to rebuild, especially from the position wewere left in. By the end of this year we should have a pretty good idea, but right now I feel pretty good about where we are. </p>
Out of the 3 major sports, I think baseball is the 2nd toughest to rebuild. Less players than football, so a few poor recruits makes a bigger impact on your team. I understand the 3 year thing in football for rebuilding.But for baseball I think it's more 4 to 5 years to rebuild, especially from the position wewere left in. By the end of this year we should have a pretty good idea, but right now I feel pretty good about where we are. </p>
Whoever said that the landscape of college baseball has changed is right. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's all bad for us. What I mean is, the SEC is, in my mind the best college baseball conference in the country. Let's look at the CWS the past few years- LSU won it, and now South Carolina won it. Florida has a great chance to win it this year. So, it's sort of like football in that if you're a SEC team and you make it to Omaha, you stand a darn good chance of winning it. If we continue to bring in talent as we are doing, before long we will be up there in the upper echelon of SEC teams as well. I think we are about a year or maybe even two from being in that discussion seriously, which is honestly a heck of a lot better than where we were a couple of years ago.
Also, about the SEC, college baseball is a regional sport- sort of like college ice hockey. College baseball and SEC/ACC baseball is BIG in the south. And the kids that grow up follow these teams like the MSU's, LSU's, and etc. and they see the atmosphere and the tradition and they want to be a part of it. That doesn't happen as much in other parts of the country, which means that in the south, we're getting our better players to go to college, which is good for MSU- and all of the other SEC teams. That was a big thing that Polk did not understand. A lot of times, he would not recruit a guy that was a draft prospect because he figured that they would go pro, and he didn't want to fool with finding a replacement because that's how it used to be. For example a guy like Hunter Renfroe in the 80's probably would be in spring training right now with the Red Sox. But in the SEC, you can and you have to take chances on recruits that are draft prospects- we had six of our signees who were drafted, and we got five into school. That's probably typical around the conference.
On top of that, the MLB draft is about to make some big changes very soon once the new collective bargaining agreement comes forth, and I think what we're going to see is a slotting system- which is going to take away the draftee's leverage, and also a worldwide draft. Those two changes are going to affect college baseball because what I think is going to happen is you're going to see Americans get pushed down. And when I say Americans, I'm talking college juniors and high school seniors, and I'll even throw in the JUCO guys- and when those guys get pushed down, it's going to give players even more incentive to stay in college as seniors or go to college. What that means is that we're going to be able to keep some juniors that we may not have kept in the past, and also may get some recruits that we may not have gotten in the past. And that will be true of everyone, but in our case at MSU, we have two really good recruiters in Butch and Lane. So we could really benefit maybe a little more than others.
So, right now, I think it's probably more likely for us to win a CWS Championship as long as we continue to recruit well rather than when Polk was here simply because we have to bring in a ton of talent just to compete in our conference anyway. Back in1985, you have two good starters like Brantley and Gene Morgan, and then a great closer like Thigpen, and you win the SEC. But the problem with that in 1985 is when we went up against a team like Miami or Texas that had even more pitching, and similar overall talent, we couldn't match up. But now, it's the opposite.
But for MSU to win a National Championship in baseball, we have to go to Omaha even more consistently than once every four years. I say that because I think the biggest advantage a baseball team in postseason can have is experience. And right now, we've got to just get to a regional first.
Also, about the SEC, college baseball is a regional sport- sort of like college ice hockey. College baseball and SEC/ACC baseball is BIG in the south. And the kids that grow up follow these teams like the MSU's, LSU's, and etc. and they see the atmosphere and the tradition and they want to be a part of it. That doesn't happen as much in other parts of the country, which means that in the south, we're getting our better players to go to college, which is good for MSU- and all of the other SEC teams. That was a big thing that Polk did not understand. A lot of times, he would not recruit a guy that was a draft prospect because he figured that they would go pro, and he didn't want to fool with finding a replacement because that's how it used to be. For example a guy like Hunter Renfroe in the 80's probably would be in spring training right now with the Red Sox. But in the SEC, you can and you have to take chances on recruits that are draft prospects- we had six of our signees who were drafted, and we got five into school. That's probably typical around the conference.
On top of that, the MLB draft is about to make some big changes very soon once the new collective bargaining agreement comes forth, and I think what we're going to see is a slotting system- which is going to take away the draftee's leverage, and also a worldwide draft. Those two changes are going to affect college baseball because what I think is going to happen is you're going to see Americans get pushed down. And when I say Americans, I'm talking college juniors and high school seniors, and I'll even throw in the JUCO guys- and when those guys get pushed down, it's going to give players even more incentive to stay in college as seniors or go to college. What that means is that we're going to be able to keep some juniors that we may not have kept in the past, and also may get some recruits that we may not have gotten in the past. And that will be true of everyone, but in our case at MSU, we have two really good recruiters in Butch and Lane. So we could really benefit maybe a little more than others.
So, right now, I think it's probably more likely for us to win a CWS Championship as long as we continue to recruit well rather than when Polk was here simply because we have to bring in a ton of talent just to compete in our conference anyway. Back in1985, you have two good starters like Brantley and Gene Morgan, and then a great closer like Thigpen, and you win the SEC. But the problem with that in 1985 is when we went up against a team like Miami or Texas that had even more pitching, and similar overall talent, we couldn't match up. But now, it's the opposite.
But for MSU to win a National Championship in baseball, we have to go to Omaha even more consistently than once every four years. I say that because I think the biggest advantage a baseball team in postseason can have is experience. And right now, we've got to just get to a regional first.
I think he will recruit enough talent to get us to the top. I expect him to make us competitive again, but I won't expect him to go deep in the NCAA tournament very often until he gets past a regional. For now, I just want him to get to the conference tournament.
And during the same time period State won six tourney championships and four regular season championshipswith seven CWS appearances and Ole Miss none. You could lose some money on that bet. In college baseball five years is a life time. Get one or two really good pitchers and boom that team is kicking ***.
Double post by Requiem doenn't count. And since you didn't specify..... it's either overall or the tourney. Archive it.<div>
Can I be there to watch you get the money from the title loan place?</div>
Can I be there to watch you get the money from the title loan place?</div>
but it is also very understandable for someone to not be optimistic yet. I don't know if we will make it to "the top" but I think we will be competitors in the conference for a while and make a lot of post seasons if Cohen continues to recruit well. The main reason I feel this way is because Cohen wants to be here. It's not like football where you never know what our coaching staff will look like next year. This is the job he wants. He recruits well after losing seasons. Just wait until we have a few winning ones and upgrade our facilities. After that happens, I think we will have all the tools in place to make a few runs. </p>
The SEC champion in any sport is the team that wins it in the regular season. The team that wins the tourney is the tourney champion.
I just have a hard time putting a one weekend championship on the same plane as a full season championship.
I just have a hard time putting a one weekend championship on the same plane as a full season championship.
Kind of like winning the 6th best football bowl in the SEC and suddenly thinking you are a powerhouse?
..the fact sixpackspeak.com is already turning on Cohen even though he is fielding his best team yet makes me think Cohen is doing something right.
The pitching is far better this year, the fielding is far better this year, & it even the coaching is far better this year.
But given this empirical evidence of improvment, sixpackspeak.com is still predicting 12-18 records & last place finishes.
That's all the evidence I need that Cohen is the man to take us all the way.
The pitching is far better this year, the fielding is far better this year, & it even the coaching is far better this year.
But given this empirical evidence of improvment, sixpackspeak.com is still predicting 12-18 records & last place finishes.
That's all the evidence I need that Cohen is the man to take us all the way.
first nobody here has claimed any sort of powerhouse status in football. BUT I will take our final season ranking of 15th and be pretty dang proud of it and believe that we are well on our way to being a much more highly competitive program year in and year out in the coming years.
because improved defense can be seen even when playing the cupcakes. You can obviously screw up a defensive play against even the weaker teams on the schedule but so far we aren't doing that. That has me thinking this team is markedly improved over last year where we routinely gave teams 4 and 5 outs per inning due to our screwups in the field. Pitching wise will not be known until we start playing better teams. Obviously when you combine weaker hitting lineups with the toned down bats its going to make our pitching look somewhat better but even with that so far I have been pleasantly surprised. The fact we aren't walking many folks is obviously a big positive.