On Henderson, this is just my opinion...
- Thread starter Rick Cleveland
- Start date
I think it’s safe to say that we wanted Croom to succeed. He was just too wedded to a particular offensive idea that we considered frustrating.
I don't think Rick has ever met a coach he didn't like and support, at least publicly. Of course he was going to write that column. And he may be right. I still trust Cohen's judgment on this hire, whether that's keeping Henderson or hiring someone else.
i'm interviewing candidates for a position with my company right now. i look at their entire resume to determine if they are a good candidate, regardless of any amount of success over the last 3 1/2 months.
i like Coach Henderson but i trust Coach Cohen will make the right decision regardless of the media noise.
i like Coach Henderson but i trust Coach Cohen will make the right decision regardless of the media noise.
I may be in the minority, but I think the run to Omaha, as impressive as it was, still pales in comparison to just getting to .500 in league play and a 2-seed in a year where we fired our head coach in week 1, played 32 road games, and had no bullpen to speak of for the entire year. That required 2 months of elite baseball under really trying circumstances.
That’s why I don’t get people saying Cohen can’t make an emotional decision based on a couple of weeks where we got hot. Its been a hell of a lot longer than a couple of weeks. And, in my opinion the last couple of weeks aren’t even the most impressive accomplishment.
That’s why I don’t get people saying Cohen can’t make an emotional decision based on a couple of weeks where we got hot. Its been a hell of a lot longer than a couple of weeks. And, in my opinion the last couple of weeks aren’t even the most impressive accomplishment.
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I am truly shocked by the number of people who actually want Gary Henderson to get the full-time gig. The notion is ridiculous to me. If Macnamee’s bat hits that 1-2 pitch in Tallahassee an inch higher or lower, these exact same people would be foaming at the mouth over the thought of hiring him as the permanent head coach. That’s how thin the margin is- It’s crazy how emotional people are over this stuff and cannot use any perspective.
Gary has done a really good job this last month or so, but he went to TWO regionals in nine years as a full-time SEC head coach. 105-134 record at a program that was on solid footing when he took over. Y’all need to step away from this two week run and look at the big picture. I appreciate Gary and am pulling for him big time in Omaha, but we need someone else over the long term.
Gary has done a really good job this last month or so, but he went to TWO regionals in nine years as a full-time SEC head coach. 105-134 record at a program that was on solid footing when he took over. Y’all need to step away from this two week run and look at the big picture. I appreciate Gary and am pulling for him big time in Omaha, but we need someone else over the long term.
We started slow but do you really think .500 in the SEC is a massive accomplishment? Don’t get me wrong, it was a great turnaround and we’ve improved a lot... But .500 in the SEC is league average. Does anyone really think that we don’t have at least average SEC talent? This has always been a young but pretty darn talented roster.
Besides, someone’s ability to coach/manage on game day is far less than 50% of his actual duties as head coach of an SEC program- but that’s all that Gary has been asked to do for us to this point.
Rick, have you asked Cohen or even Henderson if he wants the job? This seems like it's either all platitudes or a brilliant PR move to "float the balloon" about how the fans would respond to Henderson as coach. I get it that you'd offer him the job yesterday (or Monday, to be more factual)...but does he even WANT to be a head coach in the SEC?
We have a lot of people that have no idea what they are talking about, putting it nicely. He's not getting our head coaching job unless he wins the national championship, and even then I think there's a 50/50 chance of him not getting it (he should not get it then but the pressure could be too much for Cohen to turn down). There is no way that you hire a failed retread from Kentucky to take over MSU baseball because our bats got hot for 3 weeks. I'm as proud as anyone for this team, and I'll be driving to Omaha if we don't go 2 and q (have a birthday party for my daughter this weekend so I can't go till then), but I'm with you. This entire process has opened my eyes to some people.
Getting to .500 in the toughest league in the country after firing your coach in Week 1 is a monumental task. It’s flat out ignorant to suggest otherwise. And if getting to 15-15 is so easy, how come the team with the most draft picks in the league (UK) couldn’t do it? And our talent is somewhere between average to slightly below average. It ain’t anywhere close to what UF, Ark, and Ole Miss had, and we went 9-1 against those teams. Again, a monumental task. Where we struggled the most was the midweek games, primarily due to pitching depth.
Fair point, but just because he hasn’t been asked to do it yet doesn’t mean he can’t. The last 2 draft classes from Kentucky prove he can recruit, and that is a much more difficult program to sell than MSU.
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So the first coach in the history of the university to win a team national championship is not good enough? Please name some coaches that would be better than a coach that won a national championship who you would rather see. If Henderson wins the natty, he is the permanent head coach. No questions asked.
Wait until you hear the ESPN crew talk ad nauseam this weekend about how Henderson should get the job. Its as if they have all become Dick Vitale and think they know the best fit for every coaching job in America. And its not just them.
The Henderson homers will use that support to try and make their case. But there are two groups that should never influence a coaching hire - the media and players. You are better off gauging who your rivals want you to hire and then go an entirely different direction.
Someone who has not already been given a loaded roster by someone else like he was at Kentucky, only to let the program slide back down into mediocrity. Someone who has not had a head coaching gig and only went to 2 regionals in 8 years. Someone who has not been part of a run that involved our bats getting hot and the position group they coach be ranked 12th in the conference. Someone who is going to recruit lights out and be here for a very long time. If someone has an 8 year sample size to show you who they are and you chose to only look at a 1 or 2 month sample size of their career, you deserve what you get following that hire.
I agree that we shouldn’t hire Henderson based on what the players want. And I will also say that he has never been my top choice and I still prefer Butch if he will come.
But we are already on Plan C or D. How many more coaches withdraw their name from the search before we reach a point where the guys we’re considering aren’t any better than Henderson? I don’t feel like we are far from that.
If Butch says no, give me a realistic candidate that is clearly better than Henderson. Tadlock? I don’t think he’s a realistic candidate. Monte Lee? He’s lost in a home Regional three years in a row and never taken Clemson to Omaha. Mark Wasikowski? Done a great job in a short time at Purdue, but that hire won’t excite the fan base anymore than Henderson.
But we are already on Plan C or D. How many more coaches withdraw their name from the search before we reach a point where the guys we’re considering aren’t any better than Henderson? I don’t feel like we are far from that.
If Butch says no, give me a realistic candidate that is clearly better than Henderson. Tadlock? I don’t think he’s a realistic candidate. Monte Lee? He’s lost in a home Regional three years in a row and never taken Clemson to Omaha. Mark Wasikowski? Done a great job in a short time at Purdue, but that hire won’t excite the fan base anymore than Henderson.
They want to give him the job because it's an easy choice, at this point. It's getting harder and harder to publicly say otherwise, even if you are using good, sound logic. I was wondering earlier how many fans we have that really think he's not the best long term choice but won't admit it because it's quickly becoming the unpopular choice. If you have watched a few regional games, I could understand why Henderson would be your pick. If you have watched the entire season unfold, know anything about baseball, and looked at his resume, you can't possibly be confident in him having consistent success. Remember, we are building the best stadium in college baseball because we want to take the program to the next level. We want to be an elite program who regularly hosts regionals and wins championships. Outside of the last two weeks, is there anything about Gary Henderson that suggests he is that guy?
I am very grateful for his contribution, but you should never mention his name without mentioning Jake Gautreau. He deserves as much credit or more.
He hasn't won a Natty yet, but if he does, of course the job is his if he wants it..
I have nothing to base this on other than the limited times I have seen way he carries himself during interviews, but it seems like Henderson is comfortable with the way this whole coaching thing will play out. I don't know whether Cohen has told him he has the job or already has a handshake agreement with another coach that Henderson is comfortable with, but he comes across as someone who knows exactly how it will play out.
Maybe it is just naivety on my part, but I don't think Cohen is out their whiffing on candidates left and right. I imagine that is 99% media-driven. For Cohen to be as hush-hush as he was about the football coaching hire until shortly before strippers started talking, I can't believe he would do a 180 and start blabbing like a teenage girl for the baseball hire unless it was already a done deal. Maybe that got derailed, which happens sometimes, but I still get the impression a decision has been made that Henderson is comfortable with.
That being said, if we end up with Henderson due to Cohen misjudging the situation, I will be fine with it. It is quite a luxury if your worst case scenario, as some posters appear to paint him, is the Coach of the Year that led you to Omaha who has the support of the almost fully-intact returning CWS team.
Maybe it is just naivety on my part, but I don't think Cohen is out their whiffing on candidates left and right. I imagine that is 99% media-driven. For Cohen to be as hush-hush as he was about the football coaching hire until shortly before strippers started talking, I can't believe he would do a 180 and start blabbing like a teenage girl for the baseball hire unless it was already a done deal. Maybe that got derailed, which happens sometimes, but I still get the impression a decision has been made that Henderson is comfortable with.
That being said, if we end up with Henderson due to Cohen misjudging the situation, I will be fine with it. It is quite a luxury if your worst case scenario, as some posters appear to paint him, is the Coach of the Year that led you to Omaha who has the support of the almost fully-intact returning CWS team.
That is true about the FSU game but it happened just like it has in 100 other baseball games and that allowed us to progress and with every progression it really does get increasingly difficult not to give him a shot. I hear what you are saying. GH has done a phenomenal job on the field but there is more to building and sustaining a program than that. He did not even recruit these players as a HC. He has passed the coaching test with flying colors but we don't know how he will do with recruiting and program management and frankly his track record is not that impressive. It really is a conundrum. If you recall there were people on this board who were publicly stating they hoped we would lose quickly so we could get the HC we wanted knowing that if something like this happened it was going to be tough to say no. I think we have passed that point. However, if we could win the NC it would be worth it even if he quickly tanked.
My thoughts are that if he wins it all, the job is his. Polk, McMahon, and Cohen all made it to Omaha, but never won it all......so if Hendo wins it all, I don't see how you can justify not hiring him. If they don't win it all and IF Cohen does have that solid handshake deal with a proven winner (Sully, Gilmore, O'Connor, Corbin, Savage, Lopez, Tanner, Maineri, etc.) then go ahead and hire them, but if it is just a coach who has been to Omaha once or twice, then Hendo has that in his belt now. If he is hired, I hope he doesn't lose his desire to coach and recruit like he did at Kentucky.
The football search and the baseball search are totally different animals. We weren’t trying to hire Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart in our football search. We’ve been going to the big boys in baseball.
I like Moorhead a lot, but it’s easier to convince an offensive coordinator to take a head coaching job than it is to convince an established coached who has built a program from scratch to leave a place where they are considered a legend.
I have no doubt in my mind that McDonnell turned Cohen down. Schlossnagle probably did the same but there might be a little more to it than that. I have serious doubts that Godwin turned us down. But still, I don’t believe this is part of some master plan to get Tadlock or Corbin. I think we weren’t able to get our top two choices and it’s that simple. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it is what it is.
I like Moorhead a lot, but it’s easier to convince an offensive coordinator to take a head coaching job than it is to convince an established coached who has built a program from scratch to leave a place where they are considered a legend.
I have no doubt in my mind that McDonnell turned Cohen down. Schlossnagle probably did the same but there might be a little more to it than that. I have serious doubts that Godwin turned us down. But still, I don’t believe this is part of some master plan to get Tadlock or Corbin. I think we weren’t able to get our top two choices and it’s that simple. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it is what it is.
Given we likely aren't going to get one of the "elite" coaches in college baseball, getting Butch back as HC/PC teamed with Geatreau as the hitting coach would seemingly be a great combination. Right now we need some recruiting because, due to our lack of pitching signees the last couple of years, we are about to get razor thin in the pitching department.