Baseball players do like women.
But to answer your question(s) I think there is a lot of factors to it. I do think what you said about other schools realizing that they could make money off of baseball is part of it.
I'm going to focus on us- First of all in the 80's it was MSU and LSU, sometimes Florida. I think it all starts up top with the AD and his lack of vision. I think LT kind of felt like baseball would take care of itself. Even when we weren't very good, we were drawing well. I think LT pretty much let Polk do whatever he wanted. We had the reputation as having the best baseball facility and a great coach, and people were coming. Having books written, top MLB players like Clark and Palmeiro, etc. I think the problem really started in my opinion when Polk wanted to leave in 1992 and we essentially wouldn't let him. We honestly probably could have gotten someone like Augie Garrido if we wanted to. We chose to beg Polk back, and the team went down until we had the top class in 1994, and they went to Omaha and Polk left. Pat McMahon did a good job, but I remember we had a lot of fans who much of the time wanted Polk back even then. McMahon leaves and we hire Polk back. I think that killed us. When he was hired back, I threw all kinds of f-bombs and told people that day, that hiring Polk set us back 10 years. Guess what? We're in year nine.
The problem with it was basically what we were saying was "We're more concerned about a group of people- Polk's Croonies rather than winning. As long as we're classy." It wasn't a hire that was exciting that would fire up the fanbase. It was pretty ho-hum. I think at that moment, it split our fanbase. You had people like me that wanted a coach that would take MSU to the next level. You had Polk's croonies who are essentially good ol' boys who think that Tupelo HS is a high quality baseball program in the baseball world. Nothing agianst Tupelo, they think the same about New Hope as well. That's what they watch. They have no clue what is going on in Baton Rouge, Oxford, or etc. All they knew was 1. Polk has won. 2. Polk was a lot better than Bragan- who incidentally yelled a lot 3. Polk wrote a book. They were told that we had the best baseball stadium in America, and they took it at heart. Arkansas? Whatever. Also, a far as Ole Miss, they were just in flat out denial. They were a fluke for 10 years and counting now. The people with the clout had no clue, and have no clue about what was going on. Our recruiting was archaic. We were recruiting exclusively out of a baseball camp- you just can't do that. In the meantime, Ole Miss and LSU had been on these kids for at least a couple of years before they even filled out a camp application. Polk thought that they would come to play for him, and it just doesn't work that way. On top of it, you had McNickle who didn't know what he was doing ruining our best arms- and we're still paying for it now to a degree with guys like Paxton Pace, and are just now getting out of it with these freshmen pitchers. On top of all of this, you had Polk and his agendas. The house finally crashed in in 2008. Then we hire Cohen, and I think it split the fans even more. One hand, you have the Polk Croonies bitching about him yelling at people and saying that his guys can't hit, at the same time, these players have had their best seasons under Cohen. It's pretty obvious that they're trying to run him off, or exert some kind of control by making him not cuss or whatever. And I think it's mainly because Polk didn't want Cohen. Then you have people like me that are like- "Wait a minute here- these players suck. Joe Torre couldn't win with these players".
Now what is it going to take for us to get back to the elite of the SEC? Well, you've got to have players. I know we can do it. If anything, we have more of a chance. Why? We're in the exact same region as those other schools that you menitoned. I think our co-eds are just as good as Ole Miss's, I think the town is just as good, and I think we have as much to offer as a school as anyone else in the SEC including Vandy. Seriously. But the difference between MSU and the others and where we have the advantage is this: We care about it. A lot. Baseball players want to play in front of good crowds. Why do you think baseball players want to play in St. Louis, for the Cubs, for the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. and not the Marlins? Look at their attendance. We can get good crowds. Who wants to play in front of no one where no one cares? We can point to our past and say that we've done it before. And not too long ago. To me, the key is identifying the best players possible in the region and getting them here. The way we were doing it under Polk, we weren't doing that. You get good players, you win. You win, people show up. People show up, and stuff gets done to the stadium. Why do people not go right now? Because they suck. It really is that simple. Now to win a NC, what we have to do is get to Omaha consistently- like three out of four years until we finally win one. Right now, we need to focus on a Regional.
Now as far as personnel, we need at least seven pitchers that we can count on- 3 weekend, 1 midweek, 2 set-up, and a closer. We need a balanced lineup with speed at the top, and power in the middle. We need guys that can run and guys what can play defense. We need guys that want to win for MSU and not a coach and will do whatever it takes to win and not let anyone stop them.
Again, I think one big thing that we can all do is join the dugout club and go to games. Not even all of the games- just go to 3-5 at your convenience- and I'm talking to everyone.
Winning takes care of everything. Even the Polk croonies will change their tune if Cohen wins. And his style will work at MSU because the style he wants to play waas the same style that Gregory had- hard-nosed team that did what it took to win. I feel like if Cohen doesn't work out, I don't think it's the end of MSU baseball or anything like that as long as we hire wisely. And honestly, I would suggest someone like O'Conner at Virginia who has no ties to Polk or MSU simply because of the hard feelings that people have towards Cohen and Raffo. I'll say this- if Cohen doesn't succeed at MSU it's going to most likely be because the fans couldn't all get 100% behind him. I'm not talking about the people on sixpack that ***** when we lose. I'm talking about the Polk Croonies.
