Really good Cohen article...

[maroonmania]

probably the best I've seen explaining the predicament he had when coming to MSU from a recruiting standpoint. After reading this I now understand even more why Cohen was forced to go so heavy JUCO in his first full recruiting class.

Click here

 

[Todd4State]

on what it's like to recruit in college baseball. I would be willing to bet that the player he was meeting was Jacob Lindgren. College baseball is unique in that they have to compete against everyone else, but also MLB.

I really wish that they had it so Americans had to go to college for at least three years before turning pro. I think that would make the college game that much better.

I do agree with you about the JUCO players that we recruited. To be honest, we've gotten some pretty good production out of them all things cosidered- Parks, Pollorena, Vickerson, Jaron, Ogden, and etc.

 

[Coach34]

""You want to talk about being behind," Cohen said. "I mean, Mississippi State had no commitments when we showed up. So, I'm talking about two years later. I'm talking about juniors in high school who were already committed, not to mention who were going to sign in the early-signing period just six months after we got there."

 

[maroonmania]

essentially when he got here the best HS players around that would be signing the following fall, for the most part, were already committed other places and Polk had left us with zilcho commitments to work with. There really wasn't a lot to go after that could play in the SEC other than some JUCOs. I think that's much more why he went that route as heavy as he did than it was that he wanted a "quick fix". I'm sure he wanted to bring in more high school talent himself that first year but unfortunately that train had already left the station.

 

[Todd4State]

is how Polk couldn't figure it out. He didn't even have to go out recruiting if he didn't want to- just send Raffo, McNickle and whoever else and let them do it.

I know the man uses a typewriter to this day, but he has to know that when he is playing Florida or someone like that- "Gee, that guy pitching for them was drafted in the first round- maybe we can recruit someone like that, too. or "Gee, that guy signed with Ole Miss as a junior in high school- maybe we need to recruit guys a little sooner too."

Heck, it's probably easier now than ever- you go to some Perfect Game showcases, the Sun Belt Classic, and a few select team tournaments- I know that they play some of those at Dudy-Noble, and there you go.

 

[DirtyLopez]

will probably need help wrapping their heads around the part about being two years behind in recruiting. That is why we have had so much trouble showing any improvement. Next year and then the year after should be much better though. It was pretty much inevitable that we would decline a little under Cohen at first b/c of the way the roster and recruiting played out. Now, we are on the upswing.

 

[maroonmania]

he left Mullen a gift-wrapped Top 25 recruiting class on his way out the door. Polk left absolutely NOTHING for Cohen!

 

[Todd4State]

to save himself. Of course, no way we would have developed these players like Dan has and no way we have nine wins with Croom last year. Croom might have been able to get us to the Liberty Bowl last year- that's a big might.

 

[79dawg4life]

Balis and Mullen have "developed" and given these young men the winning attitude. No way Croom would have had a season that we had last year. The man was too stubborn and our strength and conditioning program was way too weak. Do you think Croom would have had those guys running the stadium? His golf cart would not have made it. In all seriousness, our current coaches know what to do with talent and know how to win.

Hail State!

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

he would likely still be here.
I think that he was too stubborn offensively to be a viable SEC coach.

 

[maroonmania]

with the recruits he left. The man didn't have a clue on how to effectively run a college program. My only point was that at least he did leave some talent behind for the next coach to work with whereas Polk essentially left his program in ruins. Even if Polk had gotten his way and Raffo had gotten the job I don't know how in the world Polk would have thought Raffo could have been successful with the state the program was in.

 

[DAWG101]

Hanging over him his first couple years

 

[Todd4State]

hanging over him.

 

[ThreePack]

nm

 

[goshdawgit]

he was telling me about a huge tournament they have in Atlanta every year, you guys probably know what its called. He said the best players in the southeast play in it. Said he didn't see a State coach there for 4 years, until Cohen came back. He said last year there were 3-4 State coaches there watching these kids. Before Cohen came in, he said there were at least 2 reps from EVERY major college in the south at this tourney, except State. Polk scheduled his baseball camp for that same week expecting the best players to come to it like they used to. They went to Atlanta instead, and consequently ended up signing elsewhere.

 

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

And still managed to lose to Maine and finished 3-8.

 

[Todd4State]

was perfect for a first year coach- we had Tulane, Maine, and UAB non-conference. We lost two of those three. We also had Vanderbilt and UK- we split those two. Ole Miss was not very good that year and we lost to them as well. That's six winnable games, and then you throw in an upset over Florida, and that season really should have been 7-4. We really should have been no worse than 6-5.

Also, Alabama was pretty average that year as well- 6-6 I think.

I think Dan in his first year of being a head coach would have won about 8 games with that schedule if that had been his first year. And probably would have won whatever bowl we went to on top of that.

 

[patdog]

we had Tulane, Maine, and UAB non-conference. We lost two of those three.

Even the win against Tulane wasn't nearly as good as the 21-7 score would indicate. I was out of town that weekend and when I heard that we'd beat Tulane 21-7 I was kind of excited. Then I watched the game when I got back. Big disappointment.

 

[Todd4State]

t-shirts around town. I figured that the Salvation Army would be flooded with those. Maybe they won't take them anymore.

We sputtered in the first half of that game, but we started to play better the second half. I felt good about our team after that game, and then we played Maine. After that, I didn't know what to think. I knew that we should have beaten them, though.

 

[State82]

starts to wane significantly, I read or hear an interview with him, like this one, and he reels me back into his camp. That was an interesting read, no doubt.

 

[Johnson85]

Croom might have been able to get us to the Liberty Bowl last year- that's a big might.

If Croom were still there, Relf would have been worthless as a qb and we would have been running the west coast offense.Russellmight could haveimproved Croom's offenseto slightly worse than mediocre, but I'm notsure Croom wouldn't have been too stubborn to fire Cheese, so we probably would have had a ****** defense to go along with an at best mediocre defense. Wipe Florida, Georgia out of the win column for sure. Um probably falls off and Houston and UK become losable, not to mention UAB, who we struggled with anyway b/c of where they fell in the schedule. I agree that a merely competent coach probablycould have gotten us to the LibertyBowl.