And if you ask me what the most disappointing thing about Cohen's tenure has been so far, I would say the fact that many of the players didn't buy in to what he was doing. I think those seasons could have possibly been better if they had- like 30-26 type seasons as opposed to losing seasons.
I feel like you should play the game to win, and that should be above everything else. You should play to do your best. You shouldn't play solely for a coach and what that coach stands for. It's almost cultish how some of Polk's former players are.
I do think that we are making strides in changing the attitude of the program. I think that happened to a degree last year when we went to a SR. I still think that there was some work to do in that some people thought it was a fluke, and they just wanted to wait and see if it was or not before they bought in. I really think this season we are showing that last season wasn't a fluke. And I don't totally fault those people for the record- I can certainly understand a wait and see attitude here. I still think that there is more work to be done as well- we're not totally there yet.
But what I am starting to see is more and more support for MSU baseball and this coaching staff. I see it in the form of attendance starting to pick up, I see it in the form of support for the coaches on message boards and things like that.
Let's be honest- this is not an easy group to win ballgames with. Most are hurt, and many are inexperienced. Most teams like that have losing seasons- yet here we sit looking like we are likely to make a regional and are fifth in the SEC at the time being. The coaches have to get some credit for that at some point- not just Cohen but the assistants too.
And I'll be honest- I like that our coach was pissed off that we lost a game we shouldn't have instead of just looking into the camera and saying "well, that's baseball".
And as far as support- I'll say this to their face- I didn't like Polk II coming back. But I sure as hell kept supporting the program regardless. And I at least was man enough to give Polk II credit for the few good things he did like going to Omaha in 07 and winning the SEC Tournament in 05.
Also- as far as UAB- they're having a decent year. 27-23, and as you said will likely miss out on the tournament. To let this sink in for some of our fans- several of the players at UAB would have been at MSU had Polk stayed. That's a good representation of the talent we would have brought in. Middle of the pack C-USA talent.
Now for Raffo- I am very proud of him and what he is doing ASU despite like you said- he will probably miss the postseason. They're 27-19 with a 15-7 record in a good mid major conference. Like I said at the time- him not getting the MSU job was a great blessing for him. He wasn't ready for the job and he would have had Polk hanging over him. Now, he has gone out on his own, has his own assistants, and he is building a pretty solid program up in Jonesboro. I don't know if he will ever be the head coach at MSU, but I wouldn't be shocked if he moves up at some point in time over the next few years. He's doing what he needs to do right now.