With College Baseball season now underway ...

[BiscuitEater]

Discuss ... Mike Bianco is OM's Rick Stansbury

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Had a rebel friend tell me that Bianco's time was running out ... 4 years in a row without making it to a SR ... great facilities, good fan support ... winning teams ... BUT can't win the games that count and make it to Omaha.

Just like Stans, Bianco is now the 'winningest' coach in his sport at OM. Also, like Stans, he has devided the base into the "Give him time had he will get us to Omaha' ... 'Just stay the course' as those that insist he is 'living on his past record' and 'he just can't get it done.'

It sure hasn't helped the 'keep him' folks when they see State's vast improvement with Cohen, finishing #2 in the country and passing them in prestige.

(** Given ... Bianco still has control of his players, something Stans lost his last year)

 

[patdog]

Definitely a lot of parallels. Consistent good record, but never reaches that "next level." Slow downward trend in record after about 5-7 years. Good family man with 4+ kids. And yeah, Cohen making super regional in 2011 and making the title series in 2013 is definitely not helping Bianco any.

 

[dawgstudent]

They are pretty much identical as far as success is concerned. Both programs had national success 50 years ago and both coaches brought the programs back to a pretty decent level with Bianco having a little more success.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I think

they'd be absolutely nuts and completely stupid to fire him. They're likely to end up with their Rick Ray, if they did. Of course, I hope they do fire him, because of this.

 

[thekimmer]

I concur.......

The mississippi bears would be idiots to run Bianco off. With that said, I really hope they do. We have already wrested the state back from them but anything to make it even easier. Mississippi should add polks name to sleazy field because he had about as much to do with their little run as bianco did.

 

[patdog]

I doubt they'd end up with a Rick Ray situation. One reason being their program wouldn't be in complete chaos. Another being they are one of the top paying schools in the country for a baseball coach. But their odds of hiring a coach who would match what Bianco has done aren't good if they were to fire him.

 

[johnson86-1]

they'd be absolutely nuts and completely stupid to fire him. They're likely to end up with their Rick Ray, if they did. Of course, I hope they do fire him, because of this.

I'm not sure that's true. Is baseball in the SEC good enough to attract a good coach even with expectations that are a little unreasonable? I think football is and I'm guessing baseball might be.

But I agree that I don't think they should fire him. I do think that maybe his earlier success had a lot to do with Polk being passive in recruiting, but if I were them I still wouldn't roll the dice yet. Bianco may not be Cohen, but he's not going to be just trampled by him. If they fire Bianco and choose poorly, Cohen likely will lock up the state.

 

[BiscuitEater]

My Bear friend ...

I'm not sure that's true. Is baseball in the SEC good enough to attract a good coach even with expectations that are a little unreasonable? I think football is and I'm guessing baseball might be.

insists that Dan McDonnel would leave Louisville to come to Oxford in a heartbeat. Think he came to OM about the time Bianco arrived.

Many rebs insist that he was the one really responsible for building the program. Together, they put together some really good teams and went to two SRs while they were both there.

I think that OM still has not 'recovered' from the '09 SR ending with one of the best teams in their history. Since then they have been 16-14, 13-17, 14-16, & 15-15 in the SEC.

 

[Philly Dawg]

There is a lot of luck involved in making it to the CWS, but top programs should make the SR's pretty regularly. If there is a legitimate criticism of Bianco, it might be that he uses up their pitchers.

 

[patdog]

The father of one of their star players from that era tells me that McDonnell was the one responsible for their success when he was there. He also tells me that McDonnell is a very loyal guy and really appreciates Louisville giving him a shot at a head coaching job. He didn't say that he would never leave, but with Louisville's money and being in the ACC now, I think it would be pretty tough for another school to hire him if they wanted to keep him.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I

meant their "Ray" as in someone that doesn't have as much success as their predecessor, not as in they couldn't hire a decent coach.

Lets face it, too, a great deal of their success came when we had the retired head coach part two, which directly resulted in some big time in-state talent going to OM.

 

[patdog]

Polk and Raffo absolutely steered top Mississippi talent to Oxford in the early 2000s. Even players who want to play at MSU.

 

[Daledawg]

Discuss ... Mike Bianco is OM's Rick Stansbury

*******************

Had a rebel friend tell me that Bianco's time was running out ... 4 years in a row without making it to a SR ... great facilities, good fan support ... winning teams ... BUT can't win the games that count and make it to Omaha.

Just like Stans, Bianco is now the 'winningest' coach in his sport at OM. Also, like Stans, he has devided the base into the "Give him time had he will get us to Omaha' ... 'Just stay the course' as those that insist he is 'living on his past record' and 'he just can't get it done.'

It sure hasn't helped the 'keep him' folks when they see State's vast improvement with Cohen, finishing #2 in the country and passing them in prestige.

(** Given ... Bianco still has control of his players, something Stans lost his last year)

There are a lot of similarities. The big difference is that Ole Miss could actually get an upgrade. The Ole Miss job is probably pretty attractive. They are willing to pay top dollar, they have a great facility, they play in the top conference in the country and they are consistently in the top 10 for attendance. All things that State did not have in our favor when we fired Stans. We got what was coming to us in basketball.