COLUMN: Chris Lemonis exits with complicated legacy in Starkville

It’s quite difficult to find a better day in Mississippi State sports history than June 30, 2021.

As Luke Hancock caught the final out on a bunt attempt from Vanderbilt, the Diamond Dawgs raced out of the dugout to dogpile on closer Landon Sims at the pitcher’s mound he had just stepped off. One of the last to leap onto the pile was head coach Chris Lemonis.

The coach who had just led the Diamond Dawgs to the school’s first national championship in any sport showed emotion unlike many had seen before. A former Citadel player, Lemonis never seemed to get too high or too low. On that day, he let it loose.

Jake Mangum had called it two years earlier when he closed out his final press conference as a Bulldog by telling everyone in the room that Lemonis would bring the school its first title. Like a prophet, Mangum nailed it.

The days that followed were filled with endless joy. Lemonis and his team paraded through town like heroes. They landed at Dudy Noble Field, where a capacity crowd welcomed them back in a celebration that was over 120 years in the making.

With the dam finally broken in Starkville and the storied program accomplishing the one thing that had eluded them for so many years, it felt like the M over S was going to form into a new monster.

Instead, the last four years have fallen flat with the Bulldog fanbase.

Bulldogs have found going tough in last four seasons

Monday afternoon marked the end for Lemonis in Starkville, closing a tenure that could best be described as complicated. His first two full seasons were immaculate. The coach carried State to two College World Series trips and made it three straight overall for the program. He won 40 SEC games and hoisted the trophy on the biggest stage.

After winning 114 games in his first two and a half seasons, however, Lemonis followed with a 118–98 record over the next four years and an abysmal 42–69 mark in SEC play. Three of the last four seasons are likely to end without postseason play, and Dudy Noble Field will be empty in June for the fourth consecutive year.

The lack of production from the program over the past four seasons was, at best, a major underperformance. Interest in baseball in Starkville only grew after the national title, only for fans to routinely leave Dudy Noble dejected. The team suffered two nine-win SEC seasons in 2022 and ’23, missed a golden opportunity to host a Regional last year, and this season they’re off to a 7–14 start in SEC play.

So how did we get here?

It’s hard to fully understand how a coach who had shown so much promise and success in his first two full seasons could allow the program to fall the way it did. The Bulldogs were fundamentally unsound, consistently inefficient on the mound, and frequently underperformed at the plate.

At the core of it, it appeared that when the Alpha personalities like Jake Mangum, Elijah MacNamee, Tanner Allen, and others left, the Bulldogs lost a lot of their edge. It returned in some form last year with Khal Stephen, David Mershon, and Connor Hujsak, and State found some footing — but it’s been missing again this year.

The extreme downturn for the program led Director of Athletics Zac Selmon to make a difficult decision on Monday: fire the coach after seven years. The news that this would be Lemonis’ final season wasn’t much of a surprise, but the fact it came at this point of the season was to many who follow college baseball.

Simply put, Selmon and his staff had seen enough. They didn’t need another four weeks of baseball to make a final decision, and a miracle run late in the year wouldn’t have changed their situation. Right or wrong, that’s where the boss stands, and he’s ready for new blood.

College sports has become big business, and it’s cutthroat at times. Just four years after Lemonis was one of the most popular men in Starkville, he’s now without a job. As a father of two daughters like Lemonis, I certainly hurt with him that his life is now taking a different turn.

Lemonis enjoyed some great moments in Starkville, and he earned good money doing it — so he’ll land on his feet. It’s now up to Selmon to make sure the Bulldogs do the same.

The program has always been bigger than the men leading it. Over the last six decades, State has been to the CWS 12 times under the leadership of six different coaches. Legendary players have followed and created even more legendary moments — and those will continue.

The next coach has to understand the expectations that have been set. While one could argue exactly where this job ranks nationally, there’s no question the resources and fan support are among the best in the land. While Selmon comes from a football background, he understands that too.

The next month will be a critical time in State baseball history. Selmon is making his second major hire and will look to find the next coach who can lead State back to prominence.

We’ll be watching.