Five Thoughts On Mississippi State Baseball Hiring Chris Lemonis

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OMAHA, NE – JUNE 24: Mississippi State Bulldogs players sit in the dugout before playing the UCLA Bruins during game one of the College World Series Finals on June 24, 2013 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. UCLA won 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /

John Cohen Probably Wouldn’t Have Picked Chris Lemonis If He Didn’t Think That Lemonis Would Be A Successful Longterm Option

John Cohen knows more about college baseball than just about all of us. That’s not something that should be controversial to say. Cohen has played the sport, coached the sport, and seen every aspect of the sport.

Still, with this hire, many Mississippi State baseball fans have started to question John Cohen. The prime argument being that Lemonis isn’t a proven enough head coach to lead this team.

And, in some aspects, that’s an alright argument. Chris Lemonis has only been a head coach for four years. In those four years, he’s had a decent amount of success though, but hasn’t made is past a regional. But he did all of that at Indiana.

The Hoosiers aren’t known for college baseball. They play in the B1G, which is also not known for college baseball. Still, in three of the past four years, Lemonis got his team into the NCAA Tournament and competed in three different regionals.

Now, he’s expected to come to Starkville and compete at the highest level and win at the highest level. Lemonis is known as a recruiter, and recruiting to Indiana isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. However, recruiting college baseball players to Starkville, Mississippi is a notably easier task.

John Cohen wants someone that can build a team to succeed longterm. Lemonis can do that. He helped pave the way for Louisville to make it to Omaha multiple times and can do the same in Starkville where he’ll have an abundance of resources readily available.

Next: MSU Reportedly Hires Chris Lemonis

Lemonis has shown that he can win at Indiana. No, his time there wasn’t the most impressive, but he was still winning with the Hoosiers and the talent level that he was able to get there. Lemonis has also shown that he can recruit at an incredibly high level to equip a big time program. He should be able to succeed longterm with the Bulldogs.

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