Insider believes Mississippi State baseball is prime to target high-profile coaches

On Monday, Mississippi State baseball made the announcement that seventh-year head coach Chris Lemonis had been relieved of his duties. Lemonis brought the program it's first ever national championship in 2021, but since that point, the program has experienced a steep decline. On the verge of missing a regional for the third time in four years, MSU is making a change.

So now all our attention turns to who the next head man will be in Starkville. Mississippi State is an incredibly attractive job in college baseball and figures to draw interest from several strong candidates. According to the biggest name in college baseball media, that looks to be the case...

Kendall Rogers says Mississippi State is in "position of strength" for coaching search

No one covers college baseball better than D1 Baseball's Kendall Rogers. He's the top insider for the sport, especially when it comes to coaching searches. And he believes Mississippi State is in a good spot entering their coaching search.

On "X", Kendall Rogers posted that according to his sources, Mississippi State "will be in a position of strength with its impending coaching search" and that the timing is right for State to "target several high-profile names."

So who might Kendall mean when he says "high-profile?"

We must first bear in mind that what one considers "high-profile" is subjective. To many Mississippi State baseball fans, they would likely interpret that as the top coaches in the sport. Coaches who are leading top programs to major postseason success.

To others, "high-profile" may simply mean coaches who have had great or perhaps even just good success and would be ideal candidates to take a step up to a top program like Mississippi State. I'm going to venture to say that's probably what Kendall is implying here, especially since he's already told fans to temper their expectations some...

A name like Tony Vitello is too bold for almost anyone. But granted, tempering expectations on a coach of his caliber doesn't necessarily mean there's no shot at another big name. Could State land someone like Clemson's Erik Bakich? He's been willing to leave jobs before, and while Clemson is a great gig, it's not Mississippi State. What about Wes Johnson at Georgia? He's a former MSU assistant, and like Bakich, he's moved around and is at a great but not top-end job for baseball.

Either would be home run hires, and there are several other potential names that would also be fantastic. Mississippi State baseball should always have a high-caliber pool of candidates, and it sounds like they're in an especially good spot for this hire.