Mississippi State baseball has its next head coach. Shortly after MSU's 2025 season came to an end, the university announced that Virginia's Brian O'Connor had been hired to lead the program. MSU AD Zac Selmon could not have made a better hire, and he had some fun on social media to let Bulldog fans know the good news.
Mississippi State spoofs Pope election to announce hire of Brian O'Connor
Just before Mississippi State put out the official word that Brian O'Connor had been hired as the next head coach of the Diamond Dawgs, Zac Selmon took to "X" to let his fanbase know that good news was on the way. And he couldn't have picked a better way to do it.
Selmon put out a video of maroon smoke rising from a grill in the outfield of Dudy Noble Field, spoofing the election of a new Pope to announce that a new head coach was on the way.
— Zac Selmon (@zacselmon) June 2, 2025
For those unfamiliar with the process of the Catholic Church electing a new Pope, the Vatican uses smoke to announce whether or not a decision has made for a Pope, with white smoke signifying a choice has been made. This of course was topical because of the election of Pope Leo XIV last month.
That election happened shortly after the news that Mississippi State would be searching for a new head coach, and some Bulldog fans had the bright idea that MSU should do their own version of Vatican smoke using the grills from the Left Field Lounge to announce the new hire.
Today’s Pope announcement has given me an idea:
— cristilmethod (@cristilmethod) May 8, 2025
- light a single grill in the left field lounge when a new coach is selected
- fans congregate at the stadium
- new coach announced by walking out of one of the top left field lofts
I myself said that I hoped Mississippi State's marketing department would hop onto the idea because it was simply too perfect not to. Sure enough, they ran with it. Knowing that the folks inside the Bryan Building are in tune with the fanbase, even just for fun on social media, is great.
Genuinely, I hope someone in the marketing department sees this and runs with it because this would be a brilliant move to announce the next coach. https://t.co/yLGLjhrIiB
— Andrew Miller 🏴☠️ (@alestate2020) May 29, 2025
And of course the analogy here makes perfect sense. Baseball is practically a religion in Starkville, and the head coach of the Diamond Dawgs is the head of the church.
The only Mississippi State coaching announcement that was better than this one was when former Bulldog AD John Cohen put out a Pirates of the Caribbean video to let the world know that Mike Leach was on his way to Starkville. I'm not sure that one will ever be topped, but Zac Selmon's maroon smoke over the Dude is a close second.