Mississippi State baseball is hoping to start a deep postseason run, but off the field, the program is searching for a new leader. One month ago, the program moved on from head coach Chris Lemonis. That change ignited the 2025 team to win its way into a regional, and it created an opening for one of the best jobs in college baseball. With the history, facilities, fan support, and funding MSU puts towards the sport, leading the Diamond Dawgs is an enticing gig.
Bulldog fans want a big name, and in theory, big names should be interested. But in reality, the big name hire has never happened for the program. Since the end of Ron Polk's first tenure, in which he established Mississippi State as one of the sport's premier programs, there have been four head coaching hires made in Starkville (not counting Polk's second stint). None of those hires would be classified as home runs based on their pre-MSU resumes.
Pat McMahon, John Cohen, and Chris Lemonis had all proven themselves as capable head coaches, but none had accomplished the high-level success that would suggest they'd be big-time winners at MSU. Andy Cannizzaro was an MLB scout turned LSU assistant. Three of the four had great tenures leading the program, and the one who didn't seemed destined to if not for his personal demons. They were good hires, but again, on paper, were they the types of hires you'd expect from what's supposed to be a destination job?
It's a bit ironic that, despite Mississippi State baseball being by far the strongest sport historically in Starkville and being one of the elite jobs in the nation, both Bulldog football and Bulldog basketball have made more impressive hires before.
Football has two headline-grabbing hires. Jackie Sherrill had proven himself as one of the very best coaches in all of college football during his stints at Pittsburgh and Texas A&M. Mike Leach, on top of being an offensive innovator and outstanding program leader, was a name that transcended the sport. And on the hardwood, it'd have been impossible for MSU to hire a coach with a better resume than Ben Howland's.
Now it needs mentioning that each of those hires came with unique circumstances. Sherrill had resigned from A&M due to NCAA sanctions and was looking to get his foot back in the door of coaching. Leach had long wanted an SEC opportunity and was at one of the few power conference programs MSU could poach from in Washington State. And Howland was looking to prove he could still build a winning program in the final stage of his career after a brief hiatus.
In most normal situations, State isn't making those hires. Yet it remains fascinating and somewhat puzzling that such stars have never aligned for Bulldog baseball to make a hire that even matches the caliber of those mentioned for football and basketball. Could those stars finally be aligning?
If Mississippi State baseball is ever going to make a big-name hire, now is when it will happen
Since the start of the MSU coaching search, there's been one name that's consistently sat atop everyone's hot boards for the job: Virginia's Brian O'Connor. For more than two decades, O'Connor has been one of the very best coaches in the country. In 2004, he took over a Cavalier program that had been to just three regionals in its history with one conference regular season and conference tournament title apiece.
Under his leadership, UVA has made it to 18 regionals and nine super regionals. They've won four combined ACC regular season and tournament championships. And O'Connor has taken the program to the College World Series seven times, winning the national championship in 2015. He's built UVA up from practically nothing into being a college baseball powerhouse.
Given the historical precedent, you wouldn't expect Mississippi State to have much of a shot at attracting Brian O'Connor. Beyond State not making a hire of anywhere close to that caliber before, such coaches rarely move in this sport. They prefer to stay put. Why leave if you know you can win at the highest level consistently? In that sense, O'Connor's candidacy would fall into a "pie in the sky target that's sure to say 'no' but we must at least ask" category.
But in this case, there could be more to it. We're deep in the midst of a tumultuous period for college athletics. The NIL era has universities on the brink of adopting a revenue sharing model as well as ending scholarship limits for team sports. It's going to dramatically change how athletic departments must operate going forward, and some of the most drastic changes may come for non-revenue sports like baseball.
Every major athletic department is going to remain heavily invested in the money-makers that are football and men's basketball, and the vast majority of athletic funding will go towards supporting the athletes in those sports. After that, schools have some tough decisions to make. Of the many non-revenue sports on campus, which ones (if any) see a piece of the revenue pie and how much? What types of NIL opportunities are available? Will more scholarships actually be offered?
At Mississippi State, there's no question that baseball will remain a top priority. It's too engrained into the fabric of Starkville to not assure the program has the resources of a national contender. But for Brian O'Connor's current home, those are very real concerns.
Virginia loves baseball. They also love a lot of other non-revenue sports that have their own history of competing for national titles. It's not exactly cut and dry that whatever funding is left over after taking care of football and men's hoops will be funneled into the baseball program. There are simply more mouths to feed, and the result may be Cavalier baseball taking a step back relative to the sport's other contending programs.
If it happened, Brian O'Connor would be the best hire in Mississippi State history
With all of that in mind, you can quickly see why Brian O'Connor may be far more willing to entertain an offer to leave Charlottesville than he was previously. That gives Mississippi State a legitimate chance at grabbing one of the very best coaches in the sport. And if they can make that happen, it'd be the best hire in the history of the school.
Sherrill, Leach, and Howland were all incredible hires in terms of resumes, but none of them had a run of dominance at a program like O'Connor has achieved at Virginia. And above all else, O'Connor is the only one to officially accomplish the biggest prize of all by winning a national title (Sherrill's Pitt teams had a pair of unclaimed titles hence the use of the term "officially").
And there are no questions with his quality as a candidate. Sherrill had the cloud of the NCAA hanging over him. People, unfairly, questioned if Leach's Air Raid would work in the SEC. Many wondered if the game had passed Howland bye. There's none of that with O'Connor. It'd be a universally-accepted grand slam hire if made.
This looks like the best chance MSU baseball has at landing an elite coach. Does that mean it will happen? No. If Virginia gives Brian O'Connor reason to believe that his program can remain competitive, then he'll stay there. But if that doubt sets in, State can offer him as great an opportunity as he could ask for. The stars haven't aligned for Mississippi State baseball is coaching searches before. They might be aligned this time.