Just over a week after Chris Lemonis was terminated as Mississippi State baseball’s head coach, athletic director Zac Selmon is busy leading a search to find the proud program’s next leader. Some insiders say the Bulldog skipper spot is an attractive one for elite candidates.
The latest iteration of the D1Baseball’s “Top 100 Programs” lists Mississippi State as the No. 8 best college baseball program in Division I baseball. But since the school’s first national championship in 2021 under Lemonis, MSU has faltered, going 45-69 in SEC play and missing the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three seasons. Mississippi State baseball coach vacancy likely to attract high-level candidates, analyst says.
Kendall Rogers, managing editor of D1Baseball, says the program’s foothold at the top of the game has fallen as well, noting that the maroon and white would be around 14th or 15th in the program rankings if they were done today. That being said, the school still boasts more than a few characteristics that make it among college baseball’s top jobs.
“It’s a really interesting program, because there are very few schools in the country that care about baseball as much as Mississippi State,” Rogers told SportsTalk Mississippi. “But I also don’t think it’s a program that’s without it’s challenges, and I’ll throw Ole Miss into the same boat here. You have to get a little creative at the Mississippi schools.”
In the new age of college athletics driven by NIL funding and soon-arriving revenue sharing, Rogers says prospective coaches are aiming to leap to schools who have the ability and appetite for real investment into their baseball programs.
“The interest inside the Southeastern Conference [for the Mississippi State job] is very legitimate,” Rogers continued. “Coaches are looking at who is going to fund support baseball at the highest of all levels.”
The 2021 national title broke the glass ceiling in Starkville, though 11 previous College World Series appearances, a $55 million overhaul of Dudy Noble Field, and annual top national marks in attendance made an eventual championship a foregone conclusion.
Selmon now eyes a leader who will build on the 2021 crown and long list of previous successes.
“I think by and large people have viewed Mississippi State as a top-tier to elite program through both searches,” SportsTalk Mississippi co-host Brian Hadad said, noting that the perception of the program has held steady since Lemonis was hired in 2018.
“People know the history. They know that Mississippi State fans are going to support the program financially. It has great tradition, great facilities, great fan support, but most importantly in this day and age, it has the NIL resources to bring in the kind of players you need if you want to compete for championships.”
Insiders have pointed to three top candidates as current favorites to land the job. We return to the great state of Mississippi to dive back into the message boards – this time, however, we aren’t looking at why Ole Miss fans have been perpetually gaslit into thinking about their program one way or another in relation to the Auburn Tigers.
Instead, we’re looking at what Mississippi State fans are saying about their baseball program.
Message Board Geniuses – an incredible Twitter account and a blessing to the internet – highlights some of the strangest, most entertaining, and sometimes weirdly political conversations that happen between fans online.
They recently highlighted a thread on RebelGrove.com about Ole Miss fans being upset over Hugh Freeze finding success at Auburn.They’ve now discovered a thread on a Mississippi State message board that wants to fire their head coach.
Chris Lemonis, the head man for State baseball, has now watched his team start the 2023 season 2-2 with losses to VMI and ULM.
MSU fans want him fired.
“I don’t think that Selmon has to go far down the road,” one commenter said. “His first call should be Butch Thompson and it should end there.”
Keep in mind that Lemonis brought Mississippi State their first and only national title for any sport in school history just two seasons ago.
“He can be fired, don’t doubt it,” another commenter said. “Bring back Butch,” cries a third.
