MSU athletic director addresses future of program, coach search
It has been more than a week now since Andy Cannizaro resigned his position as Mississippi State head baseball coach due to what he termed “poor decisions” in a university release. Questions still remain on the specifics as to exactly what led to Cannizaro’s resignation, however at the same time, there are also questions regarding the future of Mississippi State baseball as a whole.
On Wednesday, MSU director of athletics John Cohen granted an interview request with the Starkville Daily News to address the future of Bulldog baseball. As has been the case since last week, Cohen did not discuss the Cannizaro situation, but did give insight into his plans moving forward.
SDN: You’ve given Gary Henderson the position as Mississippi State’s interim head coach. What did you tell him upon handing him control of the program?
Cohen: I just told him that we all have a lot of faith in him. He’s got a great track record. He’s in a tough spot, but if anybody in this country can handle it, it’s Gary Henderson. So we just appreciate his willingness to step in and lead our program.
SDN: Was there any thought to letting anyone else other than Gary Henderson take over as interim head coach?
Cohen: I think it came down to experience. There is no doubt in my mind that Jake Gautreau could have done a great job as the head coach at Mississippi State. I think that Mike Brown would have even done a great job, but I think the thing that separated all those guys was the level of experience. There isn’t much that Gary Henderson hasn’t experienced in college baseball.
SDN: With that said, do you consider Gary Henderson to be a candidate to be the head coach at Mississippi State beyond this year?
Cohen: He is definitely a possible candidate. I’m going to tell you, nothing is off the table as far as our head coaching position. We’re going to pick the right person. It’s going to take a little bit of time for us to make a decision on who that person is, but I think we’re going to have great candidates. I think Gary Henderson could be one of those candidates, but at this point in time, nothing is off the table in terms of what we will consider for our head coaching position for baseball.
SDN: You said when you hired Joe Moorhead as head football coach that you had done your homework there months ahead of time. You probably didn’t get an opportunity to do that much in this situation with baseball, but where are you currently as far as looking at candidates and what are you doing on the coaching search front right now?
Cohen: What’s important right now is our players and our program and our signees and our committed players. I think our staff has done a great job with that, but again, I will monitor all of college baseball to make sure we get the right person in this position.
SDN: You mentioned the signees. Would Mississippi State release any of those signees if those guys desired that?
Cohen: That is always a case-by-case situation. It’s something that we haven’t encountered yet, but we will deal with those types of situations as they come, but they haven’t come just yet.
SDN: Do you have any timeline as far as when you would like to have a new head coach in place?
Cohen: It’s a very simple explanation for that. The great deal of our candidates will be coaching baseball deep into the postseason, so it’s kind of one of those deals where out of respect for anyone out there that we might consider, we’d have to let the season play out.
SDN: Do you have a preference at all as to whether you’d like to go with a guy that has been a sitting head coach before or would you be fine with going the assistant route again?
Cohen: Again, nothing to me is off the table at this point in time. If you’re asking will our next baseball coach have head coaching experience, my answer to that would be that there is a very, very high percentage chance that will be the case, but, having said that, again, I’m being repetitive, but nothing is off the table.
SDN: What are some of the characteristics you are looking for in the next head coach regardless of who it is?
Cohen: I think it’s somebody who understands the college game which is really important. To understand the college game, you have to understand the professional game because of the draft. You have to understand the recruiting situation, which is in my opinion, one of the most difficult things in all of coaching to recruit baseball at the highest level in college. There are so many different factors involved that it’s extremely difficult to do that, so it has to be somebody that can do that. It has to be somebody who really fits into the Mississippi State family. It has to be somebody that our fans can embrace, somebody our players can embrace and our administration. There is no doubt in my mind (we can do that). Fortunately for me, way before John Cohen showed up, a guy named Ron Polk and a guy named Pat McMahon – and even coaches before them – ensured we’d have a great baseball program. Fortunately, I think there are a lot of big-time coaches that want to be a part of what we have going on here at Mississippi State.
SDN: Lastly, in light of everything that has gone on, is there anything you’d like to tell Mississippi State fans and everyone else regarding the past, present or future?
Cohen: I guess the only thing I’d like to say is that we are going to work diligently. We are going to work ethically. We are going to work as hard as we can to ensure that we put the right person at the helm of Mississippi State baseball. I have gotten so much support from our fan base and that is deeply appreciated. Their confidence in me has just been incredible and I will always appreciate that. It makes me even more locked in on making sure we bring the right person into this program.