clarionledger.com | Jackson, MS PluckPersona | The Clarion-Ledger [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Reaction on the expected hiring of John Cohen turns to now-former Mississippi State coach Ron Polk, who was, well, here ya go:[/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"I just got slapped in the face, punched in the stomach," he said. "All my coaches have been slapped in the face, punched in the stomach by a young athletic director who has absolutely no clue what he's doing."[/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Polk said he plans to send Byrne a letter that states "within 48 hours, my name comes off the stadium, comes off the centerfield fence, the banner off the concourse comes down. It will remain down until (Byrne) gets fired or somebody runs him off."[/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Polk said he intends to remove MSU from his will as long as Byrne is the AD.[/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I asked Polk if he was concerned what these statements would do to his legacy, he responded that he thinks people will recognize that "he stood up for his boys." [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Polk, obviously, won't be in attendance at tomorrow's press conference that is expected to name Cohen, but that it wasn't personal between he and Cohen. Polk said he spoke with Cohen two days ago about the job. "I'm not castigating John Cohen," Polk said. "He probably felt like if he wasn't going to take it, somebody else would."[/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]And one more: "All this might say 'Well, sour grapes'," Polk said. "It is sour grapes, yeah. I think I'm the athletic director for baseball. I deserve that right."[/FONT]
It was. But it goes in the things you dont say to the press file. It wasn't the new guys fault he was hired - good for he and his family and no need to put more pressure on him. Whats done is done...keep it behind closed doors.
Remember when Skip hired Smoke? I recall some comments by Skip to the effect that Smoke deserved the job because of his prior work at LSU; that he was at LSU prior to other coaches that folks thought should get the job (like the Ole Miss coach); and how baseball coaching hires were different from hires in other sports. We ended up with Smoke and look what happened. Some of this may also be generational – Skip and Ron Polk are from a previous generation of BB coaches. Their perspective on coaching hires is influenced more by friendship and loyalty and less by prior success, etc. Anyway, if the new guy at MSU wins Polk will have a hard time mending these fences. He should have kept his feelings out of the press.
No doubt about Polk making promises that he thought would be kept to Raffo. Did Raffo pass on other opportunities based on those promises?
Wow. I think Cohen is a great hire, a lot better then passing the torch to one of Polk's assistants like Polk would have done if they let him.
I think Polk went off the deep end. Here are some more quotes from this morning's paper Not a show of class here. Lost a lot of respect for the man.
