I realize the vultures will be out for me after this post, but so what, with the end of our softball and most likely golf (currently tied for 25th nine strokes out of 15th with many teams in between) seasons today, what else is there to discuss?
I have to admit, I have visited the State boards some of late just to see what they are saying about Lemonis. I have already gone through the comparative numbers, Lemonis’ record is slightly better than Mike’s since he arrived at State and he has owned him head-to-head 9-3. Both have National Titles and both have losing SEC records over the 2019-2023 timeframe that Lemonis has been at State. Lemonis was much better in 2019 and 2021, Mike was much better in 2022. Lemonis was better again in 2023, but both programs posted failing grades.
Lemonis had the two best records during the timeframe, both 20-10, a record Mike has only gotten to once in 23 years. Lemonis also has won 50 games overall twice, something Mike has never accomplished. But Lemonis has also suffered back-to-back 21-loss seasons. Mike also has two losing seasons in the SEC out of the last four and the worst record this year of any SEC school in six years. But one can certainly argue that, like Kermit’s first year, Lemonis won with his predecessor’s recruits.
The overwhelming sentiment over there seems to be that Lemonis is a dead man walking, but it won’t happen this year because they cannot afford to fire him-sound familiar LOL? There is very little optimism that he can right the ship and most think 2024 will be it. I have seen many predictions that they will once again only finish ahead of Ole Miss in 2024 and will announce a coaching search in 366 days. There is also a great deal of unhappiness with their AD for not firing Lemonis this year.
Mike, as always, has his brigade of supporters, but his situation is even stranger than Lemonis’ in that he attempted to get out of here in 2021 and he was a dead man walking in 2022 before the team got hot in the NCAA Tourney. And his SEC record the last two years is just 20-41, (Lemonis is an even worse 18-42, although State is 4-2 versus Ole Miss over that timeframe-5-3 counting the Mayor’s Cup games). For reference, over the last two years, Ole Miss is tied with Mizzou for 12th place in league games, while State is last. Moreover, there is a pretty large gap between Ole Miss and Mizzou and tenth place Georgia at 26-34. Let that one sink in, Ole Miss and State, two of the four schools who invest the most in baseball, along with Arkansas and LSU, have basically lost contact with the rest of the pack in the SEC. When your coaches are #2 and #6 in salary in the country, that should never happen. Naturally, both fanbases are restless.
How long does a NC buy you? Again, the situations are eerily similar. Lemonis was a very successful head coach at Indiana before coming to State and arguably is from the Bianco tree of coaches since he was a Dan McDonnell assistant. There is much of the same stuff we have seen here in the past on the State boards about how State would love to hire Dan, but questions whether he would take it if they fire his pal, Chris. The board consensus there is that the NC buys you three years-two freebies and then the do or die year, which for them is 2024, although nobody is happy about it.
I don’t know for sure, but I do not think that State extended Lemonis’ contract last year, just based on board comments, but again I have seen no confirmation anywhere. Thus, right now they would owe him about $2,575,000, unless there is a reduced buy-out, which would come down to just $1,300,000 next year. (He had a four-year contract that paid him $1,250,000 this year with a $25,000 escalator per year.) If his contract was rolled over last year, those numbers go up to $3,900,00 this year and 2,625,000 next year. One would think that rolling over that contract after this year is not even on the table.
Of course, we are Ole Miss and Mike’s contract is much bigger. Right now, it appears that firing Mike would cost Ole Miss around $5 million, which would easily be the largest buy-out in the history of college baseball. That number would go down to about $3.3-$3.4 million next year, if we do not extend his contract, and to about $1.7 million after 2024. Regardless of what we do, in addition to the over $20 million Mike has made coaching at Ole Miss, he looks to be getting at least another $5 million more sooner or later-unless there is a reduced buy-out, which I doubt. Needless to say, Mike has done very very well coaching at Ole Miss and probably could retire today, never work again and have no financial concerns for the rest of his life.
There is obviously no way Ole Miss is firing Mike this year, nor am I advocating it-not that my opinion holds any weight as Cinch reminds me. But is Mike safe no matter what after next year too? What is the bar for Lemonis keeping his job at State and Bianco keeping his at Ole Miss? Most people at State seem to think that Lemonis has to have a winning SEC record next year, and maybe even host a regional, which they generally think is highly unlikely. Perhaps we mop up in the Portal, but conventional wisdom would dictate that Bianco will have another losing record next year, in that our batting losses look to be massive and the pitching is a disaster. I can never remember any year where Ole Miss looks to have so little talent returning. Of course, it would still be pretty hard to lose more than this year’s team did, after all, we were the first team since 2017 to only win six league games and one SEC series. This is baseball, even the bad teams usually win a third of their games-see Missouri. And nobody in the SEC has ever had back-to-back 24-loss seasons, there have only been seven in total since the league went to a 30-game schedule.
Let’s say next year’s team improves to 10-20 in the league, is it still a freebie? That would leave Mike with a three-year SEC record of 30-60, which probably gets any coach anywhere fired absent that NC. I think there is no doubt 10-20, or even several games better, gets Lemonis fired next year, does Mike have any bar for success in 2024? Is a winning season in 2025 the measuring point or does Mike really have a lifetime contract and can post losing seasons forever?
I realize there are those here who believe Mike does have a lifetime contract at the second highest paid salary in the nation and that extensions should be automatic because he is Ole Miss baseball. But right now, Mike has a losing SEC record (119-120) over the timeframe 2015-2023 and is just one game over .500 (180-179) in the league since 2010. His winning SEC record comes strictly from his first ten years when he had nine winning records in league play. Since then he has been a ,500 coach in the league with five losing seasons and one .500 campaign. By comparison, here are the resumes of three other long-term SEC coaches during the same timeframe, two of whom make considerably less than Mike:
Tim Corbin 225-131 5 CWS, 2 Championships, 1 runner-up. Salary: $1,668,000
Kevin O’Sullivan 219-140 5 CWS, 1 Championship, 1 runner-up. Salary: $1,200,000
Dave Van Horn. 205-152 5 CWS, 1 runner-up. Salary: $1,300,000
Mike Bianco. 180-179 2 CWS, 1 Championship Salary: $1,625,000
The obvious question is why did we make Mike the second highest paid coach in the nation if, as many on this board suggest, there are no expectations of excellence going forward? Why is Mike making over $300,000 more than Van Horn and over $400,000 more than O’Sullivan and just $43,000 less than Corbin who has won 45 more league games over the last 12 seasons? There certainly was no financial compulsion to pay Mike this much, it was not a Lane/Auburn situation where we were forced to match to retain him. After all, a few weeks earlier we were firing him, has there ever been a stranger situation in college sports?
While we are in a bad situation, no doubt, I guess we can find solace in the fact that State is going through it as well, misery loves company. And hey, they cannot take those national championship trophies away. But extending a contract, which is so far out of line with his contemporaries based on their respective records over the last 12 years, following the worst season by any team in the SEC since 2017, makes absolutely zero financial sense.
I realize that I am now sounding like a House Republican here debating the debt ceiling, but extending the contact just assures that, if Mike cannot right the ship, the next thing we will be hearing is that we cannot afford to fire him. And if he makes a great comeback next year, we can always push his contract back to four years. It’s the only financially responsible thing to do for Ole Miss, as, unlike the Feds, we can’t print money.
I have to admit, I have visited the State boards some of late just to see what they are saying about Lemonis. I have already gone through the comparative numbers, Lemonis’ record is slightly better than Mike’s since he arrived at State and he has owned him head-to-head 9-3. Both have National Titles and both have losing SEC records over the 2019-2023 timeframe that Lemonis has been at State. Lemonis was much better in 2019 and 2021, Mike was much better in 2022. Lemonis was better again in 2023, but both programs posted failing grades.
Lemonis had the two best records during the timeframe, both 20-10, a record Mike has only gotten to once in 23 years. Lemonis also has won 50 games overall twice, something Mike has never accomplished. But Lemonis has also suffered back-to-back 21-loss seasons. Mike also has two losing seasons in the SEC out of the last four and the worst record this year of any SEC school in six years. But one can certainly argue that, like Kermit’s first year, Lemonis won with his predecessor’s recruits.
The overwhelming sentiment over there seems to be that Lemonis is a dead man walking, but it won’t happen this year because they cannot afford to fire him-sound familiar LOL? There is very little optimism that he can right the ship and most think 2024 will be it. I have seen many predictions that they will once again only finish ahead of Ole Miss in 2024 and will announce a coaching search in 366 days. There is also a great deal of unhappiness with their AD for not firing Lemonis this year.
Mike, as always, has his brigade of supporters, but his situation is even stranger than Lemonis’ in that he attempted to get out of here in 2021 and he was a dead man walking in 2022 before the team got hot in the NCAA Tourney. And his SEC record the last two years is just 20-41, (Lemonis is an even worse 18-42, although State is 4-2 versus Ole Miss over that timeframe-5-3 counting the Mayor’s Cup games). For reference, over the last two years, Ole Miss is tied with Mizzou for 12th place in league games, while State is last. Moreover, there is a pretty large gap between Ole Miss and Mizzou and tenth place Georgia at 26-34. Let that one sink in, Ole Miss and State, two of the four schools who invest the most in baseball, along with Arkansas and LSU, have basically lost contact with the rest of the pack in the SEC. When your coaches are #2 and #6 in salary in the country, that should never happen. Naturally, both fanbases are restless.
How long does a NC buy you? Again, the situations are eerily similar. Lemonis was a very successful head coach at Indiana before coming to State and arguably is from the Bianco tree of coaches since he was a Dan McDonnell assistant. There is much of the same stuff we have seen here in the past on the State boards about how State would love to hire Dan, but questions whether he would take it if they fire his pal, Chris. The board consensus there is that the NC buys you three years-two freebies and then the do or die year, which for them is 2024, although nobody is happy about it.
I don’t know for sure, but I do not think that State extended Lemonis’ contract last year, just based on board comments, but again I have seen no confirmation anywhere. Thus, right now they would owe him about $2,575,000, unless there is a reduced buy-out, which would come down to just $1,300,000 next year. (He had a four-year contract that paid him $1,250,000 this year with a $25,000 escalator per year.) If his contract was rolled over last year, those numbers go up to $3,900,00 this year and 2,625,000 next year. One would think that rolling over that contract after this year is not even on the table.
Of course, we are Ole Miss and Mike’s contract is much bigger. Right now, it appears that firing Mike would cost Ole Miss around $5 million, which would easily be the largest buy-out in the history of college baseball. That number would go down to about $3.3-$3.4 million next year, if we do not extend his contract, and to about $1.7 million after 2024. Regardless of what we do, in addition to the over $20 million Mike has made coaching at Ole Miss, he looks to be getting at least another $5 million more sooner or later-unless there is a reduced buy-out, which I doubt. Needless to say, Mike has done very very well coaching at Ole Miss and probably could retire today, never work again and have no financial concerns for the rest of his life.
There is obviously no way Ole Miss is firing Mike this year, nor am I advocating it-not that my opinion holds any weight as Cinch reminds me. But is Mike safe no matter what after next year too? What is the bar for Lemonis keeping his job at State and Bianco keeping his at Ole Miss? Most people at State seem to think that Lemonis has to have a winning SEC record next year, and maybe even host a regional, which they generally think is highly unlikely. Perhaps we mop up in the Portal, but conventional wisdom would dictate that Bianco will have another losing record next year, in that our batting losses look to be massive and the pitching is a disaster. I can never remember any year where Ole Miss looks to have so little talent returning. Of course, it would still be pretty hard to lose more than this year’s team did, after all, we were the first team since 2017 to only win six league games and one SEC series. This is baseball, even the bad teams usually win a third of their games-see Missouri. And nobody in the SEC has ever had back-to-back 24-loss seasons, there have only been seven in total since the league went to a 30-game schedule.
Let’s say next year’s team improves to 10-20 in the league, is it still a freebie? That would leave Mike with a three-year SEC record of 30-60, which probably gets any coach anywhere fired absent that NC. I think there is no doubt 10-20, or even several games better, gets Lemonis fired next year, does Mike have any bar for success in 2024? Is a winning season in 2025 the measuring point or does Mike really have a lifetime contract and can post losing seasons forever?
I realize there are those here who believe Mike does have a lifetime contract at the second highest paid salary in the nation and that extensions should be automatic because he is Ole Miss baseball. But right now, Mike has a losing SEC record (119-120) over the timeframe 2015-2023 and is just one game over .500 (180-179) in the league since 2010. His winning SEC record comes strictly from his first ten years when he had nine winning records in league play. Since then he has been a ,500 coach in the league with five losing seasons and one .500 campaign. By comparison, here are the resumes of three other long-term SEC coaches during the same timeframe, two of whom make considerably less than Mike:
Tim Corbin 225-131 5 CWS, 2 Championships, 1 runner-up. Salary: $1,668,000
Kevin O’Sullivan 219-140 5 CWS, 1 Championship, 1 runner-up. Salary: $1,200,000
Dave Van Horn. 205-152 5 CWS, 1 runner-up. Salary: $1,300,000
Mike Bianco. 180-179 2 CWS, 1 Championship Salary: $1,625,000
The obvious question is why did we make Mike the second highest paid coach in the nation if, as many on this board suggest, there are no expectations of excellence going forward? Why is Mike making over $300,000 more than Van Horn and over $400,000 more than O’Sullivan and just $43,000 less than Corbin who has won 45 more league games over the last 12 seasons? There certainly was no financial compulsion to pay Mike this much, it was not a Lane/Auburn situation where we were forced to match to retain him. After all, a few weeks earlier we were firing him, has there ever been a stranger situation in college sports?
While we are in a bad situation, no doubt, I guess we can find solace in the fact that State is going through it as well, misery loves company. And hey, they cannot take those national championship trophies away. But extending a contract, which is so far out of line with his contemporaries based on their respective records over the last 12 years, following the worst season by any team in the SEC since 2017, makes absolutely zero financial sense.
I realize that I am now sounding like a House Republican here debating the debt ceiling, but extending the contact just assures that, if Mike cannot right the ship, the next thing we will be hearing is that we cannot afford to fire him. And if he makes a great comeback next year, we can always push his contract back to four years. It’s the only financially responsible thing to do for Ole Miss, as, unlike the Feds, we can’t print money.
