Over the course of the last century, Mississippi State baseball has had ten full-time head coaches. There were a couple of interims along the way, but they took over after their respective seasons had already begun. The Diamond Dawgs have had the second fewest number of head baseball coaches in the SEC during that span. Only Missouri has had fewer with eight.
While the Tigers are still relatively new blood when comes to SEC baseball tradition, they are the torch bearers for coaching consistency. In recent years, the Tigers have not lived up to their tradition. On the hand, the Bulldogs have.
Dudy Noble (1920-1947) – Noble, the school’s most decorated student athlete of all-time, returned to Starkville after a short run in Oxford running the show at Ole Miss. Noble’s mentor, Billy Chadwick, hired him to replace Stanley Robinson who served just one baseball season before leaving for Mississippi College. Noble’s first season ended with a fair to middling record of 8-8. He took a pair from Ole Miss in Starkville that ultimately cost the Rebs at least a share of the SIAA league title. Over the course of the next four seasons, Noble won the league three times. The NCAA tournament began in 1947, but the maroon and white was not a factor that year.
Doc Patty (1948-1956) – Patty was Noble’s right hand man for several years. As Noble’s responsibilities as the school’s director of athletics grew, he elected to promote Patty to be the full time baseball coach. Patty won the SEC in his first two seasons. In 1949, State reached the NCAA tournament for the first time ever participating in the District III tournament in Gastonia, North Carolina. The 1948 season was a good one with a 17-8 overall record.
Paul Gregory (1957-1974) – Gregory was actually hired as a coach in waiting around the time Patty was promoted. Noble lured Gregory back to campus after his second stint in pro ball was coming to a close. Gregory was parked on campus as the basketball coach until he replaced Patty, who took a position in the administration with Noble. When Gregory heard Noble’s offer, he was reluctant to accept the basketball position citing worries about winning. Noble told him, “Well, when I get ready to win, I’ll hire someone else.” He did, Babe McCarthy. While Gregory went on to win four SEC titles, participate in four NCAA tourneys and the program’s first ever College World Series berth, Gregory went 13-5 in year one.
Jimmy Bragan (1975) – A former State player and big leaguer, Bragan was hired after scouting and coaching several years in pro ball including time with the Reds and Expos. The one year back “home” was forgettable. The Bulldogs went 16-24 and finished 10th in the SEC with a 6-16 mark. Bragan was expected to be back for another year, but former State teammate Alex Grammas hired him on his staff with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ron Polk (1976-1997, 2002-2008) – Though he served two tours, he was only a first year Bulldog head coach once. Polk had taken Georgia Southern to unprecedented heights reaching the district tournament in both 1973 and 1974. Those years, Starkville served as the tournament host. During those trips to Dudy Noble Field, Polk became acquainted with State AD Charles Shira. After Bragan’s unexpected departure, Shira and State staffer Leo Jones called Polk to offer him the job. It took some time, but he accepted it and everything changed for State, the SEC and college baseball as a whole. Year one at State, Polk saw the Bulldogs turn in a 28-17 record and a 5th place finish in the SEC.
Pat McMahon (1998-2001) – McMahon was Polk’s most trusted assistant when he elected to retire the first time. Coach Mac took over and things went extremely well. In Polk’s final year, the Diamond Dawgs went to Omaha. McMahon and the staff kept the fire lit. In 1998, the Diamond Dawgs went 42-23, won the College Station regional and advanced on to Omaha. McMahon eventually left for Florida a few seasons later making him the only State skipper in over 100 years time to leave Mississippi State for another head baseball coaching position.
John Cohen (2009-2016) – A former Diamond Dawg, Cohen led Kentucky to its first ever SEC baseball title in 2006. When Polk retired the second time, then Bulldog AD Greg Byrne convinced Cohen to come home. Cohen led the program to its first SEC regular season title in 2016 since he was a player back in 1989. The Bulldogs also played for the national title for the first time in program history in 2013. As well-documented, Cohen took over as the AD prior to the 2017 season. Some good things happened with Cohen filling out the line-up card, but that first year was a bruiser. State went 25-29 and finished dead last in the SEC standings.
Andy Cannizaro (2017-2018) – Shortly after Cohen was named athletic director, he plucked Cannizaro away from LSU, where he had served as the program’s lead assistant coach. Cannizaro “resigned” in 2018 shortly after a season opening series sweep at Southern Miss due to “personal reasons”. Coach Gary Henderson took over and led that team to the program’s most unlikely trip to Omaha. In year one, Cannizaro took an injury plagued Diamond Dawg squad to a 40-27 season that ended with a super regional loss at LSU.
Chris Lemonis (2019-2025) – Lemonis took over a talented club and set an SEC wins record for first-year league coaches. State went 52-15, earned the program’s second ever top eight national seed in the NCAA tournament and advanced on to Omaha. That 2019 season was the first of two trips to Omaha during the Lemonis era. Of course, in 2021 Mississippi State won the program’s first long awaited national title.
So how will Brian O’Connor do? History shows us a mixed bag of results, but like Patty, McMahon, Cannizaro and Lemonis, Oak inherits a very talented roster. He also has the benefit of the NCAA transfer portal. O’Connor is the first year State skipper to have that advantage in year one. The first step in the new journey takes place this Friday against Hofstra.