(photo courtesy of NCAA)
As part of his contract when becoming head coach at Mississippi State, Chris Lemonis was to receive a $50,000 retention bonus if still employed as the Bulldogs’ leader of the baseball program on June 30, 2021.
It should be noted that not only is Lemonis still coaching the Bulldogs on this day, but he also guided his team to the first national title in any team sport in Mississippi State history, a 9-0 win over Vanderbilt to take two of three in the College World Series Championship Series.
When Lemonis was hired in June of 2018, the reaction from Bulldogs fans was mixed. There were some who argued that assistant Gary Henderson, who took over the program in the wake of Andy Cannizaro’s abrupt departure and led the Bulldogs to Omaha and one win from the title series, should get the opportunity to take over the program. There were others who expected Athletic Director John Cohen to bring in a big name like Louisville’s Dan McDonnell and felt the former Bulldogs coach swung and missed.
Instead, Cohen recruited Lemonis, McDonnell’s college teammate from The Citadel and former assistant at Louisville. Rather than pillaging a household name from a traditional power, Cohen recruited the head coach of Indiana who just so happened to lead the Hoosiers to three NCAA tourneys in his four years as head coach.
At Lemonis’ introductory press conference, Cohen harped on his new coach’s recruiting prowess. And his ability to coach hitting.
What has been equally as important is the deep relationships Lemonis tends to build.
It shows when a group of The Citadel’s 1990 College World Series teammates – including McDonnell and current The Citadel coach Tony Skole – descend on Omaha to support him. It shows when he lures pitching coach Scott Foxhall, who played right down the road at the College of Charleston, away from NC State, with Foxhall telling media his long relationship and belief in Lemonis is why he came to Starkville. It shows when Jake Mangum, after the Bulldogs fell short in Omaha in 2019, said that Lemonis was going to lead the Bulldogs to a national title.
“Coach Lem is unbelievable, man,” Bulldogs outfielder Tanner Allen said after winning the title. “He’s a player’s coach. I tell people all the time. That guy is somebody you want to play for. He knows when to be serious and he knows when to be loose. To be honest with you, when we’re loose and he’s loose, it just clicks.
“So he’s a great coach. He’s really organized. He does things the right way. Jake said it a while back, I think in ‘19, that he was going to bring home a national championship. And by God, he did it. Couldn’t be more happy for him.”
From Day 1, Lemonis has embraced the challenge of leading Mississippi State to a national championship. He talked about it in his first team meeting with his new team. He then heard about it when he was introduced as head coach with MSU president Dr. Mark Keenum sharing part of their conversation over breakfast: “Our expectations here are very, very, very high. Right? Very high. But there’s no pressure.” Keenum chuckled after that last part.
Pressure comes with coaching in the SEC. Pressure comes with coaching at a school whose fans live and die with the baseball program. Pressure comes with coaching at one of the finest facilities in the nation.
Lemonis wrapped his arms around that pressure.
“You know, you lose the first game of the series, and you’re sitting there, and you know how bad our community, our school, our program wants this trophy,” Lemonis said Wednesday. “And we talked about it, I think it was Saturday night we were having to play Texas, how it wouldn’t be easy. Just hasn’t been easy.
“When you’re going to do something legendary for the first time, it was going to have to be tough. And it’s pretty surreal right now. But the reason we are champions is we just have a really tough, resilient group. And it’s been built over time. It’s the accumulation of the last three years. And it’s just been a lot of fun.”
Going back to that first day in Starkville, a place Lemonis said he hadn’t been in more than 45 years since his parents lived in university housing while his father completed his Electrical Engineering degree from Mississippi State in 1973, Lemonis told The Clarion-Ledger it had been a whirlwind and he hadn’t had the chance to reflect much on getting one of the best jobs in the nation.
“I may feel like I’ve won the lottery sometime soon,” he said.
Soon ended up being three seasons, if you include 2020’s interrupted campaign. And the payout was far, far greater than $50,000.