Chris Lemonis Named Baseball America’s 2021 College Coach Of The Year

Mississippi State is one of the biggest programs in college baseball. It’s the alma mater of Thunder and Lightning—Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro—as well as Jake Mangum, the Southeastern Conference’s hit king.

Longtime Mississippi State coach Ron Polk is known as the Godfather of the SEC for the way he brought the show of big-time baseball to the conference. Dudy Noble Field is an iconic venue and the home of the largest on-campus crowds in college baseball history.

The one thing Mississippi State was always missing, however, was a national championship.

From the time Chris Lemonis was hired as head coach following the 2018 season—when the Bulldogs made a Cinderella run to the final four of the College World Series under interim head coach Gary Henderson—he has never run from the program’s championship expectations.

 

This year, in his third season at the helm, Lemonis and the Bulldogs made good on them. Mississippi State fended off Texas in the bracket final to reach the College World Series championship series against Vanderbilt. After losing Game 1 in the best-of-three series, the Bulldogs stormed back to twice rout the Commodores, 13-2 and 9-0, to win the national championship.

It was not only the baseball program’s first national title, but also the first for a team sport in Mississippi State history.

Nearly a month later, Lemonis said the national championship remained a surreal feeling.

“When you have it sitting over your heads like that (facing elimination in Games 2 and 3 of the finals), I told them, ‘You have to do something special,’ ” Lemonis said. “Having to face Kumar Rocker in the last game, that’s about as tough as it gets.”

The path to a national championship is never easy, and Mississippi State had plenty of challenges along the way. It was swept at home early in the season by Arkansas in a marquee matchup pitting No. 1 versus No. 2.

The Bulldogs lost a home series to last-place Missouri on the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, costing them a shot at the conference title. Two weeks later, Mississippi State was swept out of the SEC Tournament, hit with back-to-back embarrassing losses. In the NCAA Tournament, it faced four elimination games and won them all.

Mississippi State’s run to the national championship was a testament to the culture Lemonis fostered in Starkville and the team he built.

After a historic season, Lemonis is Baseball America’s College Coach of the Year. Lemonis, 51, is the fourth man to win both Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year, joining Tim Corbin, Brian O’Connor and Dave Serrano.

Lemonis began his coaching career at The Citadel, his alma mater, as an assistant coach in 1995. He spent a decade there before joining Dan McDonnell, his college teammate, in Louisville in 2006. Lemonis helped build the Cardinals into a national power.

In 2013, Lemonis shared Assistant Coach of the Year honors with Louisville pitching coach Roger Williams. Two years later, Lemonis became a head coach for the first time when he was hired by Indiana. He led the Hoosiers to regionals in three of his four seasons before he was hired at Mississippi State.

 

Throughout his career, Lemonis made a name for himself in recruiting. He brought Brendan McKay to Louisville and convinced future big leaguers like Dallas McPherson and Britt Reames to go to a military college in The Citadel. His ability on the recruiting trail was one of the traits that helped him get the job at Mississippi State.

But Lemonis is much more than a recruiter. Player development has also been a key throughout his career. Mississippi State has had a first-round pick in all three of his seasons in Starkville—lefthander Ethan Small in 2019, second baseman Justin Foscue in 2020 and righthander Will Bednar in 2021—all of whom made big jumps in their draft years.

“Even though you have good players, getting good players to play well—that’s hard, especially in our league,” Lemonis said. “Look at Foscue, Jordan Westburg, Tanner Allen. It’s one thing having great players, but having them have great years is another thing.”

Lemonis also quickly endeared himself to the Bulldogs, building relationships and a culture that helped them play with confidence and resilience even after tough losses and in pressure-packed situations.

“Coach Lem is unbelievable, man,” said outfielder Tanner Allen, the SEC player of the year in 2021. “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.”

Not only does Lemonis mesh well with his players, but he has built a strong cohesion with his coaching staff. Kyle Cheesebrough, now Mississippi State’s volunteer assistant coach, came with Lemonis from Indiana and previously worked with him at Louisville.

Recruiting coordinator Jake Gautreau was a holdover from the previous staff at Mississippi State and is one of the top assistant coaches in the sport. Pitching coach Scott Foxhall was someone Lemonis had respected from afar while competing against him as both a player and coach.

Together, along with the Bulldogs’ support staff, the coaching staff has gelled into one of the best in the nation.

“I get too much credit,” Lemonis said. “I feel like we have an unbelievable staff. Not only are they good at baseball, but I enjoy them. They’re all pretty easygoing guys.”

Lemonis and his coaching staff might be easygoing, but the job is anything but. With such a large fan base and elite facilities come great expectations—and a lot of responsibilities beyond the diamond. In Lemonis’ words, the job is big, but also fun.

Adding to the size of the job are the shoes Lemonis had to fill. Polk is one of the most beloved characters in college baseball and also at Mississippi State.

Pat McMahon built on Polk’s success during his tenure in Starkville. John Cohen led Mississippi State, his alma mater, to a runner-up finish at the 2013 College World Series and is now athletic director. Cohen and Polk, who lives down the street from Lemonis, are frequent visitors at practice.

While their collective legacies could weigh heavily on Lemonis, he said they all have been eager cheerleaders of the program. Cohen was there to pick him up after the tough losses throughout the season. McMahon was sending him messages during the postseason run, and Polk was the last person Lemonis saw before leaving for the ballpark for the decisive third game of the CWS finals.

“Usually, he’s giving me a hard time,” Lemonis said. “He stopped me and said, ‘Let’s get this one tonight.’ There wasn’t any joking. He felt it.”

Lemonis has been able to harness all that energy around the program to lead the Bulldogs to greater heights than they had ever reached. He did so in just his third season at the program’s helm after a remarkable start to his career in Starkville.

It’s been an impressive rise for Lemonis, but also something that those around him have always believed would come to fruition.

After only one year, Mangum had seen enough to predict greatness for the program under his head coach. During Mangum’s news conference after the Bulldogs were eliminated in the College World Series in 2019, the last game of his career, he had to fight back tears while talking about Lemonis.

“Thank you for everything,” Mangum said. “You’re going to bring the first national championship to this baseball program. You are. And it’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait to see it.”

It only took Lemonis two years to make Mangum’s prediction come true. Now, with that national title in hand, what Mangum saw as a player is clear for everyone to see.

Lemonis has taken Mississippi State to the next level with a bright future ahead.