A Web site calling for the firing of Mississippi State baseball skipper Ron Polk has been started at the web address FireRonPolk.com.
The creator, who does not identify himself or herself on the site and did not respond to multiple emails, claims that Ron Polk is somehow holding back the MSU baseball program from being all it could be.
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Bulldog senior co-captain Thomas Berkery said. “We were ranked No. 1 in the country. We’ve gone on a little skid, but we are the ones who need to go out there and execute. There’s nothing he can do.
“That’s pretty funny,” Berkery added.
The criticism has been spurred by the recent struggles of Polk’s squad, who have lost four straight Southeastern Conference series headed into this weekend’s trip to South Carolina.
It cites the College World Series trips and the hosting of past NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals, and then wonders aloud as to why these things seem to have vanished from the MSU landscape.
The conclusion? The problem must be Polk.
Polk, the man responsible for 48 percent of the Mississippi State’s all-time wins, is suddenly the man responsible for losing them.
Polk, the man with the 10th most wins in college baseball history and the most ever in the SEC, is suddenly not good enough.
Polk, the man who spearheaded the development of Dudy Noble Field into one of the most electric college baseball atmospheres in the nation, is suddenly not good enough to call the stadium bearing his name home.
Does the phrase “biting the hand that feeds you” sound appropriate to anyone else?
Firing Polk would be one of the most monumental mistakes MSU baseball could make, as he has done very little in the grand scheme of things to warrant being dismissed.
Baseball is an up and down game, and fighting through a tough road stretch like State has had with a .500 conference record still intact is an admirable accomplishment.
Sure the team is mired in a slump right now, but what team does not go through slumps?
Should the Yankees fire Joe Torre if the team goes through a tough April?
Of course not, so why should Mississippi State?
I can’t comprehend why some pseudo-fans find it necessary to take any little bump in the road and use it to throw stones at a coach.
True enough, MSU is not as dominant in the SEC as it used to be, but there is little the program can do about the blossoming programs at places like Kentucky or Mississippi.
In fact, the case could be made that it is the Polk/MSU model that has made college baseball marketable league-wide.
MSU, who finishes most seasons ranked in the top two or three in the nation in college baseball attendance, has shown other programs the financial benefits to having and thriving baseball program, and others in the league have started to catch on.
Thus, the league is more competitive than it was in the 1970’s and 1980’s, ensuring a more equal distribution of championships, regionals, etc.
But even if a person does not buy into the concept of a more competitive league, and bullishly feels as if MSU should preside over all others, this year’s squad is far from being a disgrace.
The team began the year on a school-record winning streak and has survived key injuries to Brad Jones, Michael Rutledge and Aaron Rice to carve out a respectable conference record.
After the trip to South Carolina, the Bulldogs will finish out the season with two winnable home series against Florida and Mississippi and are still very much in the hunt to host a postseason regional.
The people at FireRonPolk.com and those who support their school of thought need to cool their jets and let the legend do what he does best.
And as Polk always says, “That’s baseball.”