Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk retired this season after 35 seasons and 1,373 wins to his name. As you might expect, he thought he should have some say in the hiring of his successor, backing longtime assistant coach (and former player under him) Tommy Raffo. However, Mississippi State recently brought in a new athletic director, Greg Byrne. And he, for obvious reasons, wanted to put his own stamp on the athletic department, and decided to hire Kentucky coach John Cohen.
Big mistake.
Polk is, as they say down South, madder than a toothless dog with a bone. (I don't know if they actually say that; I might have mixed up my Southern sayings with the wisdom of Ed Anger.) Polk has ripped into Byrne, said that he is "on the war path" and has vowed to "do everything I can to make his life miserable."
Among Polk's plans to protest the "snub" of Raffo are:
- Removing his name from the stadium
- Taking Mississippi State from his will
- Use his influence to undermine several successful booster clubs
- "Personally" take down banners that display his name and number
- Hold his breath until they hire Raffo or he dies, in which case they'll have to live with that the rest of their lives (Editor's Note: I made this one up)
Other than pointing out that it's shame that his wife and family will presumably will have to be written back into his will (and that I'd like to see him on a ladder, angrily taking down banners as if he's a homeowner whose house just got TP'ed), I feel like Polk has a point here - other coaches who have reached legendary status in their respective fields have had the chance to hand pick their successors, so why shouldn't he? Again, I don't think it warrants him acting like a petulant child who didn't get to buy a toy at Wal-Mart, but who am I to judge?*
*Answer: a member of the World Wide Blogosphere, that's who.
