HAILSTATEBEAT: First Team Meeting: Lemonis Introduced As MSU's New Head Man

Applause erupted as two men entered the room.

Inside the Crane Theatre, seated in fat-cushioned chairs fanning out around a large and blank projector screen, the members of Mississippi State's baseball team were waiting to meet their new head coach, Chris Lemonis.

The now-previous head coach of Indiana trailed behind John Cohen, the now-previous head coach and current Athletic Director of MSU. Everyone in the room knew what was about to happen, just as everyone in the room knew how long and obstacle-riddled the road to get there had been.

"Four months ago, all of you sat in this same room and these same chairs and we had a pretty unpleasant meeting," Cohen said, referring to the day in February when the Bulldogs lost their head coach. "Four months later, you stuck your chest out and made it all the way to Omaha."

And now, two days removed from playing on the biggest stage in college baseball, MSU gets to meet its newest coach.

Following a praise-filled introduction from Cohen, Lemonis stepped to the center of the room to address his new team for the first time.

"I'm a humble guy," he began, "so I get a little uncomfortable when people start saying too many nice things about me. It's been a crazy day and I'd rather just to move on and get to coaching at this point. That's what I'm excited about.

"I first want to say congratulations," he said. "As a college baseball fan, you won the heart of the nation.

"We watched the walk-off in Tallahassee from out in Austin … I watched you guys all the way into the last out, and I enjoyed it."

From there, Lemonis acknowledged the situation. He pointed out the rarity of meeting your new head coach the day you get back from Omaha. As someone who has been there multiple times as a coach and once as a player – in 1990, he and his Citadel teammates played in the same College World Series as then-MSU baseball player John Cohen – he knows what the "Omaha hangover" is like in the days following elimination and the return home.

He knows the exhaustion and hurt as well as the pride and the praise that come with it. He also knows that settling in on any of those feelings is the quickest way to ensure you don't return.

"I'm not a rah-rah guy. I'm a grinder," he said. "The reality is this: 2019 has already started … We must use this year (2018) as a springboard. I want to go one step farther."

Here, Lemonis asked the room why they came to Mississippi State. They had choices. Why here?

After a short pause, the first answer rang out from the middle of the room;

"It's the best place to play college baseball."

Good answer, Lemonis agreed.

And if that's the case, then the only thing left is to do the best thing in college baseball.

"I came here to win a National Championship," Lemonis announced. "Every day when I wake up and my feet hit the floor, I'm thinking about how to get to Omaha."

Lemonis went on to tell the team – his team – once again, how proud he was of what they accomplished.

"It captured everybody. My kids were talking about it," he said. "It attracted me here, how hard you guys play. When you play that hard, good things happen, as y'all showed."

After expressing his desire to celebrate their run and their accomplishments in 2018, Lemonis turned back to Cohen, who by then was standing in the back corner of the room, watching his newest hire address the team. Lemonis checked with Cohen to be certain that, surely, teams such as this one are brought onto the field and honored at football games in the fall.

Cohen confirmed the assumption.

"How many people does that stadium hold?" Lemonis asked.

"About 62,000," Cohen replied.

"62,000," Lemonis mused, directing his words back to the team. "As everybody is cheering for you … I hope you shake your head a little bit and say, 'We're not done. We've got more to do.'"

Lemonis spoke on more than that in the 25 or so minutes he spent addressing the team, of course. He talked about the importance of academics. He laid out not just his standards for players, but his standards for himself as their coach.

"My No. 1 goal in the whole program is your development. How can I help you get to where you want to be?"

But all of that will be discussed in the far-off land of tomorrow. Goals, traits, habits, relationships, details, styles, approaches, expectations, inside jokes, must-do's, must nots – they will all be figured out in the days, weeks and months to come. Lemonis will meet with each player individually, and already those meetings have begun as this story is published.

What is certain now, what was certain when applause came once more as Lemonis finished his remarks, is that two words define what Mississippi State's newest head coach expects for the program.

National Championship.

"I'm not scared to say it," he announced.

Mississippi State University Athletics

HAILSTATEBEAT: First Team Meeting: Lemonis Introduced As MSU's New Head Man

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