Ron Polk Returns As Diamond Dog Skipper
"All I can say is, I'm back," said Polk, clad in a Mississippi State golf shirt. "I want to thank Dr. Portera and Larry Templeton for the manner in which this process was conducted. The last five or six days haven't been easy knowing my life had changed when Pat (McMahon) decided to take the job at Florida. I had an idea who Larry might be calling, and I'm glad he did."
In 28 years as a collegiate head coach, Polk has compiled a 1,122-534 record during coaching stints at Georgia Southern (1972-75), Mississippi State (1976-97) and at Georgia (2000-2001). His teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament 18 times, finished first or second 12 times, and played in the prestigious NCAA College World Series seven times. He directed Georgia to a 47-22 mark in the just-completed season, with the Bulldogs earning the school's first SEC baseball crown in 47 years and a berth in this year's College World Series. In so doing Polk became only the second coach to direct three different school's to college baseball's championship series.
"It's good to welcome Ron Polk home," said MSU Director of Athletics Larry Templeton. "I think the most refreshing thing of this entire process was hearing from those young men who wore the Maroon and White for Mississippi State in baseball. Almost every one of them who called told me 'It's time for our coach to come home'. And they never mentioned Ron Polk's name."
The new MSU skipper signed a four-year contract, with final financial arrangements still being completed.
Polk announced two staff positions on his new Mississippi State coaching staff. Daron Schoenrock, who joined Polk's staff at Georgia as pitching coach two years ago, will serve as the Bulldogs' new pitching coach. Tommy Raffo, a member of the current MSU coaching staff, will continue to coach MSU outfielders and hitters.
Schoenrock, 39, is a native of Fayetteville, Tenn., a 1984 graduate of and former four-year starting pitcher at Tennessee Tech University, and a 16-year veteran of the collegiate coaching ranks. He has served in a variety of coaching capacities, as a graduate assistant coach at Tennessee tech and Murray State, as head coach at Lincoln Memorial University, and as assistant coach in the SEC under Keith Madison at Kentucky and Polk at Georgia.
Raffo, 33, is a native of Orange Park, Fla. He was a four-year letter-winner with the Baseball Bulldogs playing for Polk from 1987 to 1990. He earned All-America team and All-Southeastern Conference honors after his junior and senior seasons and launched his coaching career as an assistant on Polk's Mississippi State staff in 1994.
Polk inherits a squad that includes 25 of the 32 letter-winners from last year's team that compiled a 39-24 worksheet, won the 2001 SEC Baseball Tournament and advanced to the school's sixth consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament. Mississippi State was ranked as high as 14th (Collegiate Baseball), 17th (Baseball Weekly/ESPN) and 19th (Baseball America) in the season-ending college baseball rankings.