MSU hires Indiana’s Lemonis

Published 10:45 pm Monday, June 25, 2018

Mississippi State has hired Indiana baseball coach Chris Lemonis, according to a press release issued by the school Monday.

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Lemonis comes to Mississippi State after a four-year stint as head coach at Indiana, where he has a 141-91-2 overall record and a 55-37-1 record in Big 10 play. His teams made the NCAA Regional in three of his four years as head coach. Prior to that, Lemonis was an assistant coach at Louisville from 2007-14, during which the Cardinals earned three College World Series berths.

“Chris is a winner and has elevated programs everywhere he has coached,” MSU Athletic Director John Cohen said in a statement. “He understands what it takes to get to Omaha, and he’s done it as a coach and a player. He is the most dynamic recruiter I have been around in my 25 years in college baseball, and his track record of identifying and developing Major League talent in his 24 years of coaching illustrates that. Chris is also one of the elite baseball tacticians in the country. We are excited that Chris will successfully lead us into a new chapter of Mississippi State baseball.”

Lemonis replaces Andy Cannizaro, who resigned early this past season. Pitching coach Gary Henderson served as the Bulldogs’ interim head coach for the rest of the year and led MSU to the semifinal round of the College World Series. MSU finished with a 39-29 record this past season, 15-15 in SEC play.