MSU baseball coach fired effective immediately.

[GwillMac6 20,601]

 

[GwillMac6 20,601]

• David H. Murray - 75 minutes ago

Mississippi State will officially terminate the second-year baseball coach's employment Tuesday morning. Cannizaro’s dismissal is per sources with cause though University officials have yet to state on record what said cause is.

An official statement is forthcoming. The University will place pitching coach Gary Henderson in charge of the 2018 team for the remainder of this season. Mississippi State opened the schedule over the past weekend with a three-game sweeping at Southern Mississippi.

Cannizaro, 39, was hired as Mississippi State’s 17th head baseball coach on November 5, 2016. His hiring was made the same day nine-year head coach John Cohen was formally presented as athletic director. Cohen was able to take Cannizaro away from Louisiana State where he had spent two seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.

If the weekend was lost, that season was a success on the whole. Though taking over with only days left in fall training, Cannizaro and retained assistant staff were able to keep the program on track into 2017. Cannizaro became only the second Diamond Dog coach to record 40 wins in his first year.

The Bulldogs went 40-27, 17-13 SEC, and split four games in the SEC Tournament. Assigned to the Hattiesburg Regional as a #2 seed, Mississippi State lost its opening game to South Alabama before running off four victories in two days. The doubleheader sweep of host Southern Mississippi on elimination day provided the 13th NCAA Regional championship in program history, and sent Cannizaro’s club to Baton Rouge ironically enough where they were swept in super regional play by the eventual national runners-up.

Also in his one year Cannizaro was able to score four wins in as many meetings with Ole Miss. His Bulldogs swept the regular season series in Oxford, and took the neutral site matchup as well in Pearl. The ’17 team, though not able to defend the 2016 SEC Championship won by Cohen’s last club, did take other series from Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, and Texas A&M.

Cannizaro is a Tulane alumnus and Green Wave All-American player with eight playing seasons in professional baseball and two stints in Major League ball with the Yankees and Rays. He spent five years as a scout with the Yankees before going to college coaching.

Henderson is in his second season at Mississippi State. Hired by Cohen in the first place he stayed to coach Cannizaro’s pitchers. Henderson can handle SEC coaching of course as he was Cohen’s successor at Kentucky for eight seasons, and before than an assistant at Florida.

The Diamond Dogs have a day to recover from the stunning change of management. They are scheduled to play at Jackson State on Wednesday evening with a 6:00 start, weather permitting. Due to stadium construction the first home game will be March 6, and with an interim manager.

A player-only meeting was reportedly held Monday evening.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

"With cause"... reports of an improper relationship with the former director of football recruiting who is married.  Pitching coach Gary Henderson (former UK head coach) will take over as interim.

You can bet that MSU will have one target for the permanent spot...Butch Thompson.  It's a good thing Allen Greene is a baseball guy.

[GwillMac6 20,601]

5 hours ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

"With cause"... reports of an improper relationship with the former director of football recruiting who is married.  Pitching coach Gary Henderson (former UK head coach) will take over as interim.

You can bet that MSU will have one target for the permanent spot...Butch Thompson.  It's a good thing Allen Greene is a baseball guy.

That is right. I did not even make that connection till you said something. I completely forgot we got him from cowbell U.

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,287]

Don't see a rivals section but this could also affect our coach situation at year's end. Butch is on their early short lists.

Link

"Mississippi State will officially terminate the second-year baseball coach's employment Tuesday morning. Cannizaro’s dismissal is per sources with cause though University officials have yet to state on record what said cause is.

An official statement is forthcoming. The University will place pitching coach Gary Henderson in charge of the 2018 team for the remainder of this season. Mississippi State opened the schedule over the past weekend with a three-game sweeping at Southern Mississippi."

(Reading on Twitter that it sounds like infidelity by coach Cannizaro, if you're wondering.)

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

Back the brinks up and do whatever is needed to make sure Butch doesn't even think about leaving.  As long as we have him, we're contenders, especially on the mound.

[AU64 10,122]

Fired for "cause"....don't see that very often.    

As for Butch....can't imagine anything that would cause him to leave the HC job at AU for the same job at state.   The MSU fans are crazy about their team but otherwise,  AU is a better school and has as  much or more to offer coaches and players.  JMO of course.

[SCTiger2011 1,277]

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

Fired for "cause"....don't see that very often.    

As for Butch....can't imagine anything that would cause him to leave the HC job at AU for the same job at state.   The MSU fans are crazy about their team but otherwise,  AU is a better school and has as  much or more to offer coaches and players.  JMO of course.

One look at MSU's baseball facilities/future plans would let you know they are a threat for him to move to in a heartbeat. Add in the fact he's familiar with the program, worked under Cohen (the current AD) to help them to a CWS appearance, and grew up about 30 minutes from Starkville and the idea that he'd jump is definitely nothing to scoff at. 

[AU64 10,122]

5 minutes ago, SCTiger2011 said:

One look at MSU's baseball facilities/future plans would let you know they are a threat for him to move to in a heartbeat. Add in the fact he's familiar with the program, worked under Cohen (the current AD) to help them to a CWS appearance, and grew up about 30 minutes from Starkville and the idea that he'd jump is definitely nothing to scoff at. 

You could be right....just thinking that when he said something to the effect that AU was a dream job he probably meant it.....but I guess maybe every coach says that when he gets hired. "It's an opportunity to not lead out front, but to lead together; and for our current players, an opportunity to lift them up and embrace them," Thompson said in a news release. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime to be the head baseball coach at Auburn University."

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

If Greene is able to keep Butch at Auburn we are all good in th AD seat until the dadgum Catholics come knocking. Cohen knows Butch and vice versa. Miss State is a top ten baseball program. If it was any place other than Starkville it would rival Miami and LSU as the best in the country. 

[augolf1716 21,094]

1 hour ago, SCTiger2011 said:

One look at MSU's baseball facilities/future plans would let you know they are a threat for him to move to in a heartbeat. Add in the fact he's familiar with the program, worked under Cohen (the current AD) to help them to a CWS appearance, and grew up about 30 minutes from Starkville and the idea that he'd jump is definitely nothing to scoff at. 

Hate to say it but you are spot on I would not bet against him leaving.

[GwillMac6 20,601]

57 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Hate to say it but you are spot on I would not bet against him leaving.

Yah I would agree. They are a baseball school first and foremost. Have been for years. Their number 1 priority over there is baseball. They sink a lot of their AD budget in to upgrades for their baseball facilities.

[AU64 10,122]

Y'all know this situation better than I do but it would be hard to have any respect for a coach who would even consider bailing out at this point in a season, much less actually do so.   

 

[augolf1716 21,094]

2 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Y'all know this situation better than I do but it would be hard to have any respect for a coach who would even consider bailing out at this point in a season, much less actually do so.   

 

No he's not bailing out at this point but after the season who knows. Hope not

[alexava 6,972]

Has any coach ever left Auburn voluntarily for another job in any major sport? Head coach only. 

[Mikey 16,545]

1 minute ago, alexava said:

Has any coach ever left Auburn voluntarily for another job in any major sport? Head coach only. 

John Heisman is the only one I know of and that was 118 years ago. Coaches just don't leave here to go elsewhere.

[alexava 6,972]

4 minutes ago, Mikey said:

John Heisman is the only one I know of and that was 118 years ago. Coaches just don't leave here to go elsewhere.

Yeah I don’t remember that. 

[GwillMac6 20,601]

6 minutes ago, Mikey said:

John Heisman is the only one I know of and that was 118 years ago. Coaches just don't leave here to go elsewhere.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

John Heisman is the only one I know of and that was 118 years ago. Coaches just don't leave here to go elsewhere.

Heck, coaches get fired from Auburn, and then come back to live there when they retire.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

You can mark it down, Mississippi State and John Cohen would be nuts not to try every way possible to make Butch one of the “onlyist”.  He is a superstar caliber head coach. I think Greene knows that. 

[Mikey 16,545]

 Butch is the guy I wanted us to hire when we hired Pawloski. Had we done so, Butch would be entrenched here now and we wouldn't be worrying. I do hope he hangs in with Auburn.

[alexava 6,972]

4 hours ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

You can mark it down, Mississippi State and John Cohen would be nuts not to try every way possible to make Butch one of the “onlyist”.  He is a superstar caliber head coach. I think Greene knows that. 

Man, you just invoked one of my biggest peeves. 

[AUGoo 2,658]

On 2/20/2018 at 9:39 PM, alexava said:

Has any coach ever left Auburn voluntarily for another job in any major sport? Head coach only. 

Dave Marsh

[Mikey 16,545]

13 hours ago, AUGoo said:

Dave Marsh

He went to manage the Olympic Development Program, not to coach another school.

[GwillMac6 20,601]

9 minutes ago, Mikey said:

He went to manage the Olympic Development Program, not to coach another school.

Olympic head coach David Marsh is parting ways with SwimMAC, the club he’s led for the past decade. A joint statement from Marsh and SwimMAC termed the move a mutual agreement to “part ways.”

That’s according to a report from The Charlotte Observer today. SwimMAC gave the statement to The Observer Wednesday night, noting that the separation would be “effective immediately.”

Marsh was the women’s head coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He’s coached one of the nation’s most prominent professional groups at SwimMAC, while also serving as the head coach and CEO of the North Carolina-based club. The club announced he’d be stepping back from the CEO and head coaching roles earlier this year, and would be working to “redefine” his role with the club.

Marsh hasn’t yet commented about his future plans (UPDATED below with a statement from Marsh’s camp), but indicated to The Observer that he’d have more information in the next few days. The Observer also reports that Marsh plans to continue coaching in the Charlotte area and plans to keep coaching the Team Elite program out of Queens University.

The Observer report suggests that Team Elite, which houses SwimMAC’s sizable pro contingent, could be splitting off from the SwimMAC club, perhaps free to move elsewhere in the country along with Marsh. At the moment, though, the group appears set to stay in Charlotte.

The 58-year-old Marsh has been with SwimMAC since 2007. Prior to that, he’d been with Auburn University, winning 7 men’s and 5 women’s NCAA team titles between 1990 and 2007.

 

Update: Marsh and Team Elite have provided a statement. Their full press release is below:

David Marsh, 2016 Head U.S. Women’s Olympic Swim Coach and 10 years the CEO and Director of Coaching for SwimMAC Carolina, and the SwimMAC parent Board of Directors have reached an agreement to formally end their relationship.

Coach Marsh led SwimMAC to unprecedented levels of improvement and success during his tenure. The 18 & under program went from a mid-level club to one of the best and deepest USA Swimming teams in the country, staking claim in the Top three of USA Swimming’s Club Excellence Program for the last five years. At the age group level, Coach Marsh implemented a technique focused program that has now become the model for countless teams around the globe. Marsh was named USA Swimming’s developmental Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

At the Senior and Elite level, Coach Marsh established and created the first USA Swimming Center of Excellence, now known as Team Elite. While medals are the goal for Team Elite in the pool, the highest calling for a Team Elite member is to be a great role model for young swimmers and other age-group swimmers throughout the community and LSC.

In 2016, Marsh placed more Olympians on the U.S. Olympic team than any program in the country, with Marsh leading the entire U.S. Olympic team to the most medals in modern history. If Team Elite were a country, they would have placed 3rd in the medal standings, putting Charlotte on the global swimming map.