COACHES & STAFF baseball coaching staff. TTHEHE COACHINGCOACHING STAFFSTAFF TTHEHE RRONON PPOLKOLK WWORKSHEETORKSHEET PERSONAL BACKGROUND EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND Birthdate: January 12, 1944 College: Grand Canyon (Ariz.) University (1965), Birthplace: Boston, Mass. Arizona (M.A., 1966), New Mexico (doctoral studies, 1967) Ron Polk, who has helped solidify Mississippi State University’s position of prominence on college baseball’s national map, is in his 29th season as HEAD COACHING CAREER OVERALL CONF SECT NCAA CWS skipper of Mississippi State’s Diamond Dogs, his 35th as a collegiate head Year School W-L Pct. W-L W-L W-L W-L coach and his 40th in all levels of coaching college baseball. 1972 Georgia Southern 31-19 .620 — — — — A native of Boston, Mass., Polk is in his second tour as head baseball 1973 Georgia Southern 43-12 .782 — — 3-1 1-2 1974 Georgia Southern 47-14 .770 — — 2-2 — coach at Mississippi State. He initially served as head coach at MSU from 1975 Georgia Southern 34-19 .642 — — — — 1976 until his retirement from coaching following Mississippi State’s run to GEORGIA SOUTHERN (4 years) 155-64 .708 — — 5-3 1-2 the 1997 College World Series. After a four-year absence, Polk returned to 1976 Mississippi State 28-17 .622 11-12 — — — the post for the 2002 season. In the two seasons prior to his return to State, 1977 Mississippi State 33-15 .688 11-9 1-2 — — Polk served as head coach at the University of Georgia, guiding the 2001 1978 Mississippi State 38-18 .679 13-8 3-2 2-2 — 1979 Mississippi State 48-12 .800 *17-2 +3-0 4-1 1-2 UG Bulldogs to an SEC championship and an appearance in the College 1980 Mississippi State 31-19 .620 10-11 — — — World Series. 1981 Mississippi State 46-17 .730 17-6 1-2 3-0 1-2 Polk concluded his 28th season at State in 2007 like he has most of his 1982 Mississippi State 28-23 .549 11-13 — — — 34 seasons as a collegiate head coach — in postseason competition. He 1983 Mississippi State 42-15 .737 17-5 2-2 3-2 — 1984 Mississippi State 45-16 .738 18-5 1-2 3-2 — guided the 2007 Mississippi State edition to a 38-22 record and to State’s 1985 Mississippi State 50-15 .769 *16-8 +3-0 3-1 2-2 30th appearance in NCAA postseason play, its 24th regional tournament 1986 Mississippi State 34-21 .618 12-15 — — — berth and the school’s eighth trip to Omaha, Neb., and the prestigious NCAA 1987 Mississippi State 39-22 .639 *13-13 +4-0 1-2 — 1988 Mississippi State 44-20 .688 17-10 3-2 2-2 — College World Series. 1989 Mississippi State 54-14 .794 *20-5 1-2 4-2 — Polk’s 34-year overall coaching record stands at 1,350-667-2, fi fth-most 1990 Mississippi State 50-21 .704 17-9 +4-1 4-1 1-2 wins among active NCAA Division I baseball coaches. Even more impres- 1991 Mississippi State 42-21 .667 12-9 2-2 2-2 — sive is his career top 10 standing among NCAA Division I Baseball’s all-time 1992 Mississippi State 40-22 .645 15-9 1-2 2-2 — 1993 Mississippi State 41-21 .661 17-12 3-2 0-2 — coaching ranks. Polk, whose teams have averaged just under 40 wins per 1994 Mississippi State 36-23 .610 15-12 2-2 — — season, became college baseball’s seventh winningest coach of all-time 1995 Mississippi State 34-25 .576 11-16 1-2 — — during the 2007 season. 1996 Mississippi State 38-24 .613 17-13 1-2 1-2 — 1997 Mississippi State 47-21 .691 19-11 1-2 5-1 1-2 In 28 seasons in Starkville he has skippered the Bulldogs to a 1,116- MISSISSIPPI STATE (22 years) 888-422 .678 326-213 37-29 39-24 6-10 555-2 record (.667). He has coached better than 47 percent of Mississippi 2000 Georgia 32-26 .564 14-15 1-2 — — State’s 3,556 all-time games and has directed MSU to nearly half of its 2,257 2001 Georgia 47-22 .681 *20-10 1-2 4-1/2-1 0-2 all-time wins. With his 27th season at State in 2006, Polk moved past former GEORGIA (2 years) 79-48 .622 34-25 2-4 4-1/2-1 0-2 longtime State baseball skipper C.R. “Dudy” Noble as the longest-tenured 2002 Mississippi State 34-24-1 .585 14-15 1-2 — — baseball coach in Mississippi State history. 2003 Mississippi State 42-20-1 .675 17-12 2-2 2-2 — Perhaps no fi gure in all of college baseball is more widely recognized 2004 Mississippi State 35-24 .593 13-17 — 1-2 — and respected than Polk, who became the winningest coach in SEC history 2005 Mississippi State 42-22 .656 13-16 +4-0 2-2 — 2006 Mississippi State 37-23 .617 12-17 — 2-2 — during a remarkable 22-year run as Mississippi State head baseball coach 2007 Mississippi State 38-20 .655 15-13 0-2 3-0/2-0 0-2 from 1976 to 1997. During that span he compiled an 888-422 record (.678), MISSISSIPPI STATE (6 years) 228-133-2 .631 84-90 7-6 10-8/2-0 0-2 leading the Bulldogs to SEC regular season or tournament championships MSU career (28 years) 1,116-555-2 .668 410-303 44-35 51-32/2-0 6-12 fi ve times (1979, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1990) and securing MSU baseball’s SEC career (30 years) 1,195-603-2 .666 444-328 46-39 57-34/4-1 6-12 place in college baseball’s national picture with 15 NCAA regional tourna- Overall career (34 years) 1,350-667-2 .669 444-328 46-39 62-37/4-1 7-14 ment berths and fi ve appearances in the prestigious NCAA College World * Southeastern Conference Champions • + SEC Tournament Champions Series (1979, 1981, 1985, 1990 and 1997). SEC Championships: 5 (1979, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2001) Though he stepped away from coaching following Mississippi State’s SEC Tournament Championships: 5 (1979, 1985, 1987, 1990, 2005) successful drive to the 1997 NCAA College World Series, Polk’s success NCAA Regional/Playoff Appearances: 23 (1973, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, story continued. He remained on staff as MSU’s Assistant Athletic Direc- 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) tor for Special Projects, spearheading the successful campaign to expand College World Series Appearances: 8 (1973, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1997, the stadium and add premium skysuites at Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent 2001, 2007) Stadium. And, after his return to coaching at the University of Georgia, he Seasons while head baseball coach at Mississippi State shown underlined. directed the UGA Bulldogs’ drive to their fi rst SEC baseball crown in 47 1100 TTHEHE COACHINGCOACHING STAFFSTAFF years and a berth in the 2001 NCAA Col- Polk also rates as one of only three lege World Series. Georgia became the head coaches in the history of college third Polk-led team to advance to the CWS RRonon PPolk’solk’s MilestoneMilestone WWinsins baseball to guide three different schools and Polk joined current Texas head coach NNo.o. 1 GGa.a. SSou.ou. 77,, WWestest CChesterhester SSt.t. 2 ((3/11/72)3/11/72) to the NCAA College World Series. In Augie Garrido and former Oklahoma skip- NNo.o. 110000 GGa.a. SSou.ou. 110,0, GGeorgiaeorgia TTechech 5 ((4/7/74)4/7/74) the second year of a successful four-year per Larry Cochell as the only coaches to NNo.o. 115656 1- MMSUSU 44,, LLouisianaouisiana TTechech ((3/8/76)3/8/76) stint at Georgia Southern University, Polk guide teams from three different schools to NNo.o. 550000 MMSUSU 33,, SSoutheasternoutheastern LLa.a. 2 ((3/2/85)3/2/85) launched his Omaha connection by guid- the NCAA College World Series. NNo.o. 665555 2--MSUMSU 77,, AAlabamalabama 6 ((GameGame 11-5/7/88)-5/7/88) ing his GSC club to the championship of Twice honored as the National Coach NNo.o. 11000000 MMSUSU 111,1, DDeltaelta SStatetate 4 (2/27/97)(2/27/97) the NCAA District III playoffs held at MSU’s of the Year (1973 and 1985) and honored Dudy Noble Field and on to a berth in the NNo.o. 11,155,155 33--MMSUSU 110,0, OOlele MMississ 5 ((5/19/02)5/19/02) by his peers as the recipient of the ABCA’s College World Series. Including his coach- NNo.o. 11,234,234 44-- MMSUSU 33,, EEasternastern IIllinoisllinois 1 ((2/25/05)2/25/05) Lefty Gomez Award, Polk has earned his ing stint as a graduate assistant at Arizona, 1--FirstFirst wwinin aatt MMississippiississippi SStatetate place in the American Baseball Coaches 2--500th500th wwinin aatt MMississippiississippi SStatetate Polk has accompanied teams to Omaha in Hall of Fame (1995), both the state of Mis- 3--1,000th1,000th ccareerareer SECSEC coachingcoaching wwinin each of the last fi ve decades. sissippi and the Mississippi State Uni- 4--1,000th1,000th wwinin aatt MMississippiississippi SStatetate He was hired as head baseball coach versity Sports Hall of Fame (1998), and at Mississippi State University in the fall of the Georgia Southern University Hall of Fame (1990). 1975, directed MSU to its fi rst NCAA Regional Tournament berth in 1978 and In 34 years as a collegiate head coach, he has piled up numbers more a year later to its second NCAA College World Series berth.