Live Blog: MSU softball in Mobile Regional

GAMEDAY 10 a.m., Friday, Marriott Mobile

Compared to the previous two days, oddly enough, gameday is a pretty relaxed one. For the morning, at least.

At this time yesterday, Mississippi State was halfway through its first of two practices. Today? The Bulldogs just finished breakfast and are hanging out at the hotel, watching TV, messing around on laptops, getting their minds together and ready for the game.

The big game, of course, when MSU plays Florida State at 3:30 in the first game of the regional. The same FSU team which was once again eating breakfast at the same time and place as the Bulldogs. Definitely not awkward.

While gameday does bring a more manageable schedule, it also ramps up the mental game.

One way players and coaches cope: superstitions.

I asked around at breakfast – where assistant coach Beth Mullins said she’ll have the exact same plate of food tomorrow “when we win today.” If it works today, better do it again tomorrow, is the thought.

Freshman outfielder Loryn Nichols will spend most of the morning planning what she’s going to wear. Not because she’s worried about looking good on camera, but because it all has to be done just so.

“I wrap my shoelaces around the bottom of my cleats, then tie them and tuck them into my shoes,” she said. “And all my layers have to be the right colors. They can’t be the same.”

If she’s wearing white pants, it has to be black sliding shorts. Black jersey top? Maroon shirt underneath. And the bow (there has to be a bow) must be a different color from the jersey.

“But if I hit well,” she said, “I wear the same bow the next game, even if it’s the same color.”

Bow continuity takes precedent over alternating colors. Of course, if Nichols goes O-fer and doesn’t get a single hit in a game, she trashes the bow, thrown away forever.

“My mom used to get so mad at me in high school. She’d always yell at me, ‘You’re wasting perfectly good bows!’”

Doesn’t matter. That bow was bad mojo.

Sophomore outfielder Briana Bell, once at the game, doesn’t have many superstitions for what she wears, but don’t touch her bat.

“We’ll try and pick it up to hand it to her,” junior outfielder Rachel Zdeb said, “and she’ll just yell at us, ‘No! I’ll get it!’”

“Someone picked up my bat once,” Bell said. “My eyes got big and I was like, ‘Nooooooo!” and buried my face in my hands.”

Junior pitcher Alison Owen has to do what’s called “touches.” She starts at one end of the dugout and walks to the other, touching every person along the way. Tap on the shoulder, brush of the cleat, whatever is easiest.

A few more gameday rituals I was told, “Don’t put that on your blog.”

Like telling someone what you wished for on a shooting star, sharing the secret would ruin the good vibes.

More of the seemingly-innocuous decisions, but all-too-important decisions to be made before the game: thick headband, no headband, or thin ninja headband? Sunglasses? A visor? Regular ponytail, French braid or something I’ve never heard of called a fishhook braid?

I think that’s what it was called anyway. I can barely tie my shoes, let alone braid anything.

One thing that’s easy to pick out and put on for at least some of them, Nichols and Zdeb shared, is batting gloves.

“I don’t change batting gloves all year. My right one only has four fingers left on it,” Nichols said.

“My entire pointer finger is gone on one of mine,” Zdeb said.

Whatever the superstition or ritual may be, it’s all pre-game. Once the game is over, like it will be later this evening, what’s done is done. The win or loss only affects the next game’s rituals.

We’ll see if the good vibes work this afternoon.

8:30 p.m., Thursday, Marriott Mobile

Finally back at the hotel after a long day, MSU is settled in for the night, resting for the next day’s game.

The team managed to fit a lot into just one day, getting a defensive practice in the morning, a batting practice in the afternoon, a trip to the beach, a few hours of shopping in downtown Fairhope and a lovely dinner at the house of Mullins’s family to cap off the day.

Again, that’s the balance Vann Stuedeman wants. Work hard, have fun. Enjoy yourself.

But, not too much fun. Volleyball and football on the beach is fine, but don’t overdo it. After all, they’ve got a game tomorrow.

And for the love of softball, use sunscreen.

“Vann’s gonna kill me if I get a sunburn,” third baseman Logan Foulks said while retreating to the shade of a pavilion after a swim in surprisingly-warm waters of the bay.

Also, a special thank you from this reporter to Mullins’ family for the delicious dinner after the beach. Young bachelors like myself don’t often get nice home-cooked meals. We do cook meals at home, I just wouldn’t use the word “nice” to describe them. Or any other positive adjective, for that matter.

2:15 p.m., Thursday, The Fieldhouse batting cages

The above video is the first (and quite possibly the last) edition of Dr. Bob with myself junior pitcher Alison Owen. The rest of the team is doing batting practice, so as you can imagine, not a lot to do for ace pitchers.

I’m gonna see if I can get Alison to teach me how to throw a fastball later.

Also, just for fun, here’s a picture of the moment I mentioned earlier, when third baseman Logan Foulks made a diving catch over the dugout railing and yelled, “We’re going to the Super Regionals!”

11:00 a.m., Thursday, South Alabama softball field

“You’re playing Major League Baseball now,” Vann Stuedeman told her team before practice. “No school, you’ve got your food money and nothing to worry about but softball. This is the dream.”

Indeed it is, playing softball by the beach, which is the kind of mentality Stuedeman wants her team to have.

“You made it to The Dance, be happy and have fun,” she told the team. “Now, there’s a difference between having fun and working hard and then just acting silly. But have fun, work hard and we’re gonna be great.”

The first practice of both the day and the trip was an all-defense outing, working on fielding, turning double plays, catching fly balls and wrangling in bunts, while the next practice, after lunch, is all about hitting.

On one of the final plays of the first practice, an infield pop-up from assistant coach Alan Reach pulled left to the home dugout. Running from the infield, third baseman Logan Foulks sprinted to the dugout, leaned over the waist-high fence guarding the inside and made a near-diving catch.

The entire team erupted in cheers, Foulks ran back to the field, threw the ball in the air behind her and yelled, “We’re going to the Super Regionals!”

Absolutely, Mississippi State is having fun.

8:30 a.m. Marriott Mobile: As we’ve mentioned, the Bulldogs play Florida State in their first game on Friday at 3:30. I noticed an FSU flag had been hung by someone along the stairwell as I worked in the lobby last night.

As fate would have it, the Seminoles are staying in the same hotel as MSU.

Then, as cruel fate crept in, the two teams happened to be at breakfast at the same time today. A little awkward? Certainly.

But, it turns out several of MSU’s players know several more on on FSU’s team from travel ball in high school, and there were even a couple hugs exchanged at breakfast. But just a couple. Not going crazy with the sportsmanship here.

In fact, Foulks – she of the imaginary Regional-winning catch – had been texting and talking to her Seminole friend on the bus ride to Mobile.

Lunch is up next (sub sandwiches, I believe), then hitting practice in Daphne and a trip to the beach in Fairhope for some of that fun, fun, fun Stuedeman was talking about. She may even sing more songs from The Little Mermaid like she did during warm-ups this morning.

9:30 p.m. Wednesday Mobile, Alabama

The Mississippi State softball team has officially arrived and settled in at the scenic Marriott in Mobile for the NCAA Regional.

I’ll be with the team for the rest of the week and I’ll post updates, videos, stories and the like here, so it’ll be nice and easy to keep up with.

The bus pulled out of Starkville at 2:15, with Vann Stuedeman doing interviews by 2:30, and it being a travel day, the softball action was minimal.

The people action, however, was pretty limitless.

An interesting note on that interview, by the way, as Stuedeman was chatting in advance with the TV crew broadcasting MSU’s game on Friday: one of the women on the call happened to be Charlotte Morgan, an All-American coached by Stuedeman at Alabama.

But, after some interviews and extensive discussions among the coaches on how the full NCAA Tournament bracket might play out, the day was mostly music and food.

5:30 p.m.: Almost to Mobile, the entire staff at the front of the bus broke out into song, singing ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles. Why? I’m not sure, but that seems to be something the whole team has in common.

6:30 p.m.: On the way to dinner at the Original Oyster House after dropping bags off at the hotel, I was walking around the back of the bus trying to find out what a couple dozen softball players do for hours on end trapped on the road. There’s video of that below, in which second baseman Heidi Shape somehow managed to get the whole bus clapping and singing Mariah Carey. I’ve still got ‘Always Be My Baby’ stuck in my head, and now you probably will, too.

Also on the bus, Stuedeman announced to the team and congratulated a pair of players who earned a postseason honor, the details of which will be released tomorrow, I’m told.

One thing I forget being from Mississippi, is how many people don’t live near enough to the water to see it often.

As the team sat down with a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the bay, Stuedeman remembered what I did not.

“All you girls from a landlocked state, make sure you’re watching this sunset,” she told them. “There’s not much else this pretty.”

Much shrimp, fish and grits later, we find ourselves pleasantly stuffed and back at the hotel.

Tomorrow will be a significantly busier day, beginning with practice on South Alabama’s field in the morning, the first on-site preparations for MSU’s game against Florida State on Friday at 3:30.

Speaking of that game, the coaches and players are expecting a big crowd of Maroon and White this weekend. Sounds like it’s a nice weekend drive for some people.

After practice is lunch and then, oh hey, more practice. Hitting practice in Daphne, followed by a good three hours of beach and shopping in Fairhope. As I have little to contribute in practice, I’m looking particularly forward to that event.

Another cool, small-world-after-all story: assistant coach Beth Mullins is from Mobile, so the team is heading out to her parents’ house for dinner at the end of Thursday.

I’ll have updates, pictures and probably even a few videos throughout the day. Make sure to follow MSU softball (@mstateSB) and myself (@bobcarskadon) on Twitter, and an easy way to keep up with everything is the one-stop coverage center at HailState.com

Jonathan Holder, MSU’s force out of the bullpen

(Stomp)

(Clap)

(Stomp)

(Clap)

You can run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Standing 6’2” and weighing in at 230 pounds with a mane of curly, dark hair trailing onto his shoulders, Jonathan Holder is an intimidating sight on the mound.

Just a sophomore, Mississippi State’s All-American closer is John Cohen’s near-guaranteed game-saver. Starting with his first appearance as a freshman and stretching all the way into his second season, Holder went his first 27-straight innings without giving up a single run. The 18-year-old was a star not just in the regular season, but in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Regional, after just finishing his first year of college.

Holder has no fear on the mound.

Striding out of the bullpen late in the game, Johnny Cash’s slow, deliberate tune ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’ rings over Dudy Noble Field as Holder approaches his workshop 60 feet from home plate.

Go tell that long tongue liar

Go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

“Jonathan Holder is like an artist at work,” Cohen said. “It’s just fun to watch. A club has so much confidence late in a ball game when Jonathan Holder is on the mound for you. You feel like he’s just gonna keep the other team from scoring.”

How Holder keeps the other team from scoring, how he cuts them down from pitch-to-pitch, is a surprise to everyone watching, often including the batter himself.

One pitch may be a 94 MPH fastball down the middle, the next an 75 MPH curveball starting in the sky and finishing in the dirt.

“It’s tough,” junior outfielder CT Bradford said of Holder’s curve. “I can see it from center, I’ve got a perfect view. It starts around their eyes and ends around their ankles. It’s a really good pitch.”

Good enough, at least, that a batter for Alabama struck out swinging in the 11^th inning last weekend.

And he was trying to bunt.

“He really understands how to pitch off of his fastball and his curveball,” Cohen said, “and the two are so dissimilar that if you guess on one, you’re going to get destroyed by the other. When you get as many strikeouts as he’s getting on called third strikes, then you have somebody who is commanding the baseball, and he has two separate dominant pitches.”

Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news

My head’s been wet with the midnight dew

I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee

He spoke to me in the voice so sweet

I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet

He called my name and my heart stood still

When he said, “John, go do My will!”

Holder’s game is more effective than most once he takes the mound, but it starts long before then.

His hair hasn’t been cut in over a year, adding to his already intimidating physical presence.

In the bullpen, Holder looks more like an American Gladiator than a sophomore closer. Some guys pitch, some stretch, some wind their arms to get loose in the pen. Holder instead walks to the catchers’ end of the bullpen, clearing the area of any who could be in harm’s way.

A big smile on his face, he crouches down, grabs a medicine ball, then bursts upward and throws the ball as high over his head as he can, a watchful teammate standing 30 feet behind to secure the ball on its return to ground.

“That’s just a routine I’ve gotten into that I enjoy,” Holder said. “It gets you explosive and it gets you pushing off the ground.”

Go tell that long tongue liar

Go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

Cash’s song rumbles through Polk-Dement Stadium, fans rise to their feet behind the outfield fence, scouts, reporters and opposing batters look to the bullpen gate, knowing who will walk out.

You can run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

“I was trying to get something intimidating,” Holder said. “I know last year, I didn’t even hear my walk-out song I was so zoned in. This year, I can enjoy it a little bit while I run to the mound. That’s the way I try to work. It keeps me focused and it keeps me in the zone in everything that I do.”

Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand

Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man

But as sure as God made black and white

What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light

Holder went on a stretch of just over 25 scoreless innings at one point this season, starting after SEC play began. Through 39 total innings in 2013, he has 70 strikeouts, nearly two Ks per inning pitched. On 29 of those strikeouts, the batter went down looking. Couldn’t even get a swing across.

“Any time in college baseball,” Cohen said, “you see a guy strike out almost two guys an inning, that’s a phenomenon. That’s incredible, especially within the Southeastern Conference, where he’s faced some very, very good hitters. What he’s doing is amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this type of performance.”

Setting a single-season MSU record, Holder has 14 saves this year. The next closest person on the team has one. He’s even made long enough closing appearances to register two wins to go along with his 1.15 ERA.

You can run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

“I’ve seen Roy Oswalt throw bullpens here in Starkville,” Cohen said, “and Roy of course at his best is one of the best in the big leagues, and watching his curveball, which at times can be 20 mph off of his fastball, it’s kind of a similar thing. That’s why he can really freeze guys. Jonathan has the ability to add and subtract with his fastball. You might see him throw an 89-mph fastball to one part of the strike zone, then throw a 93-mph fastball to another part of the strike zone. And then the same with his breaking ball. That’s what makes him special.”

Go tell that long tongue liar

Go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down

Underneath the hair, the goatee and the jersey, Holder has two tattoos, one on the inside of each bicep. On the right arm, “In God’s Time.” On the left, “Fear No Evil.”

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down

On the mound, staring down batters, Holder fears nothing, and it shows.

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down

Top 25 men’s golf leaning on experience heading into NCAA Regional

By most measurements, 2012-13 has been one of the best seasons in program history for the Mississippi State men’s golf team.

With a program-record four tournament wins in the regular season, the Bulldogs now head to the postseason with hopes of maintaining that success.

And there’s good news on that front, thanks to the planning of head coach Clay Homan in the offseason.

Selected to play in the Baton Rouge regional, MSU begins its postseason on Thursday with a certain level of experience already under its belt having played at LSU last semester.

“That was one of the reasons we played in LSU’s tournament this fall,” Homan said, “because we knew they were gonna host a regional and there would be a chance of us going there. It should prove helpful.”

Among all else, MSU’s coaches and players already know the hotel they’ll be staying in, the road they travel to get there and even a few good places to eat.

Not to mention the familiarity with the course itself.

“There’s a lot of local knowledge,” Homan said. “The greens are real severe, it’s probably one of the longest golf courses you’ll see anywhere, but that suits our style of play.”

A style of play, Homan said, reliant on experience and maturity.

Juniors Chad Ramey and Axel Boasson were both named All-SEC at the end of the regular season, while Joe Sakulpolphaisan got to campus this season as the No. 1-rated junior college player in the country.

With four juniors and a senior, in addition to a pair of sophomores and freshmen, Homan likes tougher courses where less experienced players might lose focus or make easy mistakes.

“It starts with Chad, but our whole team tends to do better when par is a good score. That’s the kind of golf course we wanted. We want where par is at a premium, and we feel like we have that.

“We felt like this course, because it’s big, that’s a good golf course for us. It gets tougher as you get closer,” Homan said. “You’ve got lots of humps and bumps on these greens that you’ve gotta navigate.”

Ramey, as Homan mentioned, has been a star for MSU, not just great for State, but one of the best players in the conference and in the country.

He leads the teams with a 71.88 average, earning him five Top 5 tournament finishes, due in large part to his 99 birdies and three eagles over the course of the season.

Pair Ramey with Boasson, who sports an average of 72 with a low score of 67 to go along with his team-high 110 birdies, and MSU has both a strong and mature duo leading the way, with a wealth of experience and talent behind them.

“Our guys are playing with confidence. They’re even-keeled, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. We’re fortunate to have a veteran group like we have. “ Homan said. “You don’t really have to take these guys by the hand. They know how to play and what it takes for them to play their best. We may get beat, but it won’t be because they aren’t able to handle themselves.”

When MSU arrives in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogs will try to escape the town the same way they got there: through the SEC. Conference mates Alabama, Florida, LSU and Tennessee will all be in the regional with MSU and the rest of the teams from across the country, and the top five finishers earn the right to play at Nationals in Georgia.

Fortunately for MSU, it’s already played against – and in some instances beaten – many of the top teams it will see in the regional.

Over the course of their big season, Homan thinks his Bulldogs have prepared themselves well for the postseason.

“We’ve already beaten Florida, we’ve already beaten LSU. With every win, we draw confidence,” Homan said. “Our team has been continually getting better each week. We’ve learned an awful lot this year and we’ve improved a lot this year. I don’t know how we’re gonna play, but we can handle a lot. This group has been through a lot.”

Successful weekend behind and a busy week ahead for MSU sports

Calling the last few days a busy weekend for Mississippi State would be quite the understatement, and simply referring to this week’s schedule as “full” would be a disservice to the truth.

Counting football’s Gator Bowl on January 1, MSU is now up to six teams playing in the postseason in 2013 before June even hits, and it’s likely to add a seventh when baseball concludes the regular season. Not to mention the two National Champions on the track and field teams still in action.

And almost all of it is going on now, just as the weather is warming up. Gotta love it.

A quick recap of the weekend before getting into the rest of this week.

- MSU’s women’s golf team had one of the best single-day performances of any team on campus over the weekend, posting an incredible final round on Saturday to secure a third place finish in the central regional and the first-ever berth in the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Ally McDonald was a school-record 10-under par for the weekend, winning the individual championship in the regional.

The team entered Saturday tied for sixth and one shot away from postseason elimination, then the Bulldogs had the second-bets team round in school history, firing off a 7-under par day and securing a third place finish.

- In Starkville, Per Nilsson and the men’s tennis team took down Harvard in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the prestigious Round of 16 for the first time since 2001. Ranked No. 10 in the country, MSU will play Tennessee in Illinois this weekend.

- In Columbia, Missouri, home of one of the newest teams in the conference, MSU’s track and field teams had a big showing in the SEC Championships. Bulldogs had four top-five finishes on the final day of competition. MSU is off this weekend, then hits the road to North Carolina for the NCAA East Preliminary competition on May 23-25.

- Meanwhile, in Starkville, I was with the softball team late Sunday night as they earned their second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs will be in the Mobile regional hosted by South Alabama and will play Florida State in their first game at 3:30 on Friday.

- And, oh yeah, MSU and Ole Miss baseball had quite an entertaining series over the weekend. The final game of the series was a fun one, as Ole Miss built up a 6-0 lead, then MSU scored seven unanswered to win the game 7-6 in dramatic fashion. State lost the weather-altered series, but stayed in good position for hosting an NCAA Regional if things go well over the next four games. Racking up 27 hits in the final two games of the series, MSU is hoping to carry some of that momentum into Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts and the massive regular-season finale against South Carolina in Starkville this weekend. A reminder: that series begins on Thursday (Hawaiian T-shirt Night!), not Friday. Plan accordingly.

How can you keep up with everything? Carefully. And Twitter is the easiest way to follow along with the up-to-the-minute happenings. Find me @bobcarskadon for news and bad jokes, and find the individual team Twitter pages for news without bad jokes.

In the meantime, I’ll be working on stories – and have already written a couple – on everything going on the next several days.

The men’s golf team got a well-earned break over the weekend, but they begin play in the NCAA Tournament in the Baton Rouge regional on Thursday. Between them and everyone else, there are well into double-digit MSU events going on over the next five days.

I’ll try to keep up.

MSU softball headed to NCAA Tourney

For the second-consecutive year, Mississippi State softball will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs were selected Sunday night into the Mobile regional hosted by 13-seed South Alabama.

MSU’s first game will be this Friday at 3:30 against Florida State, while South Alabama plays Mississippi Valley State to round out the regional.

I caught up with head coach Vann Stuedeman for a couple minutes (video below) immediately after the announcement, and as you’d imagine, she’s pretty excited.

A couple crazy numbers came out once the whole bracket was revealed, as it turns out MSU has already played 16 of the teams in the NCAA Tournament, plus they’ve beaten four of the national seeds this season, 25 percent of the host teams.

A head coach or team saying they aren’t afraid of anyone is usually a bit of a cliche, but it’s the truth for MSU after playing one of the toughest schedules in the country.

The Bulldogs are expected to head to Mobile on Wednesday.

Also, check out the second video below, the recorded reaction when the announcement was made.

Road Dawgs Tour 2013: Inside the bus and across the state

Meridian, Miss., 7:30 a.m., Tuesday

“You think he’s a receiver or tight end?” Rick Ray asked over his plate of grapes.

“I don’t know,” Dan Mullen replied. “He’ll be one of those guys that figures it out when he gets on campus and sees what he’s comfortable with. I know this, though, he’ll be good at either one.”

“Kid can ball,” Ray said before turning to greet a fan who just walked up.

Mullen and Ray, along with Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer were at the first Mississippi stop of the Road Dawgs Tour, massive bus parked outside, a quickly-filling banquet hall on the inside.

Spending hours, days and hundreds of miles together in a leather furniture-stuffed tour bus, the three coaches and various MSU staffers had plenty of time to get to know each other.

But, as it turns out, they already do. In Starkville, MSU’s coaches and programs don’t appear to be singular forces operating without regard for each other.

At least not based on the events of the week-long tour.

“I think our athletic director Scott Stricklin has done a great job of hiring coaches who all believe in the same thing,” Mullen told a steak-stuffed crowd of Maroon and White wearers in Ellisville.

Mullen and Ray talking about one player is just a small example. They work together in recruiting all the time. Whether it’s a prospect who is interested in both basketball and football, or a football player who just likes Rick Ray and wants to meet him.

“Raise your hand if you were at that Tennessee football game last fall,” Schaefer asked of the crowd. “That was an absolutely electric atmosphere,” he continued with a knowing nod. “We had two kids at that game. We got both of ‘em. If you can’t get a kid from that kind of atmosphere, you just can’t recruit.”

Following his time at the podium, Schaefer introduced Ray. He talked about all he went through in his first season, how you could see what a good coach he is, how proud MSU fans should be of Ray.

After thanking Schaefer for the kind words, it turned out, as Ray shared, Schaefer and Mullen weren’t the only ones with recruits in town for the Tennessee game. Ray had guys of his own on campus over the weekend.

“You couldn’t ask for a better atmosphere,” he said.

Ellisville, Miss., 11:30 a.m., Tuesday

Back on the bus, Mullen sat near the driver on his makeshift desk, watching film of spring practices, taking notes on what he saw. On the couch opposite Mullen, Schaefer was on the phone with assistants, organizers and even a florist, never a chance for complete rest. In the back alongside several other, Ray had his phone, iPad and a multitude of chargers and cords set up, making calls, watching highlights and looking up stats of recruits.

It does always seem to come back to recruiting somehow.

Mullen acknowledged that fact when congratulating Ray for his win at The Hump over Ole Miss. As big a game as it was for the basketball program, Mullen told the crowd in Brookhaven after a plate of mashed potatoes and BBQ, Ray still cared about the big picture for not only his team, but the athletic department as a whole when he went around to student groups the week before in an effort to drum up support.

Just as football helps Ray and Schaefer, basketball helps Mullen.

“We had a lot of recruits in town for that game,” Mullen said. “He understands how important those games are for us. And obviously I know how important it is to him.”

John Cohen and his baseball team play Ole Miss this weekend, and while he can’t be on the bus, the coach-to-coach helping hands extend from the diamond, as well.

When Mullen’s quarterback signee Cord Sandberg visited campus, the dual-sport star spent extensive time with Cohen in the baseball office, too. Mullen and Cohen worked together.

In fact, Mullen said when asked about Sandberg, he’s gone to one of the best-known Bulldogs around for advice.

“I was talking to Buck Showalter about him the other day,” Mullen said.

Wanting to talk a little baseball, and despite being a lifelong Red Sox fan, Mullen went to the Orioles manager and former Bulldog for some MLB advice and guidance.

Biloxi, Miss., 7:30 p.m., Tuesday

At the Yacht Club on the third stop of the day, Ray reviewed his first season at the helm for MSU.

Going over the pros and cons, one thing stood out to him: assist-to-turnover ratio.

“It’s just like football,” Ray said. “Coach Mullen will tell you, you can’t give the ball to the other team.”

Wednesday

On the long road from Brookhaven to Greenville, three days into the Road Dawgs Tour, Mullen was caught in his seemingly-lifelong hobby: multi-tasking. Whether on the phone for a radio interview, catching the news on the nearby big screen, chatting with others on the bus or even watching a Premier League soccer match, the head coach had a constant stream of spring practice highlights going on his laptop.

This time, the distraction was the latest Spiderman movie.

“This is a treat for me,” Mullen said. “I never get to watch this stuff at home. My wife doesn’t like superhero movies.”

A visit from media relations man Joe Galbraith indicated it was time for another radio interview on the phone and sadly meant Mullen had to turn away from Spiderman.

“Thanks for having me on guys,” Mullen said a few minutes later before setting the phone down and turning his attention back to the TV. “Oh. I guess she found out he’s Spiderman now, huh?”

Greenville, Miss., 6:30 p.m., Wednesday

Once in Greenville, Ray, who spent the ride checking the happy birthday tweets he was getting, calling assistants and talking to his two-year-old son on the iPad, told reporters he was excited for superhero movies, too.

“I really need to see Iron Man 3,” he said. “And I’m hoping the new Superman can actually be good.”

Mullen and Ray, recruiters, occasional movie watchers, and as Ray tells it, Twitter friends.

“Let me tell y’all something about Dan Mullen,” Ray told the crowd. “He’s an uplifting guy. If you ever need a word of encouragement, talk to Coach Mullen.

“We were talking one day and he said, ‘Coach Ray, I see you tweet a lot.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I really enjoy it.’

“Then I puffed my chest out a little bit,” Ray said. “I told him, ‘I’ve got 11,000 followers.’”

“Oh, that’s pretty good, man,” Mullen responded.

“How many do you have?” Ray asked.

“About 45,000,” Mullen replied.

“That puffed out chest caved in immediately,” Ray said as he and the crowd laughed.

The point of the Road Dawgs Tour, Stricklin has said, is to thank the fans across the state, show appreciation for what they do, make an attempt at re-paying them for their support and eat a few good meals along the way.

The thanks were accepted, everything from footballs to sonogram pictures were signed and the hands of men and women, children, adults and even pro wrestlers were shaken.

But, outside of its primary objective, the unintentional result of the tour is the building of camaraderie among coaches and staff, the bonds of friendship built and strengthened during countless hours on the road together and the show of unity among a staff made up of coaches and administrators of a single mind and goal.

“It’s such a special time to be a Mississippi State Bulldog,” Mullen said.

Confidence building for Diamond Dawgs in late season

Over the weekend, Mississippi State’s baseball team saw an eight-run lead nearly evaporate in two innings, fell behind in game two of a doubleheader, then watched Alabama get another big lead in the final game of the series on Sunday.

The result? A 3-0 weekend record for the Bulldogs, sweeping Alabama at Dudy Noble Field.

Two come-from-behind, extra-inning, walk-off wins and a foiled Tide comeback attempt made for both an interesting and revealing weekend for MSU.

 “When you look at games like this,” head coach John Cohen said, “it’s that character, that work ethic and that belief in yourself that gets you through those games. This is what we expect of our kids, especially the older ones who have been through that before.”

After being swept on the road at Vanderbilt last week, Cohen’s club was badly in need of wins to calm the waters and maintain hopes of hosting an NCAA regional.

The good news, he said, is he had the right guys in the dugout already.

“We got swept last weekend,” junior outfielder C.T. Bradford said. “Monday and Tuesday practice, you had no idea we even got swept. That’s the way our guys are.”

The key, according to Bradford and Cohen, is confidence and maturity.

Maturity of sorts, anyway.

In the 11^th inning of game three on Sunday, Cohen’s eyes were on Hunter Renfroe at the plate. Behind him, senior pitcher Luis Pollorena, wearing a sombrero on Cinco de Mayo, led a circular line dance around the dugout.

“That’s the walk-off walk,” Bradford said with a laugh. “That’s the way our team is. We stay loose. We don’t get too fired up and that’s a good thing. We stay calm and we deliver.”

“They’re just really mentally tough kids,” Cohen said. “They work at it every single day. They get after it. It’s fun to be a part of.”

Cohen said he’d love to take credit for it, but if he’s honest with himself, thinks the type of person a player will be is already “set in stone” when they get to campus.

That’s why, he says, he’s lucky to have such a good group.

And at this point in the season, he leans on both the confidence and maturity of his players.

Still tied at 6 in that 11^th inning on Sunday, Cohen went to talk strategy with Bradford before he got to the plate.

Cohen did what coaches do. He gave instructions.

Then, Bradford did what veterans do.

“He said, ‘Coach, I’m on this guy. I’m gonna hit the ball hard. I’m seeing this really well,’” Cohen said.

With two men on base and one out, Bradford did exactly that. He hit the ball hard and Renfroe sped his way from second to home, scoring the winning run and securing the series sweep for MSU.

“That’s what you want from your experienced guys,” Cohen said after the game.

The walk-off walk did its job.

“Small picture, we needed it for our confidence,” sophomore closer Jonathan Holder said. “During practice this week, we practiced like nothing happened last weekend. That’s what good teams do. They come out and they get their work done and I think it paid off.

“There’s gonna be games in the future we’re gonna have to come back and win and that gets us prepared for it.”

And the future is certainly on MSU’s mind. The Diamond Dawgs head to Oxford this weekend for a big SEC West series against Ole Miss, then host South Carolina on the final weekend, winners of two of the last three College World Series, as Cohen pointed out.

The confidence, as well as the wins, is coming at the right time for MSU.

“It’s a springboard,” Cohen said. “I really believe, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, I think they can get on a roll and I think they can do some things in the postseason. But we’re not there yet and we still have a lot going on in the regular season.”

MSU and Ole Miss A.D.s Stricklin and Bjork on leadership, friendship and winning

Last night, the unlikely happened when Ole Miss Athletic Director Ross Bjork traveled to Starkville for the first time, was welcomed by Bulldogs and shared jokes and high fives with Mississippi State Athletic Director Scott Stricklin.

Stricklin and Bjork were the featured speakers Tuesday night for a Boy Scouts of America event on MSU’s campus, both discussing topics of leadership, neither frazzled by the other’s presence.

Stricklin, left, and Bjork, right, at the Boy Scouts of America event

As it turns out, the pair’s history is far more interesting than the mere fact they spoke together.

When Bjork was still the Athletic Director at Western Kentucky, he, Stricklin and Greg Byrne – former MSU and current Arizona Athletic Director – were in a club or sorts with other young A.D.s around the country.

Currently, Bjork is the youngest Athletic Director in the SEC. Before that? It was Stricklin. Before him? Yep, it was Byrne.

Call it a support group, exclusive club or just a few friends helping each other out, those who were members of the fraternity used each other for support, ideas and direction.

Long before Stricklin and Bjork would stand on opposite sides of the field during the Egg Bowl, they were friends. They bounced ideas off each other, joked together and never imagined they’d be fighting each other for the support of those in the Magnolia State.

Then, the Ole Miss job opened up.

“Two days before my first visit to Oxford, I called Scott and asked, ‘What’s it like being an SEC Athletic Director?’” Bjork told the audience Tuesday night.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, Ross must be really desperate to be in the SEC,’” Stricklin joked.

“You can perform at this level,” Stricklin told Bjork before his visit.

Each now knows one of their most important tasks is beating the other not just on the field of play but in the court of public support and opinion.

The dynamic, certainly, has changed from when the pair were young A.D.s leaning on each other for support. But as the two easily ribbed each other and spoke together Tuesday, the term enemies would clearly be far too strong.

“We want to beat each other when we play,” Bjork said, “but we know we can shake hands and be friends after.”

However, as each spoke, the message was not about winning. Leadership and success, they say, is not just about having more wins than losses.

The best example of leadership, Stricklin said, is a 300-pound man.

“[Kentucky athletic director] Mitch Barnhart once said, ‘Leadership is not about getting where you want to be. It’s about getting others where they want to be,’” Stricklin said. “Offensive linemen are a great example. Most of them are faceless and nameless. There’s not a lot of glory there, but you’re still leading. You’re getting others where they want to be.”

“I look at things as a thermostat,” Bjork said. “Are we controlling the temperature or taking it? Attitude and effort are all we can control. I can’t control a 21-year-old pitcher on the mound. But I can make sure our department, coaches and players have the best attitude and put forth full effort.”

“Our core mission is to promote the success and well-being of our student-athletes,” Stricklin said. “In the SEC, it’s very easy lose to track of how important winning is. Sometimes it’s too important.”

Of course, the preferred endgame is to have prosperous student-athletes who then go out and win.

Both Stricklin and Bjork, when asked in a question-and-answer session, described the type of players and coaches they like to have around.

“I like people to have a little juice to them,” Stricklin said. “Because of our intensity and competitiveness, I want the other team to be ready for the game to be over with as soon as it starts.”

“Attitude, toughness, discipline,” Bjork said, “none of the above take talent. Everybody is good in the SEC. It’s not the talent factors that can provide a winning advantage in this league.”

The similarities between the two – youth, energy, creativity and a passion for people – are not hard to spot when they’re put in a room together. Nor is it difficult to understand the friendship the pair formed before becoming rivals in the state of Mississippi.

When each was introduced Tuesday night, a list of accomplishments was shared by Bill Kibler, the emcee of the event and the vice president of student affairs at MSU.

“I’m surprised you mentioned the Egg Bowl,” Bjork said.

“Yeah, I am too, Bill,” Stricklin said meaningfully as he turned his eyes to Kibler.

The jokes come easy. They’re friends destined to try and beat the other, but friends nonetheless.

After each answering a question on the soon-to-be-announced SEC Network, moderator Sid Salter looked at the pair and said,

“To your credit, those were the best non-answers I’ve ever heard.”

Stricklin and Bjork just laughed and high-fived each other.

Catching up with former Bulldog and new Buccaneer Johnthan Banks

Unless you didn’t get on Twitter, watch TV, check Facebook or get on the internet in any capacity over the weekend, you know Johnthan Banks was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round of the NFL Draft Friday night.

The Thorpe Award winner and now-former Mississippi State cornerback joins an organization he’s liked for years and who showed a fair amount of interest in him leading up to the draft.

I caught up with Banks Sunday evening to talk about his weekend and the future, a conversation you can read the entirety of here.

Question: Did you have much of an indication Tampa Bay might draft you?

Answer: I really knew they had a good bit of interest in me. One of their scouts, me and him became really good friends. We always talk. He texts me or I text him just about every day. Down at the Combine, I just had it click with the corners coach. We just clicked. At the Combine he was giving me little hints, how to get set, lean forward, stuff like that. I feel like I’m at home. It’s an honor and a blessing from God to get to be around people who really want you.

Q: What have they said they like about you that made them want to draft you?

A: They know I can play. I can do pretty much anything. They know I’m a mature guy. They know I’m a hard-working guy. They know I can be a leader on and off the field and I think they know they can trust me. It’s the little things that matter, I think that’s what they like about me.

Q: Both head coach Greg Schiano and general manager Mark Dominik like drafting guys who were captains of their team in college and didn’t have much trouble off the field. You were, obviously, a captain, and when other people might be out partying, you were at home riding horses.

A: That’s just being raised by my grandparents here in Mississippi. If I got out of line, I got a whoopin’, a good whoopin’. Everything happens for a reason and I’m glad I was in the situation I’m in to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. I couldn’t be more excited. I wanted to go there from the jump. I want to go live in Florida for the next 10-15 years.

Q: What is it that made you like Tampa Bay? You mentioned as far back as last fall they’re a team you’d like to be drafted by.

A: It’s just everything. For one, it’s Tampa, Florida. I think it’s a great organization. Coach Schiano, he’s done a great job there. They won the division championship back in ’07. The program is on the rise. I really wanted to be there, then they got Darrelle Revis, got Dashon Goldson. Everything was a wild moment when I got that phone call. It was very exciting.

Q: Since you’ve been drafted, have you heard from any of your new teammates?

A: Yeah, I talked to Revis the same night I was drafted. He just said, ‘Welcome to the family. Let’s go, let’s get ready to work.’ Then Eric Wright hit me up on Twitter, Mark Barron, all those guys. I’ve established a great relationship with those guys and I’m gonna have fun.

Q: The Bucs had the lowest-ranked secondary last year, but with the additions of yourself, Revis and Goldson to go along with Barron and Wright, it becomes a pretty loaded group. Is that a fun thing to be a part of?

A: It’s very exciting. Tampa was the last-ranked pass defense in the NFL. But getting to know our secondary, we’ve got the best corner in the NFL, some of the best safeties in the NFL, it’s crazy. It really hasn’t hit me yet that I’m living a lifetime dream and I’m honored to be in the situation I’m in, because there’s some kids that would love to be in my position. It’s a blessing from God and I’m just happy.

Q: Several of your MSU teammates are headed to the NFL, as well, as Darius Slay and Josh Boyd were also drafted, along with several others signing undrafted free agent deals. Have you caught up with any of them yet?

A: Oh, those are my brothers. I’ve talked to every one of them. All of them, I talked to them, told them I’m so happy for them. It’s something we all set out to do as kids. For something like this to happen, this big, it’s life-changing. It’s something you grow up watching. Some of the guys we’re getting to play with, we grew up watching. It’s crazy, it’s a blessing. That’s all I can say.

Q: What all do you know about your new division, the NFC South? It’s a pretty stacked group.

A: It’s a tough division. You have Julio Jones, Roddy White, Matt Ryan, shoot, Drew Brees, Cam Newton, all those guys. It’s gonna be tough, but that’s the thing about it. I’ve been in the SEC for four years. Every week was tough. Nothing is gonna be easy in the NFL, no matter who you play. I’m just gonna try to learn from all the older guys, all the vets, and try and help my team win a championship.

Q: I know there are a lot of Saints fans in Mississippi. What will you say to the MSU people when Tampa Bay and New Orleans play if they’re Saints fans?

A: My MSU family, I know they’re gonna be behind John Banks 100 percent. They may be Saints fans, but I think they’ll all convert. They’re all loyal. It was a blessing to play in front of all of them for four years and I really appreciate the support they’ve shown me throughout my four years and even now.

Q: What’s your schedule going forward?

A: I’m gonna get a couple more workouts in this week then I’ll head to Tampa on Thursday for the rookie minicamp. I’m excited about it. I haven’t played football in forever. I’m excited. I’m ready to go down there Thursday to Sunday, enjoy my time, come back home and enjoy time with my family. After that, I’ll be ready to go full-swing.

Saying goodbye to Stick and how Preston Rogers got his new name

In his final year of school, Preston Rogers is one of the few to have earned the explicit trust of Dan Mullen. Mississippi State’s coach arrives at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday’s wearing whatever Adidas gear Rogers put in his locker.

Each practice, while run by Mullen and his coaches, is kept by Rogers, whose stopwatch never leaves his hand, entrusted with the task of keeping time, keeping practice on schedule and knowing when and where everything is supposed to happen.

Nine years before, when people actually knew him by his given name, Rogers was a Chicago native and high school senior on the Mississippi coast with no intentions or ideas of ever setting foot in a college classroom. The thought just hadn’t occurred to him.

Then, Stick, as Rogers is now known, saw Sylvester Croom on TV, MSU’s new head coach.

“I told my teacher, ‘I really like this guy. He’s kind of cool,’” Stick said.

The teacher grabbed him by the arm, took him to an empty room and set a freshly-printed pile of papers in front of him.

“You’re not leaving until you’ve filled out an application for Mississippi State,” she said. “That’s your job today.”

The application he filled out that day was the only one he signed his name to. It was MSU or nowhere.

January 5, 2005, Phil Silva roamed his equipment domain on the opposite side of MSU’s locker room. In walked a tall, skinny freshman, looking one part eager and two parts afraid.

‘Hi, I’m Preston Rogers.’

‘Son, do you eat?’ Silva replied in his gravelly Cajun voice.

‘Yes sir.’

‘You look like a damn stick.’

“And that was it,” Silva now says with a laugh. “It stuck ever since. Everybody knows him by Stick. You just look at him.”

Every now and then, Stick says, Silva will call him by his given name just to mess with him, but even his mom doesn’t call him Preston.

He’s been branded as Stick by MSU equipment.

Receiving the new name was appropriate for the guy who got to school with thoughts of maybe becoming a coach, and now leaves eight years after his re-christening knowing exactly what he wants to do. He’s going to work in equipment. It’s what he knows now.

The draw for Stick isn’t necessarily the ins and outs of the job, but the same thing that got him to MSU in the first place. People.

He was attracted to the school because he liked Sylvester Croom the man. He enjoys his job because he’s a people person. He spends all day talking to co-workers, players, coaches and the like, cracking jokes, offering encouragement and doing his best to make everyone around him smile.

His infectious attitude is a part of what makes him so good at what he does for Silva now. In a nutshell, he takes care of the coaches. The head coach, whoever that may be at any given time.

Stick earned the position in the spring of 2007, but the trust from Croom came the first time they met when Stick was working with the receivers in practice in the spring two years prior.

“A ball sailed a little bit over the receivers,” Stick said. “Coach was sitting a few yards away from me and it almost smoked him. I barely deflected it.”

Stick looked at Croom, worried the worst was coming, a public berating of a then-young student.

“He looked back at me said, ‘Hey, that was pretty good.’”

One of Stick’s first experiences with Mullen was similarly incidental, though this time, the ball did hit the coach, metaphorically speaking.

Stick’s job was to keep the team on pace during practice in two-a-days, the point man for where in the rigid practice schedule the players and coaches were.

“I had a horn and stopwatch, every five minutes,” he said. “Very first two-a-days, I made the guy switch up the cards on the tower. Coach Mullen looked at the tower, looked at me, said, ‘Stick, what period are we in?’

Stick knew he had messed up. He knew Mullen was only asking him because he, too, recognized the error.

“He wasn’t too happy about it,” Stick said with a guilty smile.

But that moment, in some way, started a bond between the two.

“To this day we still joke about it. Every time we hit that period I tell Coach and he gives me a little smile.”

“He’s very comforting for me to have around,” Mullen said. “I got a level of trust with Stick. Stick’s been with me since day one here.”

He’s been around far longer than Mullen, in fact, and certainly, charging him to keep practice time requires trust, but it isn’t Stick’s only task.

Mullen’s maroon visors at practice, his white jackets on the sideline of games and his polos in press conferences all come from Stick.

17-year-old Preston Rogers, when he spoke in awe about Sylvester Croom, wouldn’t have guessed he’d have a new name and a part-time job as a fashionista within three years.

One of his chief duties is to dress the coach.

“Coach always walks in and says, ‘Stick, what am I wearing today?’”

Adidas, Stick says, likes to showcase Mullen as the face of Mississippi State football. The responsibility of making that face look good falls on the skinny kid in Silva’s office.

“Coach puts a lot of trust in me. All his stuff goes through me,” Stick said. “Mullen wears it, then it hits the stores. Coach doesn’t even look. He just puts the visor on and goes.”

Mullen has never told him no, either.

While his primary responsibilities fall with Mullen, no one at an MSU practice doesn’t know him.

The shuffling of the bag hanging at his waist as he runs by, the fist bumps down the sideline, the screeching of the air horn at the end of every period and the loud laugh following frequent jokes let you know Stick is there.

Everybody loves him, even if something goes wrong.

At the end of one practice, Mullen called for Stick and told him to stand near the goal-line. He then sent a punter to the other end of the field. If Stick caught the punt, bag still hanging around his waist, the team didn’t have to run. If he didn’t catch it…

“All I had to do was reach out and grab it,” Stick said. “I was trying to be fancy back there and I dropped it. The team had to run.”

Despite the extra bit of running, he still got pats on the back and plenty of laughs.

“He’s got a great personality,” Silva said. “He’s one fine young man. He’s a really appreciative young man. I’m gonna miss him, just having him around, knowing he’s here.”

Finally, after nearly a decade, Stick’s time in Starkville is at an end. School is finished and the real world awaits. Silva and Mullen both say they wished they had a way to keep him, an extra position or some manner in which they wouldn’t have to lose the guy they trust so much.

Stick doesn’t want to leave either. He’s still a people person. Asked what he’ll miss the most, his voice drops to a whisper, eyes red and unfocused, looking ahead,

“The best part about the job is being around these guys. It’s like one big family and Phil’s the father.”

He finishes his time his time in Starkville with at least a handful of opportunities he’s still finalizing his choice on.

If nothing else, he’s got plenty of experience.

“Most people that are in college for eight years leave and start doing surgeries,” Mullen joked.