STARKVILLE — From afar, the head coaches who will meet in a Southeastern Conference three-game series this weekend in Lexington, Ky., seem like polar opposites.
A deeper look reveals Mississippi State University baseball coach John Cohen and University of Kentucky coach Gary Henderson might have more in common than just a professional respect for each other after having worked side by side for five seasons.
Cohen will bring his No. 19 MSU (20-4, 1-2 SEC) team to Cliff Hagan Stadium for the first time since he left Kentucky to take the job at his alma mater to face Henderson and the No. 10 Wildcats (16-4, 2-1).
“We’ll talk about the adjustments we’ll need to make against a good Kentucky club and their ballpark, but we’ll spend more time on our identity and what we’re trying to get accomplished,” Cohen said Thursday in his media teleconference.
Cohen will want to spend as little time as possible thinking about his first trip back to Lexington, Ky., where he was named Baseball America’s National Coach of the Year and SEC Coach of the Year by his peers in 2006 after the Wildcats won the league’s regular-season championship.
“It’s funny because I feel like a child of the SEC,” Cohen said. “I spent some time at Baton Rouge with my dad teaching at the LSU Law School. Then I grew up in Tuscaloosa (Ala.) and coached at the University of Florida and have really close friends in Gainesville. I feel the same way about Lexington, and we’ll end up going to Missouri at some point, where I spent five years (as an assistant) and have close friends there, too. Those are things you have to block out, and it is a business trip. You have your game face on. It’s a interesting dilemma for me because I’ve been well traveled.”
In five of those years, Cohen worked with Henderson, a man who is considered one of the brightest minds in college baseball. As the Wildcats associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, Henderson was a member of Cohen’s staff that led the program to two NCAA Regional appearances. Henderson, who is in his fifth season as head coach, has established himself as a cornerstone in the best 10-year run in the program’s 100-year history.
“This series is only unique for John and myself and none of the players because none of them in our dugout either played or were recruited by both of us to Kentucky,” Henderson said Thursday. “In earlier years when we’ve gone down to Starkville, that’s still been the case sometimes. I have a great relationship with John, but it’s about trying to win a series.”
Cohen is seen as a man who coaches with the fire and passion usually associated with a football coach, and he uses that mentality to motivate his group. Henderson is seen as a professorial type who has a more cerebral approach to his job, but Cohen can verify that persona isn’t a correct reflection of a man he considers one of his best friends.
When Cohen told Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart he was leaving to become head coach at MSU, he recommended Henderson replace him. Henderson’s recruiting prowess helped Kentucky have a school-record nine players elected in the 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft, the second-most in the nation among Division 1 programs. The Wildcats sent a nation-leading nine players from its 2013 roster to play in the Cape Cod League or with the USA Collegiate National Team. Kentucky has averaged 7.29 MLB draft picks or free-agent signings since 2006, after averaging 2.17 MLB draft picks per season before the 2006 SEC Championship season.
“I think Gary is one of the great coaches in college baseball,” Cohen said. “I felt that way when I worked with him every day. He’s worked at every level of college baseball. He really understands the recruiting process and he was the perfect choice for Kentucky and they’re going to continue to do well because they completely understand what it takes to win at Kentucky and it’s a completely unique situation.”
“There is a real fire that burns in Gary Henderson,” Cohen said. “He is one of the most competitive, at times fire-breathing, people I know. That’s one of the neat things about our business because you look at somebody from afar and you think that’s a very stoic and relaxed personality, and Gary has great composure, but there’s a great competitor underneath that exterior.”
MSU won four of five games against UK last season, including a home sweep and a victory that knocked the Wildcats out of the SEC tournament in the semifinals.
The difference this season is none of MSU’s pitchers have pitched in the Wildcats’ home ballpark, which has a right-field fence 310 feet from home plate. While at UK, Cohen loaded up on power bats to carry his clubs to a successful home record. Henderson has done the same thing in his tenure. Kentucky is 83-22 at home, including a 28-17 record in the SEC, in the past three seasons.
“It’s going to be chilly out there, and it’s strange for me to be a senior with so much experience and have very little idea how to pitch in that ballpark,” MSU senior right-hander Kendall Graveman said. “I should have a reference or notebook on what to expect, but I’ve never had to pitch there, so we’re all going to be learning the ins and outs together.”
Graveman (2-1, 2.36) is expected to start Sunday, but with weather concerns in Lexington calling for rain, both schools haven’t ruled out the possibility of a Saturday doubleheader to end the series.
“I’ve already been in touch with the folks at Kentucky with a, ‘Hey, what do you think’, and I’m asking an SEC baseball coach what do you think about Sunday’s weather. That’s kind of like asking who do you think will win the next presidential election?” Cohen said. “You can guess, and there’s a very good chance you’ll be wrong. If we need to do that, we will because of all of our guys in our staff, (Graveman) would react to it the best.”
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