STARKVILLE — Jarrod Parks didn’t know how much Nick Mingione was paying attention as he ran around Dudy Noble Field.
Every day, Parks, who played for the Mississippi State baseball team from 2009-11, would take batting practice and get plenty of ground balls at third base. He didn’t know Mingione very well when he arrived at MSU because the volunteer assistant coach wasn’t involved in his recruiting. That was left up to coach John Cohen and assistant Lane Burroughs. But when Mingione approached Parks with some thoughts, he was floored at how much he cared.
“He had some things he picked up on that other people wouldn’t that made you go, ‘Dang. All right, this guy knows more than just my swing or this and that. He knows little superstitions that I do,’ ” Parks said.
Mingione’s attention to detail as a coach has served him well. On Monday, it finally earned him an opportunity to lead a program, when Kentucky announced it had named Mingione its 26th head coach.
Mingione takes over for Gary Henderson, who resigned after eight
seasons with the Wildcats. Henderson took over for Cohen when Cohen left to take over at MSU, his alma mater, in 2009. Henderson served with Mingione on Cohen’s staff at Kentucky.
Parks, who is baseball coach at Starkville Academy, said the bond he developed with Mingione didn’t happen immediately. Coming from Meridian Community College, Parks had to get used to his new surroundings. But as the 2009 season wore on, the relationship between the two became more than player and coach.
“It was something that built up over time,” Parks said. “We had inside jokes that developed between me and him and little handshakes.
“He’s kept up with me with birthdays, holidays, and anything that goes on. He keeps up with it just like any of my friends would. He’ll shoot me a text or he’ll let me know about it.”
The bond between the two developed even more when Parks became an assistant coach at East Mississippi C.C. in 2013. He spent two seasons in Scooba and worked with Mingione on a weekly basis because of recruiting.
Cohen hired Mingione as a volunteer assistant when he took over at MSU in 2009. When Burroughs left to become the coach at Northwestern State in 2012, Cohen promoted Mingione to a full-time assistant. Cohen also put Mingione in charge of recruiting.
During Mingione’s time at MSU, he helped MSU advance to the 2013 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. MSU finished as the national runner-up that season to UCLA. He recruited many of the players that helped the Bulldogs win the Southeastern Conference regular-season title outright this year. He coached first and third base and worked with outfielders, first baseman, and hitters.
“It’s been a privilege to watch Nick develop as a person and a coach for a decade,” Cohen said in a statement released by MSU. “He’s a tireless recruiter who values relationships, and he’s done an outstanding job of developing our players. We are grateful for what he has helped us accomplish at Mississippi State, including a national runner-up finish at the 2013 College World Series and the 2016 Southeastern Conference championship. I’ve always thought he would make a terrific head coach. Just like our former pitching coach Butch Thompson, I am glad Nick is getting an opportunity to become a head coach in the SEC.”
Last October, Auburn hired Thompson to be its new baseball coach.
Mingione played at Embry-Riddle (Fla.) Aeronautical University from 1997-2000. He began his coaching career in 2001 as an assistant at Mariner (Fla.) High School. He was an assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast (2002), Embry-Riddle (2003-05), and Kentucky (2006-07). He was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Western Carolina in 2008 before re-joining Cohen at MSU. While at Kentucky, Mingione helped the Wildcats win the SEC regular-season title in 2006 with a 20-10 record.
“Nick Mingione is exactly the kind of coach we hoped to hire when we began our search,” Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart said in a statement released by the school. “His passion, tactical mind, and tireless recruiting efforts made him an important part of Mississippi State’s staff during some great years for the program. More than that, he is a man of substance who is committed not only to developing young men as baseball players, but as students and people.”
Mingione said in February he welcomed the thought of becoming a head coach, but loved the job he had. If a head coaching job didn’t come, he was fine with that, as long as he was working with great people at a great school.
Parks said he isn’t surprised it took Mingione this long to become a head coach because he was waiting for the right opportunity and he had to prove himself as a recruiter.
“This is an opportunity I’ve dreamed about for more than a decade,” Mingione said in a statement released by Kentucky. “From the moment I first stepped foot on campus, I knew it would be a place I could call home.”
Parks is excited to see what the future has in store for Mingione. Parks believes Mingione can lead the Wildcats back to a SEC championship.
As for his coaching style, Parks knows the players are going to like it.
“He’s passionate and he’s very energetic,” Parks said. “He’s a coach that creates a really good bond with his players. He’s the type that always has energy in practice and always has energy everywhere. He’s your coach on and off the field, but he can also be there for you kind of like a friend.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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