He led a celebratory summer parade bringing the National Championship trophy to campus in 2021. Not four full springs later Chris Lemonis is leaving Dudy Noble Field without fanfare.
Mississippi State is relieving head coach Lemonis of duties following a losing weekend at Auburn which dropped the season’s record to 25-19 and 7-14 SEC. The Bulldogs also lost a mid-week matchup with Ole Miss in Pearl and with it the 2025 Governor’s Cup.
Pitching Coach Justin Parker will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
“A change in leadership is what’s best for the future of Mississippi State Baseball,” Mississippi State director of Athletics Zac Selmon said. “We have not consistently met the standard of success that our university, fans and student-athletes expect and deserve. I want to thank Coach Lemonis for his work and the time he gave to our program, including a national championship in 2021. We appreciate his efforts and wish him and his family all the best moving forward.
“In a team meeting moments ago, I expressed to our student-athletes the confidence we have in their abilities and the potential they have for the remainder of the season. I encouraged them to compete with pride, resilience, and intensity. With the hard work, preparation, and talent already within this group, we are committed to putting them in the best position to finish the season competing at the highest level.
“Mississippi State is the premier job in college baseball. The tradition, the facilities, the NIL offerings and the fan base are all second to none. Dudy Noble Field is the best environment in the sport, period.”
This report will be updated as further information becomes available. But the best description of Lemonis’ Mississippi State career arc is to note he both won the school’s first baseball national championship, and is the first coach of the post-war era to be fired primarily for not winning enough.
Lemonis leaves with an overall 232-135 record compiled in six-plus seasons. His teams were 82-89 for SEC action though 40 of those wins came from the 2019 and ’21 seasons. They were also 3-6 in just three SEC Tournaments, missing out on the 2022 and ’23 events. The 2020 tournament was cancelled along with all the league season.
His NCAA Tournament record was much more productive as State played in three of them, winning regionals in ’19 and ’21 as well as super regionals both years. And of course the ’21 team brought home the National Championship which had eluded Bulldog baseball up to then. The 2020 team before that was rounding into form when the season was entirely cancelled before SEC play began.
The 50-18 campaign which ended with hoisting the Championship trophy earned Lemonis Coach of the Year by Baseball America on the day his team returned from Omaha. He was awarded an extended contract to four full years by athletic director John Cohen.
The 2019 team went 1-2 in Omaha, giving Lemonis a 6-4 combined mark on the sport’s grandest stage. That team’s 52-win season was a flying start towards Lemonis becoming the fastest Mississippi State skipper to reach 100 victories.
After bringing home the ultimate Trophy he and staff were unable to sustain the program’s successes. The Bulldogs went 26-30 and 27-26 the next two years and at 9-21 both times missed the SEC Tournament, as well as the NCAAs.
The 2024 season seemed a bounce back as the Bulldogs went 40-23 and 17-13 SEC with a pair of wins in Hoover. Bad non-conference losses early in the campaign came back to haunt as those kept Mississippi State from hosting a regional.
Instead the Dogs were sent to Virginia where they won a pair but also lost twice to the host team. Had they won, thanks to an upset in the paired regional, State would have hosted the super round.
Perceived pressure is on for the program to host this year but after the SEC stumbles that goal is no longer realistic. Participation the NCAA Tournament is still feasible but will take a complete May turnaround including at the SEC Tournament.
Lemonis becomes only the second Bulldog baseball coach fired in over a century, joining Andy Cannizaro after a season and a weekend in February 2018. And as Cannizaro was released for behavior off the field, Lemonis is the first coach to lose this job for on-field failures.
One-season coach Jimmy Bragan left after the 1975 campaign to return to professional baseball, with his place taken by one Ron Polk. That is now acknowledged as start to this modern era of both Bulldog and SEC baseball.
Paid attendance has not suffered seriously during this extended slump, and in his tenure Lemonis teams played before some of the largest crowds ever at Polk-Dement Stadium.
Lemonis came to Mississippi State in June, 2018, after those Diamond Dog returns from an unexpected run to the College World Series ‘final four’ round. That team was under interim management of Gary Henderson, promoted three games into the season after the firing of Cannizaro for off-field reasons. Cohen used the full season to pick candidates and conduct interviews during the NCAA tournament.
Before he arrived at State and in the SEC, Lemonis was head coach at Indiana four seasons with three NCAA Tournament appearances and a 141-91-2 record. His father Thomas Lemonis was a graduate student at Mississippi State.
The Diamond Dawgs return to action on Tuesday at 6 PM against Memphis at Dudy Noble Field.
