Chris Lemonis was let go as Mississippi State’s head coach on Monday with three weeks remaining in the regular season and the Bulldogs sitting in 14th place in the new 16-team Southeastern Conference. Pitching coach Justin Parker will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of this year, but a national search for Lemonis’ full-time successor is already underway.
From current SEC head coaches to rising stars at mid-major programs to assistants looking for the chance to lead a program, here are several names athletic director Zac Selmon could consider to lead MSU’s storied program.
Nick Mingione, Kentucky head coach
Mingione has done outstanding work with the Wildcats, who had never won an NCAA regional before he arrived in 2016. Prior to his hiring in Lexington, Mingione was an assistant for the Bulldogs for eight years under John Cohen — who also was the head coach at Kentucky before coming to Starkville.
The Wildcats finished 19-11 in SEC play in 2017, Mingione’s first year, and reached the super regionals. After a few lean years, Kentucky advanced to another super regional in 2023, then shared the SEC regular-season title with Tennessee last year and made it to the Men’s College World Series for the first time ever.
At 46, Mingione still has plenty of his career in front of him. And Selmon will get a firsthand look this weekend, when the Wildcats visit Dudy Noble Field for a three-game series.
Butch Thompson, Auburn head coach
There would be some irony in MSU taking a head coach away from Auburn, considering Cohen’s penchant for hiring people away from the Bulldogs during his time as the Tigers’ athletic director. The most recent example was soccer coach James Armstrong, who jumped to Auburn after leading MSU to an SEC title last fall.
Thompson, like Mingione, worked for Cohen as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs. He has been with the Tigers since 2016 and has taken Auburn to the MCWS twice. Thompson was born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, and his Tigers just won a series last weekend against MSU.
As the Bulldogs’ pitching coach, Thompson helped lead MSU to a national runner-up finish in 2013. The pitching staff that year was in the top 15 nationally in ERA, strikeouts per nine innings and hits allowed per nine innings.
Wes Johnson, Georgia head coach
Johnson is yet another SEC head coach who once worked at MSU, albeit just for one year as pitching coach in 2016, when he helped the Bulldogs win the conference title. Johnson was also the pitching coach at Arkansas and at LSU, where he won the 2023 national championship and helped Paul Skenes grow into one of the best pitchers in college baseball history.
Georgia reached the super regionals for the first time since 2008 last year in Johnson’s first season in Athens and is currently ranked in the top 10. In addition to his extensive college experience, Johnson was also the Minnesota Twins’ pitching coach from 2019 through 2022, during which time the Twins won two division titles.
In his lone season at MSU, Johnson helped the Bulldogs improve from eight SEC wins to 21, with six pitchers selected in the MLB Draft.
Reggie Willits, Oklahoma associate head coach
This would follow the Selmon blueprint from his first major hire at MSU, football coach Jeff Lebby. That is, hire the top assistant at Oklahoma, where Selmon worked in administration for more than a decade. Willits is the Sooners’ hitting coach and has been on their staff since 2022, helping Oklahoma reach the national championship series in his first season and win the Big 12 regular season title last year.
A former player for the Sooners, Willits was an outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels from 2006-11. He later spent four years as the first base coach and outfield instructor for the New York Yankees before rejoining his alma mater.
Josh Elander, Tennessee associate head coach
One of the most coveted assistant coaches in the country, Elander helped guide the Volunteers to the 2024 national championship. He works primarily with Tennessee’s hitters and catchers and is also the program’s recruiting coordinator.
Elander played at TCU and then in the minor leagues for four years, and at just 34, is considered one of the brightest rising stars in the coaching profession. He spent one year as a volunteer assistant at Arkansas before coming to Tennessee in 2018 to work for Tony Vitello, and together the two of them have taken the Volunteers to new heights. Elander is ready for his first head coaching opportunity.
Lane Burroughs, Louisiana Tech head coach
Burroughs is an option if MSU wants to go with a mid-major head coach ready to make the jump to the SEC. He grew up in Meridian and started his career in the Mississippi junior college ranks, then was a longtime assistant coach at Southern Miss before joining the Bulldogs’ staff under Cohen from 2009-12.
After that, Burroughs took on his first head coaching job at Northwestern State and had three winning seasons in four years there. He became Louisiana Tech’s head coach in 2017 and won 45 games last year, leading his team to the Conference USA title and a third NCAA Tournament appearance in four seasons.
Skylar Meade, Troy head coach
Meade has also made a name for himself as a top mid-major head coach, and his Trojans defeated the Bulldogs in Starkville back in February. In his second season at Troy last year, Meade won 40 games and reached the NCAA Tournament, and he has had the Trojans ranked in the top 25 for most of this season.
A former pitcher at Louisville, Meade has been the pitching coach at Eastern Illinois, Middle Tennessee, Michigan State and South Carolina. His four years with the Gamecocks give him plenty of SEC experience, and he knows how to recruit in MSU’s backyard.
Max Weiner, Texas assistant coach
Highly regarded as a pitching guru, Weiner followed Jim Schlossnagle from Texas A&M to Texas last summer. In 2024, he helped the Aggies rank fourth nationally in ERA and set a school record with 715 strikeouts. Weiner has continued his mastery this year, with the Longhorns holding on to the No. 1 ranking.
In addition to his SEC experience, Weiner was also the pitching coordinator for the Seattle Mariners — an organization known for its strong pitching development — from December 2018 until the summer of 2023. He grew up in Miami and graduated from Florida International University, then was the minor league pitching coordinator for the Cleveland organization before joining the Mariners.
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