THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406010622
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940601 LENGTH: NORFOLK
He's leaving for one of them.
{REST} For the second time in eight weeks, a successful Monarchs head coach is moving on. McMahon will become the associate head coach at Mississippi State, a program he served seven years as an assistant coach and one as a graduate assistant before coming to Old Dominion.
McMahon's departure comes on the heels of former ODU basketball coach Oliver Purnell leaving for Dayton.
McMahon has the assurance he will be Mississippi State's next head coach when Ron Polk, the Southeastern Conference's all-time winningest baseball coach, retires.
``Rest assured I feel very comfortable with the timetable,'' McMahon said.
The school also announced a four-year contract extension for Polk Tuesday, but that doesn't necessarily equate to McMahon spending four years as the coach-in-waiting. Polk has assumed an additional title of assistant athletic director, and doesn't seem determined to coach four more years.
``Could be less,'' Polk said. ``Could be one year.''
Whenever he gets the promotion, McMahon steps into a job regarded among the best in college baseball. Prior to this season, the Bulldogs led the nation in attendance in five of the last 10 seasons and had been
to the NCAA regional tournament seven consecutive seasons.
But last season there was a rare lapse at Mississippi State. The team didn't make the tournament, and average home attendance dropped to 2,220 a game, less than half what it had been the previous season. McMahon has the opportunity to start helping turn things around before he takes over.
``Essentially, this was Ron's plan,'' Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton said, ``but there was never a question that Pat McMahon would be the next head baseball coach at Mississippi State.''
But the Bulldogs got a little spooked when McMahon was offered and considered the job at Alabama recently, which caused Mississippi State to expedite his hiring.
``Alabama wasn't the only school,'' Polk said. ``Pat is so good, we knew it was just a matter of time before a good school offered him an attractive job.''
So the Bulldogs came up with an attractive offer, one that surpassed what McMahon imagined possible.
``It's a very strong financial commitment - immediately and long-range,'' said McMahon, who declined to elaborate.
McMahon, 41, said he felt he owed it to his family and himself to make the move and accept the challenge and pressure of one of the nation's premier coaching positions. He said it was hard to leave behind his Old Dominion assistant coaches and players.
But he leaves a program that just played in the NCAA East Region tournament and went 189-86 in his five years. Only one position player and one front-line pitcher from this season's team will not be back next season, barring transfers or players leaving school early for pro ball.
``The very difficult thing is it impacts the lives of so many people here,'' McMahon said. `` ... I feel very comfortable things are very much in place here, so it's OK to leave. But it's very difficult to leave because of the people you work with on a day-to-day basis.''
McMahon said the timing, coming on the heels of Purnell's departure, is unfortunate. He said ODU's baseball job is not a stepping-stone position.
``The fact one of the top five programs in college baseball is coming after our coach is a very positive sign for Old Dominion's baseball program,'' Monarchs athletic director Jim Jarrett said. ``The future of our program is bright and will continue to be very good.''
Jarrett said he hopes to complete the search for McMahon's successor by July 1. He said assistant Tim Parenton will administer McMahon's summer baseball camps, and that perhaps McMahon will participate in some capacity.
Jarrett called the Monarchs' losing two successful coaches in two months the ``casualty'' of having a quality coach with a good program.
``It's certainly a better situation than having losing programs or average programs and people not being interested, although it is frustrating,'' Jarrett said.
by CNB