Ron Polk

Ron Polk

Ronald George (Ron) Polk (born January 12, 1944) was a long-time head baseball coach at Mississippi State and is considered the "Father of SEC Baseball". He is by far the winningest coach in school and SEC history in all sports. In 31 seasons as an SEC coach, he has to date compiled a 1139-590-2 (.667) record. His career record stands at 1373-702-2. He currently ranks 8th on the all time wins list. His teams have won five SEC championships, including four SEC tournament championships. His teams have made it to the NCAA tournament 23 times, and have reached the College World Series 8 times. On March 27, 2008, he announced his resignation, effective the end of the 2008 season.

187 of his former players as a Head Coach have signed professional baseball contracts. 25 of these players have played in the major leagues He has coached 35 All-Americans and 76 All-Southeastern Conference players. Had 8 players picked in the first round in the professional baseball draft during his tenure at Mississippi State. He is one of only three coaches in college baseball history to coach at three different schools that have played in the College Word Series in Omaha, Nebraska.Georgia Southern University-1973; Mississippi State University- 1979, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1997, 2007; University of Georgia- 2001. He has coached teams that have played in Omaha in five decades (nine appearances) as he was an assistant coach at the University of Arizona in 1966when they played in the College World Series. Four of his teams at Mississippi Sate were ranked number one in the country during parts of each season (1985-89-92-06).

He is a member of the following Halls of Fame. Georgia Southern University Hall of fame (1990). American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame (1995). State of Mississippi Athletic Hall of Fame (1998). Mississippi State University Athletic Hall of Fame (1998). National College Baseball Hall of Fame (2009). He is a Former President of the American baseball Coaches Association (1985). Winner of the Lefty Gomez Award which is the highest award given by the American Baseball Coaches Association (1988). Mississippi State University named the baseball stadium The Polk-Dement Stadium (1997). Coach Polk has also completed seven tours on the U.S.A. National baseball team coaching staff serving as the head coach two times and as an assistant five times. He has coach in the Olympic Games two times once Seoul, South Korea in 1988 when the team one the gold medal and the other in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 when the team won the silver medal. Polk has authored two textbooks- The Baseball Playbook and The Baseball-Softball Playbook. These two textbooks are the leading teaching textbooks used in teaching baseball and softball classes in Colleges and Universities.

From 1972 to 1975, he served as the head coach at Georgia Southern. From 2000 to 2001, he coached at Georgia. He has also served as an assistant coach at Arizona, and New Mexico.

On July 28, 2008, Polk was announced as a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers baseball squad. The Blazers are coached by Polk's former MSU assistant Brian Shoop.

On March 24, 2009, Polk, along with former Mississippi State player, Rafael Palmeiro, was elected to College Baseball's Hall of Fame.