Former Citadel star Lemonis fired at Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, MS (WCSC) - Mississippi State fired head baseball coach Chris Lemonis on Monday less than 4 years after he led the Bulldogs to a National Championship.

Lemonis, who’s from Myrtle Beach and played collegiately at The Citadel, was in the middle of his 7th season with the Bulldogs who were 25-19 (7-14) this year.

“A change in leadership is what’s best for the future of Mississippi State Baseball,” MSU AD Zac Selmon said in a statement. “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.”

Lemonis was a member of the 1990 College World Series team at The Citadel and would return to serve as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs under Fred Jordan from 1995-2006. From there he would serve as an assistant at Louisville before taking his first head coaching job at Indiana in 2015.

After winning 141 games and going to 3 NCAA Tournaments in 4 years with the Hoosiers, Lemonis was hired at Mississippi State.

Lemonis would win 232 games in his time at Mississippi State including going to the College World Series his first season in 2019 and then winning the National Championship in 2021. After 2 seasons of not making the postseason, the coach led the team back to NCAA Regionals in 2024.

According to USA Today, Lemonis’ buyout from Mississippi State will come out to $1.2 million.