With only about a month until the start of the NCAA tournament, the college baseball world received some surprising news Monday.
Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis, who led the Bulldogs to their first and only national championship in 2021, has been fired, the university announced.
Assistant coach Justin Parker will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Over his seven seasons at Mississippi State, Lemonis went 232-135, though the program’s fortunes started to wane after winning the College World Series in 2021. The Bulldogs went 114-37 in Lemonis’ first three seasons, but have gone 118-98 since and have made it back to the NCAA tournament only once. This season, they’re 25-19 overall and 7-14 in SEC play, putting them in 14th place in the 16-team league.
In a statement, Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon said the program has “not consistently met the standard of success that our university, fans and student-athletes expect and deserve.”
‘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,” Selmon said in a statement. “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 program is built for success. Our history proves it, and our future demands it.”
A national search for Lemonis’ successor is underway, the university said. Lemonis was hired at Mississippi State in 2018 after a successful four-year run at Indiana in which he led the Hoosiers to the NCAA tournament three times.
Chris Lemonis contract details, buyout
Lemonis had an arrangement in which he was working under two contracts — one with the university and one with Bulldog Club, Inc., the latter of which is a non-profit organization that serves as the Mississippi State athletic department’s fundraising arm.
For the 2025 season, Lemonis was set to make $1.325 million total, with $840,000 coming from the state contract with the university and $485,000 from the Bulldog Club.
Both of Lemonis’ contracts were set to expire on June 30, 2026.
According to the terms of his deals, Lemonis is owed 75% of his remaining salary. If May 1 is used as his firing date, that buyout would come out to just shy of $1.2 million.
Lemonis’ contract includes a duty to mitigate clause, meaning the university and Bulldog Club can offset buyout money he’s set to receive based on income he receives from a new job.
Chris Lemonis record
Only one of Lemonis’ seven teams at Mississippi State finished with a losing record, though the Bulldogs had fallen off a bit after their College World Series title in 2021.
Here’s a year-by-year look at his record with Mississippi State:
- 2019: 52-15
- 2020: 12-4 (season canceled because of COVID-19)
- 2021: 50-18
- 2022: 26-30
- 2023: 27-26
- 2024: 40-23
- 2025: 25-19