Former Mississippi State baseball coach Andy Cannizaro in running for another collegiate job

About two-and-a-half years after he resigned from his post as head baseball coach at Mississippi State, Andy Cannizaro is reportedly in the running to lead a college baseball program again.

D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported on Tuesday night that Cannizaro has interviewed to be the next head coach at Eastern Kentucky University. 

Eastern Kentucky has been in the market for a new leader ever since Edwin Thompson resigned as the school’s head coach earlier this month. Thompson left to take over the baseball program at Georgetown University. Now, Cannizaro is apparently at least a candidate to fill Thompson’s shoes. 

Cannizaro is of course best known for his tenure as head coach at Mississippi State. He came to the Bulldogs when John Cohen was elevated to MSU athletic director late in 2016. Cannizaro was Cohen’s first hire.

Things originally went well for Cannizaro. Despite coaching a team that had a pitching staff riddled with injuries, Cannizaro led Mississippi State all the way to a Super Regional in 2017 before being eliminated on the doorstep of the College World Series. However, he wouldn’t get the chance to break through to Omaha the following year. 

Just three games into the 2018 season, Cannizaro resigned. At the time, he cited “poor decisions”. Cannizaro was then out of coaching altogether for more than a calendar year before he took a job in the high school ranks as the head coach at Holy Cross School in Louisiana in the summer of 2019.

Now though, it looks as though Cannizaro is trying to get back into the college game. Other than at Mississippi State, Cannizaro’s other collegiate coaching experience came as an assistant at LSU from 2014 through 2016. That followed a standout college baseball playing career at Tulane and a brief professional playing career with the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays organizations. 

MORE FROM COWBELL CORNER:

Dan Mullen revisits his Egg Bowl experiences

Callin’ Baton Rouge: Five questions for an LSU insider from a Mississippi State perspective

Mississippi State offensive lineman Scott Lashley out for the year according to report

Takeaways from Mississippi State baseball’s first fall scrimmage

Mike Leach seems to be enjoying Coke’s sponsorship of Mississippi State

To follow along on Cowbell Corner and comment on articles and participate in the community, simply sign up, get a username and chime in with your thoughts and questions. Also, be sure to follow Cowbell Corner on Twitter (@SIBulldogs) by clicking here, and like it on Facebook by clicking here. Thank you for coming to Cowbell Corner for coverage of Mississippi State sports.