Cohen returning to Mississippi State?

It appears virtually certain that former Demon baseball coach John Cohen will succeed his mentor Ron Polk as head baseball coach at his alma mater, Mississippi State.

Friday, Kentucky announced Cohen had resigned to accept another job. Earlier in the week, there was speculation that Cohen was the leading pick to take over the Bulldogs. Now the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports Mississippi State has called a pair of press conferences Saturday regarding the baseball program.

In five seasons as head coach at Kentucky, Cohen's record was 175-112-1. UK won a school-record 44 games in 2006 and tied the record this season, reaching an NCAA Region finals both times. The Wildcats, picked last in preseason polls of the Southeastern Conference in 2006, won the SEC title as Cohen picked up SEC and at least two national "Coach of the Year" honors.

Cohen was an All-America outfielder for Polk at Mississippi State, following in the footsteps of Will Clark.

He got his first head coaching job with the Demons and won a pair of Southland Conference titles from 1998-2001, going 146-84.

He and wife Nelle are both natives of Tuscaloosa, Ala., where John's late father was a law professor at the University of Alabama and Nelle's grandfather founded Golden Flakes potato chips.

Cohen still keeps a close eye on all NSU sports and remains in contact with friends and staffers here.

Vinson in the Mahoning Valley

OK, give yourself a gold star in American geography if you know where Davon Vinson is playing football.

He is the new quarterback of the Mahoning Valley Thunder. Hint - athletic director Greg Burke is very familiar with the M-V.

Yes, it's Ohio -- Youngstown to be exact, a place where they appreciate the championship subdivision brand of college football. Burke grew up in nearby Alliance, Ohio, and of course worked in Akron before rejoining Northwestern as AD in 1996.

Vinson, NSU's fifth-leading all-time passer, joined the Thunder two days before last weekend's indoor minor league football game against the Albany Conquest. He took the field with the Thunder trailing 18-0 and rallied them to a 44-31 victory, including 30 fourth-quarter points.

Vinson, a Demon standout from 2003-05, threw four touchdown passes and ran for a fifth score.

He will lead Mahoning Valley into a road game against the Quad City Steamwheelers in Moline, Ill., Friday night.

Camp season underway on campus

The air conditioning is turned up and so is the music in the arena at Prather Coliseum. It's the beginning of the annual summer cycle of cheerleader camps. Today is a high energy day - the kids will sleep well tonight and be a little sore and hoarse tomorrow morning.

For those of us who work in the coliseum, especially those who spend time working in the evenings, we get treated to some of the latest hot dance music. I like to call it "Prather Disco."

Also on campus, this is the opening day of the Louisiana Association of Student Councils camp which bases its operations out of the Friedman Student Union.

Meanwhile, workers were busy rounding out details on the fencing around the Walter Ledet Track and Field Complex early Sunday afternoon.

Me? I'm getting a little football media guide work done, and keeping track of how our friends are doing in the NCAA baseball regionals.

Doug Ireland, SID