‘Reel’ Chemistry: How Fishing Helped Shape State’s Culture
February 09, 2026 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
STARKVILLE – August 16, 2025. That's the date the first post appeared.
Several Mississippi State baseball players had a passion for fishing and decided to share their success to the masses by creating an Instagram account – 'dawgscatchinghawgs'.
Since last summer, about three dozen photos have been shared showcasing the big ones State stars have reeled in. It's cool. It's impressive.
But to steal a theme from an old Trace Adkins country song, these guys were doing so much more than just fishin'. On random ponds in the Mississippi heat, Bulldog veterans like Ace Reese and Noah Sullivan along with newcomers including Aidan Teel and Chone James were actually laying a foundation.
Baiting hooks and casting lines were creating bonds and building trust. It was all serving to help develop a clubhouse chemistry for the season to come that can both celebrate the figurative incredible catches and regroup in the moments when a big one gets away.
"All the guys that returned here, they know all the good [fishing] spots," first-year Bulldog and Virgina transfer pitcher Tomas Valincius said. "It's been fun. We just go out and have a good time off the field, don't think about baseball and it kind of comes down to us just being together."
No Dawgs have been catching any hawgs since November – at least not to be shown on social media. Cold weather and preparations for the season have taken priority. Still, the relationships formed on local lakes and ponds persist and have carried over into the entirety of the Bulldog clubhouse.
Underneath this group's lofty expectations is a connectivity that's hard to explain.
This is a team largely made up of three groups. There are the returning Bulldogs. There are the Virginia transfers who followed head coach Brian O'Connor to Starkville. Then there are the freshmen and other transfers not previously connected to either MSU or Coach Oak.
Logic would tell you it'd take time for everyone to get on the same page. Well, throw that logic out the window.
"Something that we didn't do really good last year is come together as a team early on [in the fall]," Reese said. "I feel like we didn't get close as a team last year until right around Christmas. Right now, I already feel like we've all been together for years"
Reese shares his feelings with virtually all wearing the M-over-S.
O'Connor mentioned last June at his introductory event at Dudy Noble Field that his teams would prioritize togetherness. There'll be a visual representation of that every time Mississippi State plays this season. No names will be on the backs of MSU jerseys. It's all about the name on the front.
This is a team really and truly all in it together – for Mississippi State and for each other.
"I had an end of the fall meeting in early November and spent 30-45 minutes with every player talking about their fall and their team and how they felt about the program," O'Connor said. "To a man, almost every one of them said this was the best team culture they've been a part of and that was really great to hear. I shared that with the entire team that so many of their teammates felt that way.
"In order to develop that, you have to have intentionality with what you do every day."
Seemingly, that's what the Bulldogs have done since the moment O'Connor arrived. They've been in this thing as one, on the field and off.
"We all lean on one another," Teel shared. "Us guys transferring over from UVA may be seen as like the leaders [at practice] because we may have a better idea of what's going on [because of our familiarity with the coaching staff]. But when it comes to leadership, we're also leaning on the guys that have been here and understand this place."
The common link for everyone has been O'Connor and his staff. The hall of fame leader and his assistants can't magically create culture, but they can absolutely foster it.
"I think it comes from the top," Teel continued. "It comes from the leadership that Oak and the other coaches provide. Our practices are very difficult, and they do that for a reason. It puts us all through a common adversity and that brings us closer together because we all experience it together. We're all trying to get better, and when you're constantly pushing one another to be at your best, it brings you closer."
State's camaraderie can be seen in even the smallest of moments. That's one of the things that's caught O'Connor's eye.
"What I have seen that has been most impressive to me is not the rah-rah stuff," O'Connor said. "It's actually one player to another player, taking the time to help him develop. It might be a sophomore or junior showing a freshman a pitch grip of how he throws a changeup. They don't look at it as competition within the clubhouse. They look at it as [helping] a teammate. When you have that and you see that with your eyes as a coach and you have some talent, you believe that you have a pretty good chance."
To be fair, it's easy for all to be on the same page right now. Not a single pitch that counts has been thrown yet.
The true measure of this team's cohesiveness will come in the months ahead.
"The reality is that great culture is ultimately determined by how the group and clubhouse manage adversity," O'Connor said. "Adversity is coming, and it's going to come often in this game and in this program. That is when you find out what kind of culture that you have.
"For the last six months we've been scrimmaging and two teams have been playing. [Starting on Opening Day], it's only one lineup. How they manage that in that clubhouse is critically important to the culture. But so far, the jelling with the returning Mississippi State guys, some of the Virginia guys, the other transfers and the freshmen, I have been ecstatic with how it's gone."
It could end up being a little ironic. If these Diamond Dawgs are able to stick together and find success by navigating the choppy waters that'll surely come their way, you can argue it all started on a boat.
