Mississippi State’s Ron Polk, the winningest coach in Southeastern Conference history, has announced that he will resign at the end of the 2008 season.

"It goes without saying that we are most appreciative of the outstanding job Ron Polk has done for Mississippi State baseball,” MSU coach Larry Templeton said in a release.  “His decision does not come as a surprise because we had a conversation about this timeline even before this season started.

“With Ron making his decision public at this time, it will allow our institution to properly put together a process for the selection of our next head baseball coach."

It’s interesting that the word "retire" does not appear in Mississippi State’s press release, but Polk is 64 years old and has coached for 40 years, including 29 at MSU. Polk has guided the Bulldogs to 20 regional appearances, including each of the last five years, and six trips to the College World Series, including last year. His 1,360 wins ranks fifth among active coaches.

But Mississippi State is just 10-13 in 2008, and 1-5 in the SEC.

We’ll have more on this story in the coming week.