[02/06/01] Mississippi State coach Pat McMahon has been selected to serve as head coach of the USA Baseball National Team, which will play this summer.

“His reputation as an outstanding leader on and off the field will certainly be beneficial to our team as we travel both domestically and overseas in competition,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball’s executive director.

In June, USA Baseball, McMahon and his coaching staff will select a team made up primarily of the nation’s top freshman and sophomore collegiate players.

Former Vicksburg High star Robby Goodson, who was a finalist for the USA Baseball Junior National Team last year, is a freshman at MSU.

The players will assemble in Tucson, Ariz., then depart for Japan to play a five-game series against the Japanese Collegiate All-Stars in Tokyo and Okinawa. They will then play 25 more games in July, including stops in New York and Alaska.

“I consider it among the highest honors and privileges to be selected … ,” McMahon said. “It’s difficult to put into words the emotions you feel when you put on the uniform with USA written across the jersey and the tremendous pride you feel representing this great nation and our national sport.”

McMahon, the Bulldogs’ coach for four years, was a USA National Team assistant under ex-MSU coach Ron Polk in 1991 and under California’s Bob Milano in 1997. The team won the bronze medal in 1991 in Cuba to secure a berth in the 1992 Olympics. The ’97 squad took fourth in the Intercontinental Cup in Spain.

His assistants will be Paul Stevens, head coach at Northwestern University, and Dusty Rhodes, North Florida head coach.

McMahon, 47, is 314-150 as a head coach at State and Old Dominion.