New Mississippi State athletic director Greg Byrne has made some favorable impressions on both Bulldog boosters and Bulldog coaches during his first five months on the job.

Byrne was in Vicksburg Tuesday night to speak at the Mississippi State Warren County Alumni Association meeting at City Auditorium.

“He’s brought a real energy and has been very progressive with our programs,” said Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Sharon Fanning, who accompanied Byrne to Vicksburg.

Outgoing Warren County Alumni Association President Tony Loper agreed.

“I feel like we have a solid foundation at Mississippi State, especially by having coach Croom with our football program. He’s run it the right way and brought in a level of excitement which is so important,” Byrne said.

“Coach Stansbury was very deserving (of the extension) because of the great job he’s done getting us back to the NCAA Tournament, getting to the second round, and playing Memphis so tough.

“I also think we have other great coaches as well like Jay Miller with our softball program and our men’s golf team is coming off its first NCAA berth since 2000.”

Byrne was also an associate athletic director at Kentucky and that helped make his first coaching hire an easy one. He brought in Kentucky baseball coach John Cohen as the replacement for the retirng Ron Polk. While Polk objected to the hire, Byrne says it was a good fit for State.

“Coach Cohen has brought back an energy level to our baseball program,” he said.

The next order of business will be improving State’s athletic facilities. Bulldog football fans will be treated to a new high definition replay board at Scott Field.

“It’s going to be one of the biggest in the SEC and we’ve also added an HD controller to go with it. This is the first of many things we’ll be trying to do for our facilities,” Byrne said.

Another will be a new practice facility for the basketball programs. Former player Ben Hansbrough cited the lack of one as the biggest reason for his transfer to Notre Dame.

“We need one and that’s why this weekend, coach Stansbury, coach Fanning, and I are visiting some other schools to get ideas. Friday we will be at Vanderbilt and Tennessee and I’ve already visited Florida, Kentucky and Texas,” Byrne said.

Humphrey Coliseum is not on the agenda to be replaced.

“I actually like the size of our basketball facility. At 10,000 seats it will keep demand up for season tickets,” Byrne said.