In what would only be considered among the best of April Fools' Day jokes, Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin and Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin have decided to have fun with the confusion surrounding their names and switch roles and positions for the day after a secret 4 to 1 vote by members the Mississippi College Board and the Georgia Board of Colleges and Universities approved the swap.
"Unfortunately, this falls on a week with no mid-week game," said Stricklin. "I would have loved to coach on the field. Will I use my time to my advantage? Maybe. I could really wear out the Georgia pitchers with a long side session at practice today.I might make them throw for four hours and one minute."
When pressed to see if he was serious about the matter, Stricklin replied with a wink, "Nah, right Scotty?"
Meanwhile in Starkville, some panic has gripped the university and its fans as Stricklin could use his day as athletic director to wreak havoc on the Mississippi State athletic program.
"Well, I do have a 9:00 conference call with the Sun Belt Conference," said Stricklin. "Mississippi, oops, Mississippi State—that was for you ESPN— should enjoy playing in that conference for the next few years."
He later added with what might could be called an evil laugh, "I mean, they are replacing their entire coaching staff as of 10:00. Oops, I wasn't supposed to let that secret out yet."
In addition, it looks like the Maroon and White's out of conference schedule has been set for 2016-2020 with four road games at Oregon, Florida State, North Dakota State, and Stanford and one return trip from each that can be bought out for $41 by each program.
"Let's see how well Mississippi State fans make those trips," said Stricklin.
With such out of character actions, personnel in both athletic offices were quickly tipped off that something was not right.
"I can't figure out what is going on with Scott today," said Janet Sanderson, a receptionist in the Georgia athletic office. "Scott has been on twitter a whole lot more today than normal."
However, Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity could only nod with a smile when informed of the actions in Starkville.
Over in Starkville, an SID, who was busy cleaning out his office and was willing only to speak on the basis of anonymity, said, "I don't get it at all. Scott just shut down the entire baseball program while talking about 'now let's see who makes a regional.'"
While these reports have had many in an uproar, one member of the Mississippi College Board only said, "Don't blame me. I didn't start this foolishness."
***If you haven't caught on...April Fools!***