Tag: Paul Mainieri

LSU’s Jay Johnson named Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball

Jay Johnson becomes the third LSU coach to win the award, joining Paul Mainieri and five-time winner Skip Bertman.

After capturing his first national title as a head coach and the first for LSU since 2009, [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] was the only logical choice for Coach of the Year.

Indeed, the head coach of the newly crowned champions received the honor by Collegiate Baseball on Thursday after a 54-17 season in his second year in Baton Rouge.

Johnson becomes the third LSU head coach to receive the award from the newspaper, joining [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag], who won it in 2009, and [autotag]Skip Bertman[/autotag]. The legendary Tigers coach won the award five times (1991, 1993, 1996-97, 2000).

LSU defeated Florida and coach Kevin O’Sullivan — who won this award in 2017 — in three games in the championship series. The Tigers won a decisive Game 3 18-4.

Johnson has built a championship roster quickly through the use of the transfer portal and elite high school recruiting. Now that he’s gotten the first title out of the way, he’ll try to defend it in 2024.

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Son of former LSU athlete Chad Jones participates in Tigers camp

A son of a former LSU star was at LSU’s recruiting camp.

The son of a former LSU two-sport standout took part in LSU’s recruiting camp over the weekend.

[autotag]Chad Jones Jr.[/autotag] posted a photo of himself and [autotag]Frank Wilson[/autotag], saying he appreciated the opportunity to be there.

His father, [autotag]Chad Jones[/autotag], had an illustrious career at LSU.

Jones was a contributor on the 2007 national title team. In 2009, he was second team All-SEC and had one of the best single-game performances in LSU history against Mississippi State.

You might remember Jones’ from that week. Jones dodged several Bulldog defenders en route to a 94-yard punt return touchdown.

To go along with his football championship ring, Jones got one with the baseball team. He was a top reliever for Paul Mainieri’s group that year and helped clinch LSU’s title win in Omaha.

It doesn’t seem Jones Jr. has a scholarship offer from LSU, but it’s nice to see him at the recruiting camp. He plays for Southern Lab High School in Baton Rouge.

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Report: Former LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri to interview for Miami job

Is Paul Mainieri going to be coming out of retirement?

Former LSU baseball coach [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag] may not be retired for good, after all. Mainieri will interview for the open Miami Hurricanes coaching job this week. D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers was the first to report the news.

It certainly comes as a surprise. Mainieri, who coached at LSU from 2007-21 and won a national title in 2009, announced his retirement two years ago. But with former UM coach Gino DiMare stepping down this offseason, it appears Mainieri is considering a return to the dugout.

Mainieri has some ties to the area. Though he was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, he graduated from Columbus High School in Miami. After one season at LSU, he transferred to Miami-Dade North Community College to play for his father’s team before landing at New Orleans.

A head coach at Notre Dame, Air Force and NAIA St. Thomas (Florida) before arriving at LSU, Mainieri had a 641-283-3 record in 15 seasons with the Tigers. He won six SEC tournament titles, four SEC regular-season titles and reached Omaha five times.

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LSU’s Jay Johnson details his relationship with legendary coach Skip Bertman

Johnson has quite a standard to live up to as the coach of the Tigers.

Every baseball coach who takes the LSU job knows the big shoes they have to fill.

Longtime former coach and athletics director [autotag]Skip Bertman[/autotag] set the program’s standard, winning five of LSU’s six national titles while at the helm from 1984-01. Now, coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] looks to become the third LSU coach to win a national title as the Tigers begin their run at the 2023 College World Series in Omaha.

Though he hasn’t been in an administrative role since 2008, Bertman remains a major figure within the program. In an interview with former player [autotag]Mikie Mahtook[/autotag] on the Mik’d Up w/ Mikie Mahtook podcast, Johnson detailed his relationship with Bertman.

“The best part of this job is the personal relationship I’ve got to develop with him,” Johnson said, per On3. “Because in the profession I have, you always aspire to be the best. He is the unquestioned GOAT. No doubt about that. I studied him as a young coach so now talking to him like three or four times a week and getting to hear or re-hear some of those stories because I have some familiarity with him has been amazing.”

Johnson’s direct predecessor, [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag], also set the standard high, winning a national championship in 2009. Mainieri also remains around the building and has had an impact, as well.

“Last night will be that night I remember forever and he’s a big part to do with that and same with Coach Mainieri,” Johnson said. “He couldn’t have been better as far as helping me get off to a good start here and just little things I needed to know about the program and the roster and all those types of things. Getting to spend time with two guys of that level and caliber of coach here is honestly, probably, from the personal standpoint, one of the best things about coaching here.”

LSU begins its run in Omaha against Tennessee on Saturday as Johnson looks to join an exclusive club of national title-winning Tigers coaches.

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A look back on LSU’s last 5 super regional appearances

Here’s how LSU has fared at this stage of the tournament in recent years.

LSU is preparing for its 16th super regional appearance in the current format. When the Kentucky Wildcats come to Baton Rouge this weekend, it’ll also mark the 12th time LSU played host to a super regional.

LSU is 17-9 in those home games and 18-16 overall.

This is LSU’s first super regional appearance in two years and the first at Alex Box Stadium since 2019.

It’s been a while since the Tigers have won a super regional, at least by LSU standards: 2017. Coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] looks to end that drought this weekend and make his first trip to Omaha as LSU’s head coach.

Let’s take a look back at LSU’s last five super regionals.

No. 1 LSU vs. Lamar: How to watch, stream, preview for Wednesday night midweek contest at The Box

Here’s what you need to know to follow Wednesday night’s game against the Cardinals.

Coming off a perfect 4-0 weekend at Alex Box Stadium against Butler and Central Connecticut in which the Tigers earned three run-rule wins, LSU is back on the diamond on Wednesday night for a home matchup against the Lamar Cardinals.

The Cardinals (10-2) began the season 9-0 before dropping two of three against Penn this past weekend, though they did manage to take the rubber match on Sunday. LSU (11-1), meanwhile, won all of its games by at least 10 runs and remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the polls following the weekend.

Lamar is led by seventh-year coach Will Davis, a former LSU catcher and later assistant under [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag] from 2008-15.

“I have a lot of respect for (Lamar coach) Will Davis and his program,” coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] said in a release. “He does a great job; I think he’s put that roster together about as well as you can. They have veteran players who are competitive and tough. They also use their pitchers the right way, so we’ve got a lot of preparation to do.”

Here’s everything you need to know to follow this one, which is set to start at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Five things for LSU fans to be thankful for this year

In honor of Thanksgiving, here’s what LSU fans should be thankful for this holiday season.

The Tigers’ athletic department has a proud tradition of contending: not just in football, but in sports across the board.

When I began covering this team back in March, it seemed like the program was at something of a low point. The football team had just brought in [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] after back-to-back disappointing campaigns, while the basketball program was closing up a disappointing finish to a season that started strong and ultimately ended with the dismissal of [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag].

To add onto that, the baseball program had a new coach in [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag], who was tasked with replacing the legendary [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag], and [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] was in her first season trying to take the women’s basketball program to the next level. Change was the defining theme of this athletics department under [autotag]Scott Woodward[/autotag] just a few months ago.

But eight months later, and there seems to be an entirely new outlook for a number of LSU sports. With so much change in 2022 — much of it positive — here’s what Tigers fans have to be thankful for this holiday season.

Five former LSU athletes and coaches named to Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s 2023 class

Five more LSU alumni are joining the Hall.

Five former LSU players/coaches were recently named as 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Inductees.

[autotag]Paul Byrd[/autotag], [autotag]Walter Davis[/autotag], [autotag]Wendell Davis[/autotag], [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag] and [autotag]M.L. Woodruff[/autotag] are all going to be rightfully inducted into the Hall.

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame already includes 25 Pro Football Hall of Fame members, 18 Olympic medalists — including 11 gold medal winners — 12 members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, seven of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players, seven National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, 42 College Football Hall of Fame members and nine National High School Hall of Fame enshrinees.

It also features jockeys with a combined 16 Triple Crown victories, six world boxing champions, nine Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinees, seven College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, 10 College Basketball Hall of Fame members, four NBA Finals MVPs, four winners of major professional golf championships, five National Museum of (Thoroughbred) Racing and Hall of Fame inductees and two Super Bowl MVPs, per LSU.

Here’s a rundown of LSU’s additions and why each was chosen, according to the press release from the Tigers.

An ‘Irish goodbye’ to Link Jarrett?

Whatever happens in the next few days, Link Jarrett has raised the bar at Notre Dame.

If you haven’t paid attention, Notre Dame athletics are a proud bunch that are successful in just about every sport they play.  However, the bar has been raised significantly in one of those sports in recent years.

From their first year as an ACC member school in 2014 through 2019, Notre Dame went just 55-93 in conference play in baseball.

College World Series? That was beyond a dream as the Irish finished the regular season of conference play higher than tenth place just once in that stretch.

Then a head coach by the name of [autotag]Link Jarrett[/autotag] was hired out of UNC Greensboro where he won over 30 games in each of his final four seasons.

Jarrett made an immediate impact on Notre Dame as the Irish got off to a hot 11-2 start including a sweep at North Carolina before the pandemic wiped away the entire rest of the season.

A year later Jarrett guided that same Notre Dame squad within one win of a College World Series appearance before falling to the eventual champions in three games at Mississippi State.

This past season speaks for itself as Notre Dame and Jarrett completed one of the biggest upsets in school history in beating the unbeatable Tennessee squad in three games, earning a trip to Omaha and the College World Series for just the third time in program history.

Jarrett, who was a candidate for the LSU opening last year is the clear wish for Florida State who is in search of a new head coach.  The Seminoles have appeared in the second most NCAA baseball tournaments of all-time and reached Omaha an absurd 23 times.

They’ve never won it all however and with a rare job opening in Tallahassee, it’s easy to see why Jarrett, a former Seminoles shortstop who appeared in three of the College World Series himself, is the top candidate for the job.

I won’t pretend to know if Jarrett is going to ultimately take the Florida State job or not but it’s hard to imagine him staying at Notre Dame when the place that is reaching out not only presents an easier path to winning big but is also a place he called home for years.

Just like when [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag] left Notre Dame for LSU after guiding the Irish to Omaha, Jarrett certainly will have that opportunity.

If he does ultimately take the job which I won’t pretend to have any actual inside information on, Jarrett’s Irish goodbye should be celebrated for him putting Notre Dame baseball back on the map and doing what is truly best for him and his career.

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Breaking down the 5 LSU teams that have undergone coaching changes since 2020

Each of LSU’s major sports has undergone coaching transitions in the last two years. Let’s take a look at all of them.

Since August 2020, what could be considered LSU’s five major sports have all undergone coaching changes.

Those five sports are football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, and gymnastics.

The situations leading to each change were wildly different, and sometimes not even in the same stratosphere. Nonetheless, the changes did occur and the athletic department looks a whole lot different than it did when 2020 began.

Gymnastics was the first to transition and also the most seamless, when [autotag]D-D Breaux[/autotag] retired, associate head coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] was tabbed to assume the head position.

Next, in what was the most impressive hire, [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] came to LSU after building a dynasty at Baylor. Not long after that, [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] was hired to helm the baseball program after the retirement of [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag].

I doubt many people need refreshers on what happened in football or men’s basketball, given how dramatic and high-profile each situation was, but [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] took over after a wild conclusion to the [autotag]Ed Orgeron[/autotag] era. Most recently, [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] was hired after the [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag] saga came to an inevitable ending.

With all five coaches now in place, let’s take a look back at each transition, and where each sport stands going forward.