In just three seasons, LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri has led the Tigers out of a rough patch and back to the pinnacle of college baseball, culminating in the school's sixth national championship this season.
For resolving that proud program to its former glory, Mainieri won his second coach of the year award. Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball have named him college baseball's coach of the year.
Mainieri said never wanted to be Mickey Mantle or Joe Morgan or Bob Gibson. Most youngsters grow up wanting to be major league baseball players, but I wanted to be a college baseball coach," said Mainieri, the son of a coach. "Growing up talking about Bobby Winkles and Rod Dedeaux and Augie Garrido -- those were my heroes."
Paul followed in his father's footsteps, getting into coaching after one season as a second baseman in pro ball. After three years as an assistant at a Miami high school, and six as the head coach at Biscayne (Fla.) College, and six more as the head coach at Air Force and 12 as the head coach at Notre Dame. Mainieri took over at LSU in 2006.
"I don't think anybody could have done it any faster or classier," said Skip Bertman of the turnaround from missing regionals in 2006 and '07 to reaching Omaha in '08 and '09.
Those words mean something coming from Bertman, the legendary former coach who led LSU to five national championships from 1991-2000.
Bertman served as LSU's athletics director after retiring from coaching in 2001, and he said he wanted to hire Mainieri as his successor, but Mainieri's contract at Notre Dame was a stumbling block, and Bertman gave the job to his assistant, Smoke Laval.
When Laval was fired after the Tigers missed regionals in 2006, Bertman went after Mainieri.
"This time, I interviewed some other people, but I really only wanted Paul," said Bertman.'
No wonder. Bertman has known Mainieri since he was 9 yeas old, and Bertman was the coach at Miami Beach High. Paul's father, Demie, recruited many of Bertman's players, and the two became friends. Bertman would come to Mainieri family dinners and give young Paul hitting lessons in he batting cage behind the house.
Paul played at Columbus High and competed against Bertman's teams, then spent his freshman year as an outfielder at LSU where he met his future wife, a Tigers cheerleader named Karen. Mainieri transferred to Miami Dade-North as a sophomore to play for his father, then finished his collegiate career at UNO. But he never lost his affection for LSU, even when his coaching career took off at Air Force and Notre Dame.
"Then as time went on, somewhere in the back of my mind I started thinking, 'Boy, I wonder if I could someday succeed Skip at LSU," said Mainieri. "But it seemed like such a pipe dream. It took a lot of courage for Skip to hire me. You're talking about an enormous fan base, and he went up to the North to bring a coach down.
"I can imagine the people in Baton Rouge saying, 'What are you bringing a Northern coach coach down for?' But Skip knew my background and I think he knew I was ready for it."
"In my mind," said Bertman, "As I told people when he first came down, this guy can't miss because he's so friendly and approachable. Everybody at LSU, with the fan base, they want to know the coach. They want to know the coach personally, and Paul's available for all that."
Mainieri comes across as as incredibly friendly, genuine and nice, but he's no pushover. His new players at LSU learned that early on.
"Coming in as a freshman, you don't know what to expect," said junior designated hitter Blake Dean. "Coach basically just sat you down and told you how it was going to be. If you messed up, you were going to pay the price for it. We had people late for study hall, being 10 to 15 minutes late for team meetings -- you had to pay for all that. There was all kinds of stuff you had to do as punishment to give you reminders of what ws expected. Eventually, people stopped messing up -- they didn't want to run anymore, they didn't want to do punishment work. So it basically evolved into discipline, getting your work done, doing what you need to do."
Junior outfielder/outfielder Ryan Schimpf said Mainieri forms such a strong bond with his players and that they feel like his own kids. The ability to maintain that balance between approachability and discipline is a key to Mainieri's success.
It was evident in Omaha from the first day, as Mainieri got emotional while sitting next to Virginia coah Brian O'Connor, his former assistant at Notre Dame, in the pre-Series news conference. He set aide the personal bond, though, and got his team past the Cavaliers in a hard-fought 9-5 victory.
'"The reason Paul is the best coach in college baseball is he does it the right way," said O'Connor. "He doesn't take shortcuts. He treats theplayers like men, and doesn't suffocate them."
But it's not just Mainier's interpersonal skills that make him coach of the year. He teaches the fundamentals extremely well and doesn't use 'gadgets." as he puts it. And he has a great feel for when to make moves, both in games and when it comes to filling out his lineup card.
Case in point: The Tigers took off this season after Mainieri had the guts to shake up his lineup to improve his defense, which wasn't turning enough double plays. He moved preseason All-America shortstop DJ LaMahieu to seond base, shifted preseason All-Amercan second baseman Schmipf to left field, and installed freshmen Austin Nola at sahortstop and Mikie Mahtook in center field. LSU went 28-5 after Nola took over at short on April 21.
"Naturally, he's very modest and always gives credit to his kids, as you should," said Berman. "But in watching college baseball for 45 years as I have, I can tell you, he has great mojo. It's magic, a mixture. Who knows exactly what it is, but he's got it."
Meanwhile, junior first baseman-catcher Sean Ochinko has signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and is headed to the team's rookie Class A team, the Gulf Coast Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla.
Freshman Randy Zeigler transferred to Bossier CityCommunity College and sophomore Jordan Nicholson left the team after failing to meet academic requirements.
The Tigers are also likely to lose Jared Mitchell, LeMahieu and Schimpf.to pro baseball.
Dean, a 10th-round selection of the Twins, could leave. He played wit an injury is his left shoulder (throwing) this season that will require surgery sooner than later. He is waiting on a final financial offer from the Twins and will make a decision this week.
"If Blake comes back, he could be in 2010 what Louis Coleman was to this team," said Mainieri. "He would a chance to go down as one of the best all-time great hitters in LSU history," said Mainieri.
Tigers freshman pitcher Matty Ott has been named to Baseball America's All-American first team, and associate coach David Grewe is not leaving LSU after one season. He was mentioned as a possible candidate for the Wisconsin job.
The Tigers will play Southern Mississippi in the Wally Pontiff Jr. Classic in Metairie on April 7.
SOME HITHER, OTHERS YON: From Hack-A-Shaq to Rent-A-Shaq, reputation has taken a hit since he left the Lakers in 2004 for the Heat.After winning an NBA championship with the Heat in 2006, O'Neal was traded to the Suns in 2008 and, on Thursday, from the Suns to the Cavaliers -- leaving the Sun Belt for the Rust Belt That's four teams in six years and three teams in two years...Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido was arrested for driving under the influence earlier this year, and he says the incident yielded one silver lining. Said the coach,"My mug shot was better than Nick Nolte's."...There are seven NFL teams for sale...The Hornets and Cavaliers couldn't work out a trade for Tyson Chandler so Cleveland landed Shaq in a trade...
The movie "The Blind Side." was based on a story that happened five years ago. The film, being shot in Atlanta, is based on Michael Lewis' best-selling book which documented Ole Miss tackle Michael Oher's transformation from the son of a drug-addicted mother and murdered father growing up in a Memphis housing project to an All-American and a rookie with the Ravens. Nick Saban plays himself trying to recruit Oher for LSU. On the set, Saban sat in his office at LSU which was littered with Tigers memorabilia, There was an LSU game ball, a 2001 SEC championship trophy and reprints of pages from the Advocate. There was even a replica of the key to the city of Baton Rouge. When he returned to Tuscaloosa after the filming, the coach told his Alabama players he would be appearing in the movie as LSU's coach. "An historic event," said Saban. "I told the players it was an historic event and this happened when I was at LSU. We have great fans at Alabama. Hopefully, everybody is big enough to understand that this film is documenting a true story,"...Celtics forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis auditioned for the part of Oher, but that role went to Quinton Aaron, 6-foot-8, 380 pounds....
Boxer Evander Holyfield is facing foreclosure onhis mansion in suburban Atlanta. The house has 109 rooms, including 17 bathrooms, 3 kitchens ab\nd 2 Starbucks.. It's sad. The place cost Holyfield an arm, leg and two ears. He's so desparate he might have to fight Jose Canseco...
In just three seasons, LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri has led the Tigers out of a rough patch and back to the pinnacle of college baseball, culminating in the school's sixth national championship this season.
