Just a little over a month after Jay Johnson brought the first national championship in baseball to LSU in 14 years, the man who helped guide the Tigers to their most recent previous title got his due as well.
Paul Mainieri, who coached LSU’s baseball team from 2007-2021, was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this past weekend.
Mainieri’s tenure in Baton Rouge was very eventful, leading LSU to four SEC championships, six SEC tournament titles and a national championship in 2009.
He also won the SEC’s Coach of the Year honors twice and the NCBWA National Coach of the Year in 2015. Mainieri finished with a .693 winning percentage in Baton Rouge and a record of 641-283-3, retiring from coaching after the 2021 season.
LSU made five trips to Omaha during Mainieri’s tenure leading the program.
“There’s an old saying that it takes years of hard work to become an overnight sensation, and you think about all the hard work you put in for so many years and how close you came to accomplishing great things,” Mainieri said about his induction, according to KALB.
Mainieri’s induction class also included fellow baseball coach Ron Washington, currently an assistant with the Atlanta Braves, and was headlined by two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli Manning.
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