LSU has its new baseball coach: Jay Johnson.
Johnson coached at Arizona for five seasons and will replace Paul Mainieri, who led LSU for 15 seasons.
Here are three things to know about Johnson:
1. He’s a coach’s son
Jay Johnson’s father, Jerry, was a high school football and track coach in his hometown of Oroville, California. As a boy, Jay would sit on the couch and watch game film with his dad. He has a reputation for football-like devotion to detail. “I look at WarrenNolan.com like 17 times a day,” Johnson said at the 2016 College World Series. “That is basically where I get my NCAA RPI information.”
2. An offensive coach
Arizona ranks third nationally in hits this season and seventh in batting. His 2019 team ranked in the top three nationally in five major offensive categories, including batting average, runs per game and slugging percentage. His 2016 CWS team at Arizona ranked fifth nationally in hits. And his 2015 team at Nevada led the nation in on base percentage, was second in slugging and third in batting average.
3. Omaha on his mind
Johnson’s first and last Arizona teams reached the CWS in 2016 and this year. Omaha has always been a goal, even when he was at tiny Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, his alma mater. “The NAIA World Series was around Memorial Day” in Idaho, Johnson said. On his calendar he wrote, “Idaho — Memorial Day.” Beneath that he wrote, “Omaha — Someday.” “It’s been in the back of my mind forever,” Johnson told the Baltimore Sun in 2016.
