SxSE: Coach Paul Mainieri's LSU Tigers

♦ Recruiting footprint:  Based on recent rosters, Mainieri tends to recruit heavily from Louisiana, plus Texas and Florida, and random players from OK, CA, NC, CO, MS, WA, NV.

♦ LSU's 2012 schedule include 37 home games out of 56 (66%), tying Georgia for the most home contests.  LSU took it a step farther, however.  Only three of their road games were out of conference, and all three of those were within the state of Louisiana.

♦ Paul Mainieri bio (lsusports.com)

When Paul Mainieri was hired as LSU's baseball coach in June 2006, he expressed a clear vision for the future of the Fighting Tiger program.

"Make no mistake about it," he said. "The goal is to return LSU to the pinnacle position in college baseball. I have all the confidence in the world that we can do that here."

Just three years later, LSU did indeed occupy the pinnacle position in college baseball as the 2009 NCAA National Champions. Mainieri directed the '09 Tigers to the College World Series title, posting a 56-17 overall record, including a 10-1 mark in NCAA Tournament competition.

♦ One-on-one with LSU’s Paul Mainieri (yahoo.com, 11/24/2009)

I have no interest in being part of professional baseball. I had a chance to play a little minor league baseball out of college. For some people that’s the world they enjoy. For me, it’s not. For me, I love being on a college campus. Even though college baseball has some parts that haven’t evolved too well, I love that you can have such an influence on 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. You can help them take some lessons through the rest of their lives. On the other end of the spectrum, winning is the only thing in pro ball. I enjoy winning and think it’s great, but I’m never going to break the rules and do it the wrong way. I enjoy the relationships I have with players, coaches and even our opponents. I want to have those experiences. College baseball gives me the best chance to have them.
. . .
When I was young, and I’m not sure why this was, I’d always look at my dad and see what a great leader he was to people. He was an athletics director and he always made me captivated by the concept of leadership. Therefore, in high school, I read a lot of books about different leaders. I idolized Vince Lombardi and also read books about General George Patton, General Dwight Eisenhower and other military leaders. I also always read a lot of books from leaders in other fields to understand how they got things done, too. I always liked reading about people that understand how to be successful.

♦ Mainieri placing focus on pitching (tigersportsdigest.com)

LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri stood before a huge gathering of media last month at his introductory press conference and was asked to summarize his coaching philosophy. He answered without hesitation.

“There is one common denominator with all successful baseball teams – pitching,” Mainieri said. “You have to pitch in order to win. The first priority for me is to get our pitching staff to perform at the highest level to give us a chance to win.

“Pitching will be the No. 1 point of emphasis to make us competitive on a consistent basis.”

Mainieri’s success in developing pitchers in 12 seasons as the head coach at Notre Dame provides insight into what he is capable of accomplishing at LSU.

♦ The Tigers will face each of the two new schools on the road, traveling to Missouri March 29-31 and to A&M May 10-12. The Missouri series will mark a reunion for LSU coach Paul Mainieri and Mizzou coach Tim Jamieson, who were teammates at the University of New Orleans in 1979. (sportsnola.com)

♦ Listen to a good interview with Paul Manieri at CollegeBaseball360.com.  He talks about the 2012 season, but also about his philosophies and about MU and A&M entering the SEC.