For the first time in nearly 20 years, the head baseball job at Louisiana State University is officially open again. With Paul Mainieri officially retired, the question is in what direction will Athletic Director Scott Woodward go?
Known for making big splash hires throughout his career at the University of Washington and Texas A&M, Woodward’s first big hire in his return to Baton Rouge certainly caused a tidal wave when he lured away Kim Mulkey from Baylor to replace Nikki Fargas as the women’s basketball coach.
Make no mistake, the LSU baseball job is still one of the top five positions in the country. You can win a national championship if you are able to keep the top talent in the state and the financial backing and fan passion is unquestioned. Of course, the LSU job is arguably the most pressure-packed position in all of collegiate baseball as well.
So who wants to take all of that on? After speaking to multiple different sources, here is my best guess of candidates:
The top two candidates both have Louisiana ties in Cliff Godwin and Jim Schlossnagle.
A former associate head coach at Tulane for eight years, including the 2001 season in which the Green Wave defeated the Tigers in a Super Regional, Schlossnagle has led the TCU Horned Frogs to five trips to Omaha in 18 years at the helm.
Godwin was an assistant under Mainieri for two different stints (at Notre Dame and LSU). In 2008, Godwin's LSU offense hit .306 with 100 home runs. In six years back at his alma mater at East Carolina, Godwin, who is the youngest coach on the list of candidates at 43, has led the Pirates to a pair of appearances in a Super Regional.
Other top choices that could be more of a pipe dream are Tim Corbin at Vanderbilt and Dan McDonnell at the University of Louisville. The latest public records (Vanderbilt is a private school so they don’t have to disclose coaches contracts) have Corbin making close to $2.4 million a year and he seems plenty content leading the Commodores.
McDonnell, who makes a manageable $1.05 million a year leading the Cardinals, has had plenty of chances to jump ship and leave (mainly when Texas came open), and has thus far not even entertained any offers.
Should Woodward decide to go the assistant coach route, I'm told at the top of the list would be a familiar name to Tiger fans in Mississippi State recruiting coordinator Jake Gautreau. The former Tulane standout has been the driving force for the resurgence of the Bulldog program, helping Mississippi State bring in some of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the country.
Wildcards: Current LSU recruiting coordinator Nolan Cain and current Texas Tech head coach Tim Tadlock.
Stay tuned to TigerDetails for all the most up-to-date information on the LSU baseball coaching search.
