Trust you not. It is not a lateral move in baseball. In most other sports, yes, maybe even considered a downward move. But in baseball, track, maybe women's bball right now, it would be an upward move.
The Notre Dame job is NOT a lateral move in baseball. Notre Dame plays in the Big East which is pretty weak in baseball. This past year they only got one team(N.D.) into a regional and that was only as a 3 seed. They had an RPI of only 45 while the 2nd highest rpi in the league was around 70 from what I remember in the advocate today. To go from a one bid conference to a conference that roulinely sends 2/3 of its members to the ncaa is a good thing and when it is to a school with the history of LSU it's a no brainer.
First off, ' totally agree that moving from ND to LSU is NOT a lateral move. Moving from Big East to SEC in baseball, is like moving from SEC to PAC 10 in volleyball or water polo. Plus, I'll say that everything I can read about the ND coach is positive. He's had an incredible win % at a school where it's hard to win, he's got good baseball ties, LA ties, he's been to the CWS, and his personality and style would fit in well here when we have a baseball facility to build and marketing to do. Probably also gives us a fresh good look into Midwest baseball recruiting talent. So, why are folks like Dandy Don still singing the praises of Jim Pawlowski? Jim P is a guy who coached at small college CoC who happened to impress LSU when we played them and beat them back in a regional. Never been to a CWS. Can the baseball pundits break this down for me? Seems like Mainieri is the better choice here. Would he demand more $? Does Jim P having MLB experience make a difference? Is it a better coaching job to win at CoC vs. ND?
Sounds like the coach thinks it is a "upward" move. “Notre Dame has been a wonderful place for me and I’ve savored every day of the last 12 years I’ve been here. There aren’t five jobs in the country that I would even consider leaving Notre Dame for, but this is certainly one of them.” http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/3226106.html?showAll=y Good article on him.
He seems to be able to get players to the big leagues as well as graduate the ones who don't make it. Besides the on-field success, 47 Irish players have been drafted during his tenure and 13 others have played professionally after signing free-agent contracts. Every player who has stayed four years (71) during Mainieri’s tenure has graduated.
No pundit here, but I look at it like this: All coaches have to start somewhere, correct? Look at Bianco at NSU and now look at him at Ole Miss. Baseball is a sport where you don't have to be the best guy on the block, so to speak, you just have to be able to utilize the talent you have to the point of success. LSU can waste all of the time it wants flirting with coaches like Horton, Bianco, Wells, Tanner, Jones, etc., but the truth is, all of those aforementioned coaches are occupied (satisfied) with their respective programs. LSU would be better off getting a coach that could build for the future rather than seeking out immediate success, IMO. Now I do think that Casey, Fox, Pawlowski or Mainieri would all be great candidates--it's where LSU should have started searching. What big-name coach would leave a successful program for LSU's expectations? We see the job differently, through purple-and-gold-tinged-glasses, than do the top coaches in this country. Why leave a job making 3-400k where you would be venerated for simply making a regional so you could make 500k but have to deal with the pressures of going to Omaha regulary? I feel that LSU's administration likes to think that its jobs are a little more decorated and lucrative than what the national "circle of coaches" sees it as. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LSU, but sometimes we have to realize that our situations may not always be as attractive to others (outsiders) as they are to us. I still do believe that the LSU gig is in the top five in the nation, but the expectations that come with it easily make it less enticing.
This would not be a latteral move. College baseball in the mid-west is a joke. There are very few at-large teams in NCAA tounament, and very few make the CWS. Almost any job in the south would be a step up.
