Flawed Narrative: LSU ‘bought’ baseball national title

While Paul Mainieri became a frequent target of criticism in his latter years at LSU, the former Tigers baseball coach did an excellent job running the Tiger program.

Yes, he won only one national championship. Those are hard to come by. Mainieri did it in his third year at LSU, and his teams went to Omaha five times.

Jay Johnson did it in his second year at LSU and his legacy is secure. It can grow from here but it will not be easy.

So many schools are committed to the sport now, as compared to the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Locally, Ron Maestri, who was Mainieri’s mentor, showed what you could do in the sport, reaching a national championship game in Division II in 1974 and making UNO the first Louisiana school to reach the Division I College World Series in 1984.

Skip Bertman took it to a different level, a level that will be hard for anyone to match, winning five national championships.

The SEC again proved that it is clearly the best baseball conference in the nation as it continues to dominate the sport.

That has, of course, produced some SEC hate and, now that LSU has won a seventh title, hate for the Tigers as well.

The new criticism surrounds the concept of utilizing the transfer portal and NIL deals to become a championship program.

Factually, LSU won five national titles under Skip Bertman in a different era and captured another under Mainieri without NIL assistance.

The narrative that LSU “bought” a national championship is a flawed thought process.

Paul Skenes and Tommy White were not bought, they simply decided to go to one of the elite programs in the country, departing lesser programs with far less attention, facilities, interest and attendance.

Thatcher Hurd transferred from UCLA. After struggling much of the year and pitching to a 5.68 ERA, the sophomore found his groove and came up big for LSU at the right time. Ben Nippolt also transferred to the Tigers, coming from VCU.

Somehow, that narrative failed to take into account the players Mainieri recruited to LSU. That list includes:

Cade Beloso
Dylan Crews
Gavin Dugas
Garrett Edwards
Ty Floyd
Brayden Jobert
Alex Milazzo
Blake Money
Tre’ Morgan
Josh Pearson
Jordan Thompson
Hayden Travinski

The transfer portal has benefited Florida with Hurston Waldrep from Southern Miss and BT Riopelle from Coastal Carolina, among others.

Florida is in on the action now, with three prominent transfers already lined up for next season.

Wake Forest has Bennett Lee and Michael Massey from Tulane, along with pitcher Cole Roland from Dartmouth, among others.

Tennessee has Maui Ahuna from Kansas, Griffin Merritt from Cincinnati, Zane Denton of Alabama and Andrew Lindsey of Charlotte, among others.

TCU has Austin Davis of West Virginia and Tre Richardson of Baylor, among others.

All of those ranked in various top 10 transfer rankings of programs entering the 2023 season.

Skenes was a 92-94 mile per hour fastball pitcher at Air Force.

Skenes had choices to transfer but chose LSU and military service was a clear factor, as detailed by The Sporting News.

While he clearly matured as a person, pitcher and physically, credit must go to Jay Johnson and Wes Johnson for helping to develop and get the best out of Skenes, who used his NIL deal to benefit a tremendous cause in “Folds of Honor,” supporting military families.

White was the ACC Freshman of the Year at North Carolina State in 2022 and he continued his hitting excellence at LSU.

Did White make the move for money? Factually, White already had a significant NIL deal in place at North Carolina State. He detailed his decision in another Sporting News story.

Additionally, White donates substantive proceeds from his NIL deal to others.

Without a doubt, the moves to Baton Rouge by Skenes and White were pivotal factors in LSU reaching the top of college baseball.

Great players choose great programs. LSU is a great baseball program, with seven national championships, the biggest and best fan base in the country, in the best conference in the country and with excellent facilities and administrative support to go with an excellent coaching staff.

If you believe LSU bought a national title, that is your prerogative. If so, you can certainly make the case that LSU did a better job of attracting impact transfers than others.

The transfer portal and NIL deals are the nature of college athletics today, for better or worse.

All top programs are engaged in the process.

The trio of heroes for LSU were not bought. They bought in on what LSU could do for them and what they could do for LSU.

That is what I am buying.