Paul Mainieri staying retired after overtures from Notre Dame
It came as no surprise when Link Jarrett left Notre Dame Friday to return to his alma mater, Florida State, as head baseball coach.
What happened next might have been a little surprising – Irish officials reached out to the last coach to take them to Omaha before this year, Paul Mainieri.
Mainieri, who will turn 65 in August, told The Advocate he was contacted about the job, but is not ready to return to coaching.
Paul Mainieri about the Notre Dame job, which he confirmed to me he was contacted for:
“I don’t feel ready to get back in it yet and those reasons are still valid. I loved my time at ND, but I love living in BR. I needed a break and I’m happy being an LSU ambassador.” #LSU
— Leah Vann (@LVann_Sports) June 24, 2022
Mainieri announced his retirement effective after the 2021 season, his 15th at LSU. The former University of New Orleans infielder has won more than 1,500 games in his coaching career, which includes stops at Air Force, Notre Dame and LSU.
Twenty years ago this month, Mainieri guided the Irish to Omaha, and four years after that, he was hired at LSU. Under Mainieri’s leadership in Baton Rouge, the Tigers won their sixth and most recent NCAA championship in 2009.
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Lenny Vangilder
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Lenny was involved in college athletics starting in the early 1980s, when he began working Tulane University sporting events while still attending Archbishop Rummel High School. He continued that relationship as a student at Loyola University, where he graduated in 1987. For the next 11 years, Vangilder worked in the sports information offices at Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) and Tulane;…
