Former LSU Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri, Who Signed Dylan Crews, Is Up For Miami Hurricanes' Head Coaching Job

The man who signed the best player in college baseball - LSU's Dylan Crews - is up for a new job as coach of the Miami Hurricanes.

Former LSU Tigers coach Paul Mainieri, who won the 2009 national championship in his third season on the bayou, interviewed for the Miami job last Friday and Saturday in Miami, sources close to Mainieri have confirmed to OutKick. OutKick reached Mainieri Saturday, but he had no comment.

Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball first wrote Mainieri as a candidate for the job.

Paul Mainieri Retired From LSU In 2021

Mainieri, 65, retired from LSU after the 2021 season after struggling mightily with back and neck pain. He often could barely turn his head while coaching the Tigers to a Super Regional finish that year at Tennessee. After time off, Mainieri's health improved, and he plays golf several times a week.

According to a source, Mainieri will coach again in "the right situation, and Miami certainly has that."

Miami has already interviewed Duke head coach Chris Pollard and is interested in Wake Forest coach Tom Walter. But Miami does have legitimate interest in Mainieri, sources said.

Texas assistant coach Troy Tulowitzki and Miami assistant J.D. Arteaga are other candidates. The new coach will replace Gino DiMare, who stepped down after five seasons recently. He took the Hurricanes to four NCAA Regionals, but never advanced beyond that.

No. 5 seed LSU plays No. 1 seed Wake Forest Monday (7 p.m., ESPN) in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Mainieri took LSU to Omaha five times after taking the job before the 2007 season. He had LSU in Omaha in just his second season in 2008 and won it all a year later.

Paul Mainieri Is A Hall Of Fame Coach

Mainieri is a member of the American Baseball Coaches' Association Hall of Fame. He will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches on July 29 along with former New York Giants' two-time Super Bowl champion and Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning.

LSU is in Omaha now under second-year coach Jay Johnson largely because of Mainieri's recruiting at LSU and that of his recruiting coordinator at the time - Nolan Cain, now an assistant at Texas A&M. Before the 2021 season, Mainieri and Cain signed one of the most coveted high players in the nation in Crews out of Lake Mary High School in the Orlando, Florida, area.

Crews is the projected No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball Draft on July 9. The junior center fielder was third in the nation in hitting at .434 with 67 RBIs and 17 home runs entering the CWS. game. If Crews is not the first pick of Pittsburgh in the draft, it will likely be LSU junior right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes (13-2).

LSU Full Of Paul Mainieri Players

Skenes would likely be at LSU had Mainieri stayed as well. He transferred to the Tigers after last season from Air Force, where Mainieri coached from 1989-94. Air Force coach Mike Kazlausky is among Mainieri's best friends. Kazlausky played shortstop and second base for Mainieri at Air Force from 1988-91 and coached under him in 1993 and '94. Skenes recently said the main reason he came to LSU was to play with Crews.

Mainieri and Cain also signed highly recruited LSU first baseman Tre Morgan before the 2021 season. Morgan is fourth in hitting for the Tigers at .312 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs. LSU's current team is full of top players from the Mainieri era. Those include Cade Beloso, who is third on the team in hitting at .316 with 14 home runs and 41 RBIs, Gavin Dugas (.288, 42 RBIs, 15 HRs), Hayden Travinski (.404, 29 RBIs, 10 HRs) and pitcher Ty Floyd (7-0, 4.50 ERA, 1 save).

LSU also went to Omaha under Mainieri in 2013 with future Major League Baseball stars Alex Bregman and Aaron Nola. The Tigers returned to the CWS in 2015 and reached the national championship best-of-three series in 2017 before falling to Florida. LSU defeated No. 1 Oregon State back-to-back to reach the final. And that was after losing ace pitcher Eric Walker in the second game of the CWS to an injury.

Mainieri won four SEC regular season titles in 2009, '12, '15 and '17 and took six SEC Tournament crowns in 2008, '09, '10, '13, '14 and '17.

Paul Mainieri Reached College World Series 6 Times

Before LSU, Mainieri coached Notre Dame from 1995 through 2006. In 2002, he took the Fighting Irish to the CWS for the first time since 1957. Since Mainieri left, Notre Dame went 15 years before returning to Omaha in 2022.

Mainieri left Notre Dame partly to return home. He played at LSU in 1976 and met his wife Karen there.

Getting the Miami job would also be a return home for Mainieri. He grew up in Miami the son of a coach, Miami Dade North Junior College's Demie Mainieri, who is a member of the college baseball Hall of Fame.

Mainieri's father was friends with another Miami coaching legend - Skip Bertman, who won five national championships at LSU from 1991-2000. Bertman was Miami's pitching coach and associate head coach on the Hurricanes' 1982 national championship team.

As LSU's athletic director, Bertman hired Mainieri in 2006.

Mainieri's first coaching job was at St. Thomas University in Miami from 1983-88.