New baseball coach, staff brings enthusiasm to the Tigers

Every collegiate baseball season begins with conditioning at the start of the fall semester, but Oct. 1 marks the first day the team can practice as a whole.

The beginning of this month, however, marked more than the beginning for a new LSU team. It also ushered in the beginning of a season with a completely new coaching staff and a new set of team and individual goals.

"It's different," said junior shortstop Michael Hollander. "The new coaches kind of bring a new energy to everybody. Everybody is real enthusiastic."

Baseball coach Paul Mainieri was named the new coach in July after former coach Smoke Laval resigned. Mainieri came from the University of Notre Dame where he served as the coach for 12 years.

After meeting with the team as a whole at the beginning of the semester, Mainieri said he has seen great improvement since August.

"It's really coming together," Mainieri said. "The guys worked real hard in conditioning, got themselves in shape and started practice, and we've improved even since the beginning of practice. So it's coming together."

When Mainieri came to LSU this summer, he appointed a new coaching staff, including pitching coach Terry Rooney, hitting coach Cliff Godwin and volunteer assistant coach - and former LSU infielder - Blair Barbier.

"I give [Rooney] an unbelievable amount of responsibility," Mainieri said. "He's almost like a co-head coach because he basically is in charge of half the team with the pitching staff. I see those guys improving by leaps and bounds. Cliff Godwin and Blair Barbier did such a fantastic job working with the hitters and their respective positions."

Fall practice for LSU is spent focusing on the team and breaking down the basics. There is no talk about opponents, Southeastern Conference titles or expectations for the upcoming season.

Junior first baseman Jordan Mayer said the only expectations addressed during the fall are those that apply to individual players.

"Coach told us what he wants, and he expects us to perform at that level," Mayer said. "Some of the rules he wants us to follow are simple rules. As far as a team, he likes intensity. He's real intense as far as being upbeat on the field and things like that."

Mainieri added that, along the same lines, he thinks individual performance and goals will help the team improve overall.

"We're trying to teach the kids how to work at the game so they can prove as individuals, and the collective effort of all those individuals improving means the team is improving," Mainieri said. "Once we focus on the little things and get all the little things in order then we start looking at the long term overall goals for the team, but I haven't even really addressed those things to the team yet."

Goals have not been discussed by Mainieri and if they do include a trip to the World Series - which they have came short of since 2004 - he does not want his players discussing it either.

"Coach doesn't want us talking about Omaha [Neb., the site of the College World Series] that much," Hollander said. "He wants us to focus on the fall. After that we'll focus on the first game and after we'll focus on the second game - kind of take it pitch by pitch. We definitely, as a team, have goals and definitely want to improve from last season, and I think we will."

NOTES: Junior pitcher Derik Olvey, who came to LSU last season from Notre Dame, has been dismissed from the team after discussing his future with Mainieri. Olvey spent two years at Notre Dame under Mainieri before transferring to LSU.

"Derik and I have a little bit of history," Mainieri said. "He was with me for two years at Notre Dame and things didn't, in his mind, work out the way that he wanted them to. I didn't really appreciate the way he handled the situation and so then I came down here, and it probably wasn't the greatest thing for him."

Despite any decisions made by the coaches, Olvey would not play this year after undergoing surgery in the offseason.

Mainieri said he met with Olvey early in the year to give him enough time to find another school to play for,so he would be eligible for his senior year.

"Having already transferred one time, he would not be allowed to transfer immediately to another school and be eligible, so he would have to sit out a year. So if he just started somewhere else in January, it would make him eligible for the next January," Maineri said. "I just thought it would be best if we talked now, so he could decide something for his future that would help him."

Olvey did not return phone calls by press time.

----- Contact Tabby Soignier at tsoignier@lsureveille.com