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LSU Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri to Retire After Season; No. 1 in Active Wins

Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIMay 28, 2021

LSU baseball head coach Paul Mainieri watches his players practice before the team's first home NCAA baseball game against Indiana on Friday, Feb. 14, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
AP Photo/Matthew Hinton

LSU baseball manager Paul Mainieri announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the Tigers' 2021 season.

LSU Baseball @LSUbaseball

“I will forever be a Tiger.”<br><br>A letter from Paul Mainieri: pic.twitter.com/Fi0N78Poct

Mainieri led the LSU program for the past 15 seasons, winning the 2009 national championship. He is the winningest manager among active Division I coaches with 1,501 victories, per LSU senior associate communications director Bill Franques.

Mainieri, 63, has a career 65.9 winning percentage after leading St. Thomas, Air Force, Notre Dame and LSU. He is No. 7 in career victories all-time among Division I baseball coaches.

The Tigers have gone to the College World Series five times under Mainieri, who lettered for LSU in 1976. Notre Dame also went to the 2002 College World Series under Mainieri's leadership.

LSU is hoping to hear its name called in the NCAA tournament bracket as an at-large team. The Tigers went 34-22 this year but fell 4-1 to Georgia in the opening round of the SEC tournament.

Teddy Cahill of Baseball America has projected LSU as one of the last four teams in the NCAA tourney.

If LSU is selected, it will mark the 12th time Mainieri has led the Tigers into the NCAA tournament.