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re: Has Smoke Laval been invited to campus since his firing?
Posted on 6/26/25 at 8:42 pm to Ranger Call
Posted on 6/26/25 at 8:42 pm to Ranger Call
He lives in Reserve. Right down Airline Hwy.
0
Posted on 6/26/25 at 8:46 pm to SemiNoblePursuit
What happened
He wasn't Skip is what happened. That and a few Board members that wanted a national search for a coach got pretty butt hurt about Smokes hiring.
Posted on 6/26/25 at 8:55 pm to rpg37
Was he really hand-picked by Skip? I've heard this a while back.
Posted on 6/26/25 at 9:48 pm to Adam4848
quote:
Considering he tried to burn the place down on his way out, I would hope the frick not.
Where there’s Smoke, there’s Fire
Considering he tried to burn the place down on his way out, I would hope the frick not.
Where there’s Smoke, there’s Fire
Posted on 6/26/25 at 10:15 pm to Spankum
Skip tried to help him during his last year but he blew Skip off. Yup, you read that correctly
Posted on 7/15/25 at 1:59 pm to LSUbacchus81
I have spoken with Smoke a few times. He was hired by Skip to take over. BOS didn't like that at all.
Posted on 7/15/25 at 4:11 pm to rpg37
He was sitting in my seats at the box this year watching BP. Talked to him a while.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 11:46 am to rpg37
Smoke actually was 65% in w&l at LSU, not bad for a fired head coach. He had just 1 bad season, his last.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 12:12 pm to SemiNoblePursuit
quote:
What happened?
https://www.ncaa.com/news/baseball/article/2015-05-19/competitive-fire-still-burns-brightly-north-florida-head-coach
quote:
But if there's one subject where humor is totally out of bounds, it's how his coaching tenure ended at LSU in 2006. Laval was fired by his legendary predecessor and athletic director, Skip Bertman, after LSU missed the NCAA tournament. That down year offset leading the Tigers to two College World Series appearances in four seasons and having the best SEC record (88-60-1) among all league coaches from 2002-06.
"I still can't talk about that now," Laval said. "At the time, it took me by surprise. Let's just say it was awkward."
While Laval enjoyed three follow-up years as a national scout for the Toronto Blue Jays, the LSU exit gnawed at him.
something must have happened in the meeting where Bertman fired him. Laval was with LSU in the 80s and the 1991 & 1993 National Championships.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 12:20 pm to rpg37
I talked to Smoke up on the concourse, opening night of the 2018 season. He was scouting Zack Hess for the Atlanta Braves.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 12:32 pm to OLDBEACHCOMBER
quote:
He was hired by Skip to take over. BOS didn't like that at all.
He was Skip’s 3rd choice, behind Jim Wells and Mike Bianco.
Skip had a stipulation that whomever he hired to replace him had to turn over all the camp money to him. Wells and Bio told him to pound sand. Smoke wanted the job badly enough, so he acquiesced.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 1:30 pm to AtlantaLSUfan
What year did he bring Ben sheets to Baton Rouge? 98? Was that when Ricki weeks was at southern too? Those were fun times at the box.
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