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re: One more baseball post then I move on...Smoke Laval
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:08 am to EauxZark Tiger
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:08 am to EauxZark Tiger
following skip was never going to be easy...then going 2 and out both of his first trips to CWS didn't help the lofty expectations.
i spoke to friend who played for both.
he said skip told you what time to get up, what time to be at breakfast, what to wear, and what time to get on the bus to get to the park.
he said smoke knew the game in and out, but was probably more suited for pro players as his approach was more, we'll take some BP around 1pm before the game. i'll see y'all then. college kids need\needed a little more guidance\direction\leadership.
i spoke to friend who played for both.
he said skip told you what time to get up, what time to be at breakfast, what to wear, and what time to get on the bus to get to the park.
he said smoke knew the game in and out, but was probably more suited for pro players as his approach was more, we'll take some BP around 1pm before the game. i'll see y'all then. college kids need\needed a little more guidance\direction\leadership.
1
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:09 am to EauxZark Tiger
One of my favorite posts from TD back then was that he installed a soft-serve ice cream machine in the dugout. It was hilarious, but believable. So much outrage in the replies. 
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:10 am to EauxZark Tiger
The last 5 or so seasons before this one is somewhat similar to the Smoke years basically. He did make the CWS twice but didnt win a single game in either appearance.
Smoke in his 5th and final season failed to make the NCAAT though which was his instant demise. We hadnt missed the tournament in like almost 20 years or something when that happened. I think if the 2020 season played out for Mainieri I think we also might not have made the tournament that season. We truly got off to a ROUGH start, 7-5 at one point...and that team just could not put up offense. We were hititng like .250 through 17 games and completely wasting our rotation of Henry, Marceaux and Labas.
Smoke in his 5th and final season failed to make the NCAAT though which was his instant demise. We hadnt missed the tournament in like almost 20 years or something when that happened. I think if the 2020 season played out for Mainieri I think we also might not have made the tournament that season. We truly got off to a ROUGH start, 7-5 at one point...and that team just could not put up offense. We were hititng like .250 through 17 games and completely wasting our rotation of Henry, Marceaux and Labas.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:13 am to EauxZark Tiger
The smoke era was the dark times for lsu baseball uniforms
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:13 am to thunderbird1100
LSU had some weird uniforms during his era.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:13 am to EauxZark Tiger
quote:= Mike Archer. Had a skill set but was in over his head when promoted from within to the top job.
Smoke Laval
s a bonus, Smoke's personality destroyed any goodwill he earned under Skip.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:14 am to HappyTigerDay
quote:
He definitely wasn't as terrible as some make him out to be
He was terrible towards the end and trending downward. Go look at the team Mainieri took over in 2007 and then see how much roster turnover there was in 2008.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:16 am to EauxZark Tiger
This thread confirms we are officially in offseason thread mode. I love it
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:19 am to EauxZark Tiger
Smoke spent too much time away from the facility. Back then, folks involved with the program used to joke about how you could never find him.
He's one of those guys who knows everything there is to know about baseball but had no business running a program on the level of LSU.
He's one of those guys who knows everything there is to know about baseball but had no business running a program on the level of LSU.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:20 am to SmoothBox
Smoke was good but not great; and that was unacceptable following Bertman.
Same thing will apply to the new Duke basketball coach, and the guy who follows Saban. They can't just make it to the postseason most of the time, they will have to win big.
Same thing will apply to the new Duke basketball coach, and the guy who follows Saban. They can't just make it to the postseason most of the time, they will have to win big.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:22 am to EauxZark Tiger
quote:
Smoke Laval
Was thinking the other day that, like football, baseball now had three straight coaches win a title. . . then I remembered Smoke. Not terrible just overall kind of forgettable, unremarkable.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:24 am to EauxZark Tiger
Like most coaches replacing a legend he was destined to fail because of the expectations. Also all of Turtle Thomas recruits would always get drafted in the top 3 rounds of the draft, however Smoke and Turtle was able to leave Paul with Dean, Schimpf, Jared Mitchell, and Ochinko.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:27 am to GeauxtigersMs36
Well PM got here in 07 after smoke was fired in 06 for missing the tourny as he should have been.
The light went on for our 08 team after blowing a lead and ending up in a tie with UGA, not usc
The light went on for our 08 team after blowing a lead and ending up in a tie with UGA, not usc
Posted on 6/29/23 at 10:53 am to EauxZark Tiger
Smoke was as close to Mike Archer as LSU baseball has had since Skip. He was a very good baseball coach but he was just not really good at recruiting. As his roster fell off, so did the wins.
Here is how I would rate them from Skip on but I never really trust my recollection looking back so anyone please correct me where I am wrong, particularly on Smoke.
Skip - a great coach, a great recruiter
Smoke - a good to very good coach, a mediocre (at best) recruiter
CPM - a very good coach, a very good recruiter
CJJ - At least a very good coach, looking like a great recruiter.
Here is how I would rate them from Skip on but I never really trust my recollection looking back so anyone please correct me where I am wrong, particularly on Smoke.
Skip - a great coach, a great recruiter
Smoke - a good to very good coach, a mediocre (at best) recruiter
CPM - a very good coach, a very good recruiter
CJJ - At least a very good coach, looking like a great recruiter.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 11:09 am to EauxZark Tiger
Smoke was terrible at roster management. To me, that was the downfall.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 12:22 pm to caliegeaux
quote:
said smoke knew the game in and out, but was probably more suited for pro players as his approach was more, we'll take some BP around 1pm before the game. i'll see y'all then. college kids need\needed a little more guidance\direction\leadership.
Accidental down vote - interesting post
Posted on 6/29/23 at 12:59 pm to Ranger Call
quote:
LSU had some weird uniforms during his era.
i liked the purple and black hats
Posted on 6/29/23 at 1:13 pm to EauxZark Tiger
I got a story from one of Smokes players that said that after they lost a game he made every player strip off anything that had LSU on it and said to them that none of them should ever wear LSU because of how they played. He Lost the dougout/players and thats why he is gone!
Posted on 6/29/23 at 1:58 pm to Jb1994
quote:
Made omaha twice but was 2 and q both times. Then missed the ncaa tournament the year after that. The expectation was sky high after skip, just liked the next bama football coach will have massive expectations, missing the ncaa tournament was a fireable offense after how high the program was just right before
Sveral things happened all around the time Smoke took over, Several other SEC schools developed programs similar to TOPS allowing a little more flexibility for scholarships, the expected SEC school recruiting pitch that LSU was on the down because Skip was retiring (much like when the Bear retired and when Saban will) huge spending by other schools copying what SKIP did somewhat leveling the field. No Smoke wasn't bad at all. But he wasn't elite.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 2:36 pm to EauxZark Tiger
Awesome guy, job was too big for him. He went all out on draft risk guys and got like zero of them.
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