re: Ranking the SEC baseball coaches

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Maineri took over a program that had won 5 National championships and 13 trips to Omaha and were only 4 years removed from going to Omaha

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It is an impossible bar, and honestly unfair, to compare him to Skip Bertman and the success he had. Smoke Laval, who followed Skip, left the program completely devoid of talent. He recruited a bunch of top 100 guys that never made it to campus. There were like three players that played on the 2009 title team that were Smoke guys. Mainieri had to completely rebuild the entire roster. Smoke Laval benefitted from what Skip left him those first few years, but when that talent well dried up, he was toast. I think a lot of non-LSU fans either don't know or have completely forgotten how low LSU fell very quickly in a couple of years.

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Maineri took over a program that had won 5 National championships and 13 trips to Omaha and were only 4 years removed from going to Omaha whereas DVH took over a program that had historically been to Omaha 4 times and was 15 years from the last time they went to Omaha.

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DVH took over a program that was a game away from Omaha the year prior. Mainieri took over a program that missed the NCAAT and finished with a 13-17 record in the SEC. There's a reason LSU barely had a winning record his first year. Most of his starters were freshmen, and his upperclassmen were largely worthless. Mainieri may have had the LSU name to make it easier, but it was a complete rebuild when he was hired.

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joshua2571

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Great to have baseball back