Paul Mainieri Rebuffs Texas, Stays at LSU with “Significant Boost In Pay”

After a nervous few hours this morning, LSU Baseball Head Coach Paul Mainieri has “affirmed his commitment to the university” and will be staying at LSU, despite reported overtures from Texas. The Advocate reports that Mainieri will receive a “significant boost in pay” for staying, something that’s probably overdue and was inevitable given the landscape of college baseball this offseason. The Texas job search is leading to pay raises all across the sport and it was only a matter of time before the Longhorns would call on Mainieri.

In an interview with The Advocate, Mainieri said he was flattered by the efforts of his own team to keep him in Baton Rouge.

...Alex Lange called me out of the clear blue and expressed his sentiments. I’m not ashamed to tell you it was a very emotional moment for me. Hung up the phone and, not too long after that, Antoine Duplantis called me. Not long after that, Greg Deichmann called me. I started to think maybe this was an orchestrated effort after a while. Then a few more guys called me. Basically they just wanted to tell me ... ‘We’re going to have a good team next year and we want you to be our leader; we want you to be our coach. And not just you, the rest of the staff.’ There was just no way I could leave those kids. No way. I love them and they’re great kids. They’ve worked so hard. We’ve gone through some growing pains and made some real progress. I think our best days are ahead of us. I couldn’t leave them, it’s that simple.

Word on how much Mainieri will make will come out in the next few weeks, probably in time for one of this summer’s meetings of the LSU Board of Supervisiors.