LSU hires UArizona’s Jay Johnson as baseball coach

Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson has agreed to leave the Wildcats for the LSU head job that opened when Paul Mainieri retired after this season, the Tigers said in a release on Friday.

The 44-year-old Johnson has spent the past six seasons at Arizona and twice coached the Wildcats to the College World Series, including this season.

D1Baseball.com first reported LSU’s hiring of Johnson.

Johnson heads to Baton Rouge to step into a job held for the past 15 years by Mainieri, who guided LSU to one national title in 2009 and four other College World Series appearances. Mainieri, who coached in college for 39 seasons and was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame in 2014, announced his retirement before the NCAA Tournament.

He then coached LSU to a super regional before the Tigers bowed out against Tennessee.

Under Johnson, Arizona was the CWS runner up to Coastal Carolina in 2016. This year, the Wildcats’ season ended with losses in their first two games in Omaha.

Johnson went 208-114 overall at Arizona after going 72-42 in two seasons at Nevada. He also served as associate head coach at San Diego from 2006 to 2013.