After being considered a Top Three candidate for the LSU head coaching job, Arizona Baseball head coach Jay Johnson has officially accepted the job.
Following a terrific run in 2021, Arizona Baseball head coach Jay Johnson was considered to be a Top Three candidate with the LSU coaching vacancy as of yesterday.
However, just 24 hours later, it is apparent that Johnson was the Tigers’ number one choice after all.
Arizona Wildcats
Making news via social on Thursday afternoon, it was confirmed that Johnson was officially named the head coach at LSU on Thursday afternoon, replacing long-time LSU head coach Paul Mainieri.
While the move is shocking, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. LSU is considered to be one of the best jobs in college baseball, with the program having six National Championships all within the last 30 years, while also having great facilities and resources. Plus, LSU and the SEC have money that Arizona just doesn’t have.
As for Jay Johnson and Arizona Baseball, their relationship will officially end after six years, forcing the Wildcats to find yet another replacement.
Over the past couple of months, Arizona Athletics has had the unenviable challenge of replacing not only their head Football coach, but their Men’s Basketball coach, their Softball coach, and their Soccer coach as well. What’s replacing one more head coach?
Well luckily for Arizona Athletics, Arizona Baseball is considered to be one of the better coaching positions in college baseball, albeit not having SEC money. Plus, the school has an extensive and deep network of alumni, should they go that route.
If I am Dave Heeke and Dr. Robert Robbins, my first call is to current pitching coach Nate Yeskie and seeing if he would reconsider, declining the Texas A&M role for the head coaching gig at Arizona if at all possible.
Outside of that, I imagine the Wildcats should have their pick of candidates considering this team returns a large contingency of their talent from this past season.
Either way, we wish coach Johnson the best and hope the Wildcats can recover quickly!