LSU hires former Tiger Nate Fury as Coordinator of Baseball Ops; Alan Dunn promoted to associate head coach

By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor

Another former Tiger is joining Paul Mainieri’s coaching staff.

Former LSU reliever Nate Fury has been hired as the team’s coordinator of baseball operations, Mainieri confirmed Wednesday afternoon via text. The school official announced the news shortly after.

Fury, 25, is the third consecutive former Tigers to hold the position, following Nolan Cain and Micah Gibbs, who Mainieri promoted to full-time recruiting coordinator and hitting coach, respectively, last month following Andy Cannizaro’s departure to Mississippi State.

“It will be great to have Nate back with the LSU baseball program,” Mainieri said through an official statement. “He once contributed in a big way as a vital relief pitcher on a College World Series team. He then pursued his dream of playing professional baseball and now will make significant contributions to our program once again, albeit in a different way. I know Nate loves the LSU baseball program and would do anything to serve it. He will handle a multitude of tasks and will represent the program in a first-class way.”

The right-hander came to LSU from Delgado and made the team as a walk-on. He became a valuable reliever for the Tigers, pitching to a 2.45 ERA in 47.2 innings of work across the 2013 and 2014 campaigns.

Following the 2014 season Fury was selected by the Detroit Tigers in 36th round. He’s most recently pitched professionally in the Los Angeles Angels farm system. He joins Cain, Gibbs and undergraduate assistant Sean Ochinko as former Tigers now on Mainieri’s staff.

Mainieri also confirmed that pitching coach Alan Dunn received a promotion to associate head coach, though he’s not expected to take on any additional duties beyond handling LSU’s pitching staff.

“I am proud to announce a new title for the man who I consider to be the very best pitching coach in all of baseball and a guy I wouldn’t trade for anyone,” Mainieri said via the release. “Besides being the pitching coach, Alan Dunn will now be referred to as the Associate Head Coach for the LSU Baseball program. This is a title that best describes his value to our team as my right-hand man. As pitching coach of the team, he basically coaches half of the team on a daily basis and his influence on their performance cannot be overstated.”

Dunn, entering his sixth season at LSU, is regarded as one of the nation’s elite pitching coaches. He was named National Pitching Coach of the Year in 2015 and the Tigers have been NCAA National Seeds in each of his five seasons as pitching coach.

LSU, ranked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll, begins spring practice on Jan. 27 and opens up the 2017 season against Air Force on Feb. 17 at Alex Box Stadium.