LSU coach Jay Johnson has been named 2023 NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
The ABCA award marks Johnson’s second 2023 National Coach of the Year designation. He also was honored last week by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
Johnson, in his second season, directed LSU the national championship, capped last Monday with a 18-4 win over Florida in Game 3 of the College World Series Finals.
Johnson has a 411-211 (.661) record in 11 seasons as a college head coach, including a 94-39 (.707) mark in two seasons at LSU. He has a 30-13 record in NCAA Tournament games, including a 13-4 mark with the Tigers.
LSU was the nation’s consensus No. 1 team for the first 12 weeks of the regular season and swept through its own home regional and super regional.
Johnson led LSU to its seventh national title and its first since 2009. He also guided the Tigers to their first College World Series appearance since 2017 and their first 50-win season since 2017.
The Tigers completed the regular season with a 19-10 Southeastern Conference record, their best league mark since 2017.
LSU was No. 1 in the nation in runs scored (634) and in shutouts by its pitching staff (12). The Tigers finished No. 2 in the nation in homers (144), walks received (413), hit-by-pitches (143), on-base percentage (.432) and strikeouts pitched per nine innings (11.7).
LSU completed the year No. 5 in the nation in slugging percentage (.554); No. 6 in hits allowed per nine innings (7.67) and No. 8 in scoring (8.9 runs per game).
The pitching staff recorded a school-record 798 strikeouts, eclipsing the previous mark of 682 set in 1997.
The 2023 Tigers featured three First-Team All-Americans – centerfielder Dylan Crews, the Golden Spikes Award winner; right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes, the Dick Howser Trophy recipient; and third baseman Tommy White, the nation’s leader in RBI (105).
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