Paul Mainieri: “Nothing official yet” on hires, both “strong candidates”
By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor
Paul Mainieri has shuffled his staff to fill the void left by Andy Cannizaro.
Nolan Cain will be promoted from volunteer assistant to recruiting coordinator, a full-time position, a source confirmed to Tiger Rag. Micah Gibbs, who served as Director of Baseball Ops. last season, will take on a greater role coaching the offense.
The news was first reported by Kendall Rodgers of D1Baseball.com.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri confirmed to Tiger Rag that Cain, who served as LSU’s third base coach and worked with catchers last season, is handling the recruiting coordinator duties until a full-time hire is made. The source said the Tigers will host official visits this weekend.
However, Mainieri said nothing is official yet, as he must await clearance from the human relations department before making any full-time hires. Legally, in Louisiana, jobs at state institutions must be posted for a period of time before being filled.
“Nothing is official yet,” Mainieri said. “(Nolan is) obviously a strong candidate. If we go that way, Micah would be a great candidate to be hitting coach”
The news comes less than two weeks after Cannizaro, who served as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for two seasons, left to replace John Cohen as the head coach at Mississippi State. There’s no set timetable for making any official hires, Mainieri said.
Both Cain and Gibbs are former Tigers who played on Mainieri’s 2009 national championship team. Along with undergrad assistant Sean Ochinko, Mainieri now has three members of that ’09 team on staff.
Cain, a former relief pitcher, joined the staff as Coordinator of Baseball Ops back in 2013 and transitioned to volunteer assistant when Will Davis left to become coach-in-waiting — and eventually head coach — before the start of last season.
Gibbs was a catcher during his playing days and spent time in the Cubs, Royals and Dodgers organizations before joining the staff prior to the start of last season.
Be the first to comment