BATON ROUGE — Eddie Smith is being reunited with Paul Mainieri.
After helping guide the Tulane Green Wave baseball team to a record-breaking season earlier this year, Smith has been officially hired as LSU’s volunteer coach/hitting coach. Mainieri made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re extremely excited to add Eddie Smith to our staff, and we’re very fortunate to have him,” Mainieri said. “Eddie is a very experienced coach with a proven track record of success. He combines his intelligence and coaching ability with a tremendous work ethic, and he is going to be a very impactful asset to our program.”
The 35-year-old Smith worked as Tulane’s hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for the past two seasons. During that time, the Green Wave set American Athletic Conference records this season for home runs (89), batting average (.302), runs per game (7.69), runs scored (446), total bases (1,055), slugging percentage (.518), extra-base hits (241) and walks per game (4.88).
Smith replaces Sean Ochinko who previously served as LSU’s undergraduate assistant coach in 2017 while completing his degree requirements.
“I’d like to thank Sean Ochinko, one of the all-time great players at LSU, for his work on our staff the past three seasons,” Mainieri said. “He has contributed so much to our program both as a player and as a coach.”
In a coaching career that spans 13 years, Smith has developed 48 players that ended up being selected in the Major League Baseball Draft including 2019 MLB first-round draft choice and first-team all-American Kody Hoese.
The Olympia, Wash., native began his playing collegiate playing career at Centralia (Wash.) Community College before playing for Mainieri at Notre Dame from 2005-06.
Smith began his coaching career as an assistant at Virginia (2007-11) where the Cavaliers won three ACC Championships and made two College World Series appearances. Smith then served as the hitting and third base coach at Santa Clara in 2012, assistant coach at Notre Dame in 2013 before serving as head coach at Lower Columbia College from 2014-17.
Smith led the Red Devils to three straight West Region titles and Northwest Athletic Conference championships in 2015 and 2017. Smith was named the 2015 ABCA/Diamond Pacific Association Division National Coach of the Year.
