Common Link Between Notre Dame & LSU

Sid · Dec 5, 2006

LSU baseball coach links Tigers to Irish
By Michael Rothstein
The Journal Gazette

Mainieri

Paul Mainieri sat at his desk in Baton Rouge, La., chuckling as he told a caller he had been staring directly at a picture of Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis.

It is an interesting paradox for Mainieri, the LSU baseball coach who left South Bend after 12 seasons in June. In one aspect, he still loves the school he left. His son, Nicholas, graduated from Notre Dame. One of his daughters, Samantha, is a sophomore cheerleader for the Irish.

So this coming month will be full of phone calls, text messages and e-mails between Mainieri, former co-workers and current friends as No. 11 Notre Dame and No. 4 LSU prepare to play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3.

“It’s going to be weird,” Mainieri said by phone Monday. “I was telling someone last night that I haven’t rooted against Notre Dame in a football game since I was the coach at the Air Force Academy. I always rooted for Notre Dame as a kid and rooted for them in every game they played. Then at Air Force, I rooted for Notre Dame in every game except for when they played Air Force.

“Now, with them playing LSU, it’s a very awkward feeling. I work for LSU and it is where my loyalty has to be. They are the ones who sign my paycheck and feed my family. I think what I’m going to do is sit and watch with a smile on my face and stay quiet.”

Mainieri’s bonds with both teams go past having coached baseball at both schools. At Notre Dame, he coached senior wide receiver Jeff Samardzija and sophomore quarterback Evan Sharpley and still keeps in touch with both through text messages and phone calls.

At LSU, the man who led Notre Dame to 533 victories will coach junior punter/infielder Chris Jackson and freshman wide receiver/outfielder Jared Mitchell starting in February.

So this month will be hard for Mainieri, who still says leaving Notre Dame was the most difficult decision he’s ever had to make.

“I’m sure I’ll contact both of them at some point,” Mainieri said of his former Notre Dame players. “I hear from Evan every so often and Jeff and I exchange text messages. I’m so proud of those kids. Especially in Samardzija’s case, he played such an integral part of our baseball team the past few years and he’s a wonderful young man.

“You don’t just feel that strongly about people and discard that. It’ll be something with me for the rest of my life. The hardest thing I’ve ever done was leave Notre Dame for LSU.”

Mainieri hoped LSU would head to the Rose Bowl and Notre Dame to the Sugar Bowl. Then he could remain a fan of both teams without having any stomach turning.

Mainieri remains close to Notre Dame. When he returned to watch Samantha cheer during the Notre Dame-North Carolina game in November, the Irish athletic department threw a small going-away party for Mainieri, even though he left almost five months before.

“There are times when you wonder if you did the right thing,” Mainieri said. “You miss people and I miss my daughter but I think I made the right decision. We had a great run at Notre Dame. It was 12 years I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. This opportunity was something I had to do.

“We’ll make it work. I’m going to be glad for baseball season when I don’t have to think about Notre Dame.”

It’ll be a task much harder over the next month.

mrothstein@jg.net
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Common Link Between Notre Dame & LSU

Sid Well-Known Member

Log in or Sign up

Common Link Between Notre Dame & LSU

Sid Well-Known Member

Useful Searches