Athletic greatness comes in all shapes and all sizes.

It doesn't come naturally, but is achieved from hard work diligence and adversity along the journey.

There's opportunity and there's always struggle.

There is triumph and there is defeat.

And there is always a story behind the glory for Paul Mainieiri The phrase like father, like son is also true.

His dad was an outstanding Hall of Fame coach.

Paul grew up on the field and, you know, somewhere along the line I knew he was going to coach because of what his dad had done.

The more I researched, the more I found out that this is our guy.

It is great to see you in this atmosphere.

And I know when you started your coaching career, this would have been the farthest thing from your mind.

The coaching career that almost didn't take place.

I understand there was a 5050 chance you might have gone into the world of finance.

Well, I'll tell you, Lynn, all I ever wanted to do in my whole life was be a college baseball coach.

As you know, I grew up the son of a very legendary junior college baseball coach in Miami, Florida.

And really, when I was 14 years old, I knew that I wanted to follow in his footsteps because I saw the impact that he had on so many young people's lives.

I got a great opportunity when I was 25 years old to become the coach at a small school in Miami, Saint Thomas University.

It was a great opportunity, but it didn't pay very well.

And, you know, we had three small children.

My wife, God bless her, you know, she worked so hard raising those children and I'm trying to make something out of my career at Saint Thomas.

And there was a point when I was interviewed for the job at UL, and I didn't get the job, so they selected somebody else.

When I returned to Miami, boy, you know, it was a lot of disappointment in our home because we couldn't even afford a home.

We were living with my parents and so I promised my wife that if I don't get a new job in the next year, then I will get out of coaching and go sell stocks for a living in hopes to support a family.

Fortunately, I never had to open that book and get my opportunity to go to the United States Air Force Academy the next summer, which led, of course, to Notre Dame and on to LSU.

So yeah, I don't know where that book is today, but fortunate I never had to use it.

You have to remember now, Paul went to LSU.

He met his wife at LSU.

So Paul was familiar with our place.

Paul had teammates, of course, that are still here.

I wanted him to come and most and all of the players wanted him to come also.

So he was a no brainer.

Was he successful?

Sure.

There was only one school in the country for which I would have even considered leaving Notre Dame, and that was LSU.

But the reason why I really ultimately decided to do it because and leave a great job that I had was number one.

I felt like if I didn't do it, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

I needed to challenge myself against the best.

I needed to find out if I was good enough to do it.

And secondly, I still thought there was magic in the name LSU.

And certainly there was.

Well, he called me.

He said, Mace, what do you think?

I said, Well, I said, it's a great situation.

They love the game up there.

But boy, it's tough.

You're only as good as your next.

And, you know, up there, you lose the ballgame.

You play 56 during the season, you lose one.

And it's like the the sky's falling.

By his third year, the Tigers were back in Omaha, and one year later, in 2009, the Tigers were winning the national championship at the College World Series.

And Paul needed some of his great players to come through and everything kind of took off, just like it's designed to do.

He coached with a lot of love and a lot of passion.

One thing he really did, we did really well, and at least he did it for me.

I know he did it for a lot of the guys that I've played with is he had a very good knack of figuring out what players in the what, you know, Mikie Mahtook who we talked to about you and his thing was exactly what you said.

We wanted to win fiercely, but we won off the field even greater than we won on the field.

And it was a really poignant and heartfelt tribute to you about what you meant in his life in terms of these are the ways to do things and guide him along the way, and not just him, but the rest of his teammates.

I sense that source of great pride in you when you think about that aspect of the game.

Well, so nice to hear those things because really that that validates to me that I was successful in my coaching career.

As I mentioned, you know, listen, the championships are wonderful.

I loved winning championships with a group of players.

You know, they were so gifted as athletes, as students having great health that they had these amazing privileges to play baseball in front of ten, 12,000 people every night, get a great education, you know, have those opportunities.

Well, all you have to do is look over your shoulder and see there's people that are not as fortunate as you.

And I thought it was important for our players to take that platform that good grace that they had and go out and help other people.

Well, I had to set that example, and that's why I went out and did a lot of stuff in the community, made a lot of speeches, did a lot of stuff to help people, because I wanted the players to go off my lead and do the same thing.

And now when you even look at the Major Leaguers, Alex Bregman and Kevin Gossman, Aaron Nola those guys, they're having great careers.

But if you look closely at it, the influence they're having in their communities with their generosity and their philanthropy and so forth, is what I'm most proud of those guys about.

And I like to think they learned that lesson while they were at LSU.

One final question.

Is there more baseball coaching and Paul Mainieiri█s career?

I'm glad you put me on the spot.

I don't think so.

You know, I had a couple of opportunities in the last two summers since I retired.

But, you know, when you went to work at LSU, where else do you want to work?

I mean, I hate to say it that way, but it's true.

And, you know, I feel much better.

You know, when I retired two years ago, it was primarily because of some physical challenges that I had as specifically with my neck.

And those those issues are somewhat behind me.

I mean, I've got a 66 year old neck now.

I don't have a 26 year old neck, so it's never going to be perfect.

But I feel good enough to coach.

But I think there may be is some other ways that I can still try to impact people and, you know, maybe doing some work with coaches, you know, coaching the coaches a little bit, that type of thing.

I don't I don't know.

You know, you never say never in this business, but I doubt it.

I doubt that I'll be back on the field actually being the head coach of a program.

You speak about your career in those brief terms, but 1500 plus wins later, the winningest coach in college baseball when you retired and the College World Series championship and the numerous times and SEC championships and on and on and on and on the honors.

It was a remarkable career.

I'm wondering if anything stands out right now as you look back a few years removed and try to piece all that together?

Well, first of all, let's make something very clear.

I didn't win 1500 games.

The players won 1500 games.

It was really, Lynn, all about the players for me.

I went into coaching not to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame one day.

I didn't go into coaching to win national championships and those kinds of things.

All I wanted to do is be like my dad and I want to go in and influence young people's lives.

You know, listen, it's it there's a lot of unknowns when you're young and in the business.

And obviously, I could never have taught life lessons if I didn't have enough success.

We didn't have enough success for me to keep my job.

So I was very fortunate.

I worked at four wonderful institutions, had hundreds of amazing young men that I had the opportunity to coach.

You know, they tell me how I enrich their lives, but I look at it the other way.

They enriched my lives and the lives of my family.

And I just feel very privileged to have been able to do what I wanted to do for 39 years as a college coach.

SEC Titles galore that 2009 NCAA championship national coach of the Year honors and over 1500 wins are part of his resume.

He he had to coach me hard he had to challenge me and at the end of the day I knew he did it with love and he got the best out of me.

And, you know, I respect him for that and I love him for that.

And I thank him for that.

And Paul and the LSU Tigers and all our fans kept going.

The tradition of LSU.

But more than anything, it's the legacy including joining his father Demi in the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in the course.

If you look at his success, wherever he was, whether it was the Air Force Academy, whether it's at St Thomas, Notre Dame, LSU, Paul is a complete guy, not just X's and O's.

He cares about his kids.

His kids graduate.

He's involved in the community.

So many people wanted him to come and speak.

And that's that says a lot about the individual.

There's no doubt about Paul being an excellent coach, but I can't impress upon you enough that his father, that former husband of of course, now several times over.

A wonderful grandfather, although he's not Louisiana born.

One cannot deny that Paul Mainieiri█s his love for the Bayou state is strong and true.

He has left a lasting legacy in the state's sports culture.

He and his family have embraced the Baton Rouge community and are regular guests at local events and is respected as one of the greatest college baseball coaches to ever step on the diamond.

Well, one thing we do not doubt is the validity of your selection to the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Congratulations for this moment and congratulations on a tremendous career Lyn, Thank you so much.

I just can't even put into words how honored I am.

I love the state of Louisiana.

I loved being the baseball coach at LSU for 15 years.

I never took it for granted for one day when I pulled that jersey on over my head and it said Tigers or LSU on the front of the chest.

You know, I just was the most proud person in the world.

And I hope I hope we represented LSU the way that they the people of Louisiana, would have expected it for all those years.

So I feel very honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

And it's really just a tribute to the players that I had over 15 years.