Raymond Peter "Smoke" Laval (born December 20, 1955) is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

coach who was the head coach of the

University of North Florida The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public research university in Jacksonville, Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Sc ...

Ospreys. He is a former head coach of the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

and the

University of Louisiana at Monroe The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Cen ...

Indians baseball teams. He has led his teams to two

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

, five conference championships, and seven

NCAA Division I Baseball Championship The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebr ...

appearances, and has received a number of coaching awards.

Early life and career

Laval was born in

McDonald, Pennsylvania McDonald is a borough in Allegheny and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 2,056 at the 2020 census. Of this, 1,661 were in Washington County, and 395 were in A ...

. He enrolled at

Gulf Coast Community College Gulf Coast State College is a public college in Panama City, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and offers the Associate of Arts degree, Associate of Science degree, certificates, and as of 2011, bachelor's degrees. History The ...

in 1974, where he played

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

on the

team. He transferred to

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until September 5, 1956, ...

in 1976, playing for the

Jacksonville Dolphins The Jacksonville Dolphins are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Jacksonville University, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The Dolphins participate in NCAA Division I athletics, and are primarily members of the ASUN Conference. S ...

baseball team. After college he served in a variety of

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

ing positions at Jacksonville,

Wolfson High School Samuel W. Wolfson High School (or simply Wolfson) is a magnet high school located in the Duval County Public School district. As an academic magnet and college preparatory school, Wolfson specializes in Advanced Placement and International Bacc ...

, Gulf Coast Community College, and the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

from 1977 to 1983. In 1984 he took a longer term assistant position with the

LSU Tigers baseball The LSU Tigers baseball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference. It ranks seventh overall with 18 College World Series appeara ...

team under the legendary coach

Skip Bertman Stanley "Skip" Bertman (born May 23, 1938) is a former college baseball coach and athletic director at Louisiana State University (LSU). He led the LSU Tigers baseball team to five College World Series championships and seven Southeastern Confer ...

. During that time the LSU program became one of the best in the nation winning two

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

(1991 & 1993). As a result of the success at LSU, Laval was offered the head coaching position at nearby

in 1993.

Head coaching career

Northeast Louisiana/Louisiana–Monroe

Laval became head coach of the

Northeast Louisiana Indians The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

(now the Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks) for the 1994 season. Laval led the team to a 241–159 (.603) record, two NCAA Tournament appearances, two

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

regular season championships (1999 and 2000) and one Southland Conference tournament championship (1995). As a result of this success he attracted the attention of LSU in the wake of Skip Bertman's impending retirement.

LSU

LSU hired Laval as an administrative assistant for the baseball team under Bertman in 2001, with the intention of promoting him to head coach succeeding Bertman. Bertman retired at the end of that season having won five national championships and Laval took over head coaching duties in 2002. Expectations were high for the new coach, as one would expect following a legend like Bertman. In 2002 Laval led the Tigers to a 44–22 record and an appearance in a Super Regional in his first season. Things got even better in 2003, Laval's second season, as he led the team to a 45–22–1 record and their first

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

regular season championship since 1997. He was named the 2003 SEC Coach of the Year. He also led the team to an appearance in the

as the #2 national seed. However, the Tigers went home after two straight losses. 2004 saw the Tigers compile a 46–19 record and included a return trip to the College World Series. Like the prior year, LSU went 0–2 in the CWS and was eliminated. LSU fans were not used to going winless in Omaha, leading to questions about Laval's ability to maintain the program's elite status. The 2005 Tigers struggled during the regular season but still managed to compile a 40–22 record. The team lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament and did not make an appearance in a Super Regional for the first time ever (Super Regionals began in 1999). Although Laval's first four years were fairly solid, they were below Tiger fans had come to expect. He began feeling pressure from LSU fans and the athletic administration, and it was generally felt that 2006 would be a make-or-break season for him. Unfortunately for Laval, the Tigers had their worst season since 1983, the year before Bertman arrived. The team finished the season with a record of 35–24 and its first losing SEC record in 24 years. They missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years. Under pressure, Laval officially resigned on June 4, 2006. He finished his career at LSU with a record of 210–109–1 (.658) in five seasons. Notre Dame coach

Paul Mainieri Paul Mainieri (born August 29, 1957) is a former baseball coach and second baseman. He played college baseball at LSU, Miami-Dade CC and New Orleans before pursuing a professional baseball career. He then served as the head coach of the St. Th ...

was hired to replace him. Following his resignation, Laval worked as a scouting adviser for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

North Florida

In 2009, the

announced that Laval would succeed Hall of Fame coach

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who most notably worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crocket ...

as head coach of the Ospreys upon Rhodes' retirement. He took over prior to the 2011 season, becoming the second baseball coach in the school's history. He led the team to its first

Atlantic Sun Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Div ...

regular season championship in 2015 and was named

coach of the year that season. Laval was removed as head coach after the 2017 season.

Yearly record

Below is a table of Laval's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.

Coaching honors

*1995 Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year *1999 Southland Conference Coach of the Year *2002 Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year *2003 SEC Coach of the Year; Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year *2004 Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year *2015

Coach of the Year

References

External links

LSUSports.net Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laval, Smoke 1955 births Living people Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania Atlanta Braves scouts Florida Gators baseball coaches Jacksonville Dolphins baseball coaches Jacksonville Dolphins baseball players Gulf Coast State Commodores baseball coaches Gulf Coast State Commodores baseball players Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks baseball coaches LSU Tigers baseball coaches North Florida Ospreys baseball coaches Toronto Blue Jays scouts People from McDonald, Pennsylvania