Smoke Laval

Smoke Laval
Sport(s)	Baseball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	North Florida Ospreys
Conference	Atlantic Sun Conference
Biographical details
Born	December 20, 1955 (1955-12-20) McDonald, Pennsylvania
Playing career
1974-1975 1976-1977	Gulf Coast CC Jacksonville
Position(s)	Catcher
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1977 1978 1979 1980-1981 1982-1983 1984-1993 1994-2000 2001 2002-2006 2010-present	Jacksonville (Asst.) Wolfson High School (Asst.) LSU (Asst.) Gulf Coast CC (Asst.) Florida (Asst.) LSU (Asst.) UL-Monroe LSU (Adm. Asst.) LSU North Florida
Head coaching record
Overall	451-268-1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 1995 SLC Tournament Championship 1999 SLC Championship 2000 SLC Championship 2003 SEC Championship
Awards 1995 LSWA Coach of the Year 1999 SLC Coach of the Year 2002 LSWA Coach of the Year 2003 SEC Coach of the Year 2003 LSWA Coach of the Year 2004 LSWA Coach of the Year

Raymond Peter Laval (born December 20, 1955), known as Smoke Laval, is an American college baseball coach who is currently the head coach of the University of North Florida Ospreys. He is a former head coach of the Louisiana State University Tigers and the University of Louisiana at Monroe Indians baseball teams. He has led his teams to two College World Series, four conference championships, and seven NCAA Division I Baseball Championship appearances, and has received a number of coaching awards.

Early life and career

Laval was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania. He enrolled at Gulf Coast Community College in 1974, where he played catcher on the college baseball team. He transferred to Jacksonville University in 1976, playing for the Jacksonville Dolphins baseball team.

After college he served in a variety of assistant coaching positions at Jacksonville, Wolfson High School, Louisiana State University, Gulf Coast Community College, and the University of Florida from 1977 to 1983. In 1984 he took a longer term assistant position with the LSU Tigers baseball team under the legendary coach Skip Bertman. During that time the LSU program became one of the best in the nation winning two National Championships (1991 & 1993). As a result of the success at LSU, Laval was offered the head coaching position at nearby University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1993.

Head coach at Louisiana-Monroe and LSU

Laval became head coach of the Louisiana-Monroe Indians (now the Warhawks) for the 1994 season. Laval lead the team to a 241-159 (.603) record, two NCAA Tournament appearances, two Southland Conference 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 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, a Southeastern Conference regular season championship, their first since 1997 and an appearance in the College World Series as the #2 national seed. LSU went 0-2 in the CWS and was eliminated. 2004 saw the Tigers compile a 46-19 record and included a return trip to the College World Series. Like the prior year, LSU again went 0-2 in the CWS and was eliminated. The 2005 LSU Tigers baseball team 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). Laval began feeling the pressure from fans and the athletic administration. Despite a relatively solid first four years, it was below what Tiger fans had come to expect.

It was generally felt that 2006 would be a make-or-break season for Laval. 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 was hired to replace him.

Following his resignation, Laval worked as a scouting adviser for the Toronto Blue Jays.

North Florida Ospreys

In 2009 the University of North Florida announced that Laval would succeed Hall of Fame coach Dusty Rhodes as head coach of the North Florida Ospreys upon Rhodes' retirement. He took over in the 2010 season, becoming the second baseball coach in the school's history.

Head coaching record

Year	School	Record	Notes
1994	UL-Monroe	20-33
1995	UL-Monroe	37-20	SLC Tournament Champions; NCAA Regional Participants
1996	UL-Monroe	41-19
1997	UL-Monroe	33-21
1998	UL-Monroe	33-22
1999	UL-Monroe	36-22	SLC Champions; NCAA Regional Participants
2000	UL-Monroe	41-22	SLC Champions; NCAA Regional Participants
2002	LSU	44-22	NCAA Super Regional Participants
2003	LSU	45-22-1	SEC Champions; College World Series Participants
2004	LSU	46-19	College World Series Participants
2005	LSU	40-22	NCAA Regional Participants
2006	LSU	35-24
2011	North Florida	27-27
TOTALS		478-295-1	7 NCAA Tournament Appearances; 2 College World Series Appearances

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

External links

• LSUSports.net Bio