Bianco emerges as one of two leading candidates at LSU

Jun. 15—OXFORD — Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco has emerged as one of two leading candidates to become the next coach at LSU, according to multiple media accounts out of Baton Rouge.

The other leading candidate is East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin. Godwin is a former assistant coach to Bianco at Ole Miss and also to outgoing LSU coach Paul Mainieri.

Both Bianco and Godwin had already been mentioned in connection with LSU's efforts to replace Mainieri, whose retirement was announced shortly after LSU's exit from the SEC Tournament on May 25.

Focus on Bianco and Godwin has heightened since other candidates are no longer being considered, according to sources familiar with the LSU coaching search.

Tuesday morning, former LSU star Todd Walker told "The Tim Fletcher Show" in Shreveport that Bianco had been on the LSU campus and had interviewed.

Bianco was an LSU catcher from 1988-89, a team captain on the 1989 team that finished third in the College World Series.

He became head coach at Ole Miss in 2001 after three seasons at McNeese State.

Ole Miss concluded the 2021 season at 45-22 after a 16-3 loss to Arizona in the Tucson Super Regional on Sunday.

Bianco is 912-533-1 as a college coach, 812-462-1 at Ole Miss.

He's led Ole Miss to the NCAA Tournament 18 times, seven times to the super regional round but just once to the College World Series.

Godwin was an assistant coach on that CWS team in 2014. He was an Ole Miss assistant coach from 2011-2014, an LSU assistant from 2006-2008.

Godwin has led East Carolina to the NCAA Tournament in five of his six complete seasons as coach and has advanced to super regionals three times including this season where the Pirates lost at Vanderbilt.

parrish.alford@djournal.com