Nolan Cain promoted to LSU baseball coaching position

Former LSU pitcher Nolan Cain will be appointed as volunteer assistant baseball coach, LSU head coach Paul Mainieri announced Thursday.
The appointment will become effective Feb. 1, when Cain begins his coaching duties.
Cain will take over for Will Davis, who resigned his position at LSU this week. Davis is scheduled to become the head coach at Lamar University at the end of the 2016 season.
Cain, 30, has served as the Tigers’ Coordinator of Baseball Operations since September 2013. He will work as the Tigers’ third-base coach, and he will coach the LSU catchers.
“It is very fortunate for us that we have in Nolan Cain such a quality person and coach already in our program,” Mainieri said in a news release. “Having worked as the Coordinator of Baseball Operations for the last two-and-a-half years and having been a player for three years while I have been the coach at LSU, he knows how our program and university operates in every respect.”
Cain, a reliever on LSU’s 2009 national championship team, handled a number of responsibilities in the coordinator’s role, including team travel, budgeting and community relations.
“I had the tremendous privilege and opportunity of playing at LSU, the greatest collegiate baseball program in the country,” Cain said in a news release. “LSU is so dear to my heart because this is where I was molded into the man and person I am today. I arrived in Baton Rouge 12 years ago, and it has become my home. It is the place I met my wife, Kristen, and where we started our family.
“As my career progressed, it became extremely apparent to me what I wanted to do beyond playing the game, and that was to become a coach,” he said. “As a player, Paul Mainieri was instrumental in the development of that desire with the culture he instilled in the program. During that time, I felt he knew my future path and took a special interest in that growth.”
Cain, a Cantonment, Florida, native, made 73 career relief appearances for the Tigers in four seasons (2006-09). The right-hander was a physical presence on the mound with solid fastball and an excellent breaking pitch.
He received his LSU degree in May 2009 and pitched in the minor leagues after signing a free agent contract with the Detroit Tigers in June 2009.
Cain helped lead LSU to the 2009 national title, making 19 appearances on the mound while recording a 5-0 mark and a 4.01 ERA in 33.2 innings with 10 walks and 38 strikeouts. He provided an excellent relief outing in Game 2 of the College World Series Finals versus Texas, firing 3.1 shutout innings with four strikeouts.
“Nolan brings every quality to the table that I look for in putting together a coaching staff,” Mainieri said. “He was a tremendous player as a vital relief pitcher on two LSU College World Series teams, and he played professional baseball in the Detroit Tigers organization. His knowledge of every aspect of the sport of baseball is outstanding as he was a catcher and hitter all the way through high school before he focused on pitching in college.
“He knows well all of our current playing personnel, having been active behind the scenes in the on-campus recruitment of all of our players,” Mainieri said. “He has been in on all of our staff meetings, and his personality is such that the student-athletes will respond to him in a very positive way.”
Cain and his wife, the former Kristen Hobbs, have one son, Cason. Kristen played softball at LSU from 2004-07 and now works as the Special Events and Community Relations coordinator for the LSU athletic department.
“It has been a dream to coach at LSU, and I am honored to be joining the coaching staff with Paul, (hitting coach) Andy Cannizaro and (pitching coach) Alan Dunn,” Cain said.
“I would also like to give a special thanks to (former LSU assistant coaches) Will Davis, Javi Sanchez, Terry Rooney and Cliff Godwin, who have all had such an impact on me along the way,” Cain said. “I am aware of the challenges and great responsibility that come with this job, and I’m ready to meet the expectations. I am anxious to begin working with the players to impact their development both on and off the field.”
Mainieri said, “Nolan is an extremely intelligent, organized, dedicated, loyal and a very hardworking person. He loves LSU and the baseball program, as he knows what this institution did for him in his development years. He simply possesses everything it takes to make an outstanding coach at this level, and he will make a positive impact on our program.”