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Bertman: LSU baseball coach welcome to shop

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Posted 5:04PM on Saturday 9th July 2005 ( 19 years ago )
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) LSU will not offer baseball coach Smoke Laval a pay raise if another school makes him an offer, athletic director Skip Bertman says.<br> <br> ``I want Smoke to do what he wants to do,&#39;&#39; said Bertman, a former LSU baseball coach who hired Laval as his top assistant before the 1984 season and recommended him as his successor for the 2002 season.<br> <br> Bertman said Laval is getting ``a good salary and Smoke would never do this for a negotiating ploy.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Laval, who leads the Southeastern Conference in regular-season SEC victories during his four years as LSU coach, has been linked by media reports to the vacant head coaching job at Oklahoma.<br> <br> ``Whoever started this, it&#39;s crazy,&#39;&#39; Laval said of reports linking him to the Oklahoma job. ``I don&#39;t have anything to say. I&#39;m not there, and I&#39;ve never been contacted by them.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Bertman said he understands why Laval might entertain offers from other schools. LSU, which had nearly a dozen players with College World Series experience in 2003 and 2004, failed this year to win a regional for the first time since 1995.<br> <br> ``I wouldn&#39;t blame any coach for at least considering other possibilities, especially after this year, where the team probably didn&#39;t achieve as greatly as they should have based on preseason hype,&#39;&#39; Bertman said. ``Of course, no one is sadder about that than the players and Smoke and the coaches.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Bertman coached LSU for 18 seasons. He won five national championships in 10 seasons.<br> <br> Bertman said he had no problem when former LSU coach Nick Saban considered offers from NFL teams, eventually going to the Miami Dolphins.<br> <br> Laval began as Bertman&#39;s successor in 2002 with a three-year contract and just finished the first year of another three-year deal, Bertman said.<br> <br> ``He does have security here, but maybe Oklahoma would give him a five-year contract,&#39;&#39; Bertman said.<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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