Jay Johnson explains why his second championship at LSU felt different than the first

Since getting to LSU, Jay Johnson has consistently had the Tigers among the top teams in the country. This season, he capped off another deep run in the College World Series with his second national championship.

Of course, one team is unique from the next. That’s certainly the case for LSU, even with the program winning two national championships in three seasons. After their Game 2 win, Johnson dove into some of the differences between this team and his first championship squad.

“This is different. I mean, the first one was the first one,” Jay Johnson said. “And I felt like in coming here to LSU, I felt like I could help that group of players in the second year that we were here to do that. We needed to add [Paul] Skenes, [Tommy] White, those guys, but I felt like I could help Tre Morgan be a better player, Jordan Thompson be a better player. So that was kind of that.”

Jay Johnson first got to LSU in 2022. He’d previously led the Point Loma Nazarene, Nevada, and Arizona programs. He’d even gotten as far as to take the Wildcats to the 2016 College World Series championship series, but he hadn’t gotten over the hump as a head coach. That is, until he led LSU to a national championship in 2023 with a team highlighted by stars like Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews. However, this year’s team didn’t come into the season with the same proven track record of success.

“This was just I’m so proud of how this team went about their business,” Johnson said. “Because again these guys are really smart. They know the pro prospects that some of these guys are. I think I might have even called Kendall [Rogers] and he rated us 3 in the preseason, or 4, I’m like, are you sure, that seems pretty high just because you didn’t know because it was so many new pieces. But they performed like national champions every single day of this. We had a great fall. They did what they needed to do in December. We had a great lead-up to the season, the four weeks leading up to the season. Great in the nonconference.”

The LSU Tigers finished the 2025 season with a record of 53-15 overall and 19-11 in SEC play. From the time the postseason started, the Tigers were dominant. Outside of a single upset loss in the Baton Rouge Regional, the Tigers haven’t dropped a game since the SEC Tournament. That includes going 5-0 since LSU got to Omaha for the College World Series.

“Our league is so tough. Going 19-11 feels like amazing, you know what I mean? Then tournament time is our time. Tournament is our time,” Johnson said. “And they were amazing in the NCAA tournament.”

Jay Johnson has set an incredibly high bar to clear at LSU. Certainly, winning a national championship every other season is going to be difficult to do. However, it’s a challenge he and the Tigers are ready to meet head-on.