Jay Johnson praises Josh Jordan as key LSU assistant looks set to stay put

The LSU baseball team is on an unquestionable hot streak right now and just about everything is coming up aces for coach Jay Johnson. On Thursday, the retention of top assistant coach Josh Jordan took a giant leap closer to becoming reality.

Jordan was reportedly a candidate for the open Duke job. But the Blue Devils opted to go a different direction, tapping Wake Forest’s Corey Muscara for the post.

According to D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers, Josh Jordan was “a strong candidate” but things turned when Duke decided to reduce its salary to the next coach from what former coach Chris Pollard was making. Rogers noted that Jordan’s chances of leaving “at that point were very slim.”

Meanwhile, right around the same time, Johnson was asked about Jordan while in Omaha. He opened up on how much Jordan means to the program.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better assistant coach than Josh,” Johnson said, per The Reveille’s Isabelle Callahan. “And he makes me better because of the work that he puts in and what he takes on to and the pride that he takes in his job and the job he does for our program.”

Josh Jordan, who is a former national assistant coach of the year, wears a lot of hats for the Tigers. He’s an elite recruiter, but he’s also described as the ultimate players’ coach.

Jordan, who helped lead LSU to the 2023 national title, works with the Tigers catchers and first basemen. He also serves as the team’s third-base coach. He also carries the recruiting coordinator tag with the program.

For now, it looks like Josh Jordan will be remaining with the Tigers for another year. All major head coaching vacancies have been filled at this point and few programs can spare the kind of coin it would take to lure Jordan away from LSU at this point.

So the Tigers will head into the championship series at the College World Series a little more confident in their future. It’s no small news.