Great article this past week in The Advocate on the baseball program at LSU and its head baseball coach Paul Mainieri. The focus of the article was on a unique routine that Coach Mainieri uses to help prepare his players for the start of the season.

Intense LSU baseball opening-day prep: dress rehearsals, mock intros, anthem practice

Paul Mainieri is one of the most decorated coaches in all of college baseball. 2018 marks his 36th season as a head college baseball coach and 12th season as head coach of the LSU Tigers. He has amassed 1376 wins in his career, 512 of those coming at LSU.

Heading into the new season, Mainieri doesn’t want any surprises for his players on opening night. He was a big believer in routine and the guys feeling opening night like they have been there before. He didn’t want his guys feeling anxious on opening night. He tried to take away all the unknowns as possible.

Mainieri didn’t want to leave any stone unturned, any detail overlooked. So on the Tuesday before the Friday opener against Notre Dame, Mainieri had his players go through their normal pre-game routine, including the national anthem, introductions, player pictures on the video board, pregame music playlist, and player walk-up music when going to bat.

But it didn’t stop there, throughout the pre-season; Mainieri has also had his team practice at least once in every single possible uniform combination that they may wear this season.

“The first time the new players put on their jerseys and had the name on the back, you should have seen them in front of the mirror checking it out. Well, now it’s old hat to them. There is not going to be one new thing that’s taking away from them opening night; they have already dealt with that.”

Mainieri’s goal is to have the team as relaxed and prepared as possible. He wants all the minor details that can affect how a player is feeling and thinking to be taken out of the equation. He wanted his ballplayers to focus on playing baseball.

While visualizing and simulating what the first game may be like is nothing new, Paul Mainieri takes it to the extreme to help fully prepare his players.

This always reminds me of Jim Valvano and how he always dedicated one practice a year to practice cutting down the nets. He wanted his players to visualize, believe, and be comfortable and prepared to win the national championship.

SURVIVE & ADVANCE – “Cutting the net down”

While players may think that these exercises may be silly at the time, there is no denying that they certainly had a positive impact on how they thought and operated when the time came.