Stanley “Skip” Bertman, who turned LSU’s baseball program into a national powerhouse that won the College World Series five times in the span of a decade, has died. He was 88.
LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said the former Tigers coach and athletic director died early Friday morning in a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is where the university is located.
“Few people have had a greater impact on LSU than Skip Bertman,” athletic director Verge Ausberry said in a news release. “As the greatest college baseball coach of all time, and later as our athletic director, Skip developed a championship standard and culture that still guide us today.”
Although now synonymous with college baseball’s elite and known for fielding numerous Major League Baseball prospects, LSU had never won a national title when Bertman took over the program ahead of the 1984 season.
The College Baseball Hall of Famer’s legacy includes the current Alex Box Stadium — which opened in 2009, holds nearly 11,000 fans and is routinely filled to capacity for the Southeastern Conference power — where the field was named in honor of Bertman in 2013.
The Tigers also have won three national championships under two of Bertman’s successors, taking the 2009 CWS under Paul Mainieri and the 2023 and 2025 crowns under Jay Johnson.
“By far the greatest part of being the baseball coach at LSU the last five years is the relationship I was able to build with the greatest college baseball coach of my lifetime, Skip Bertman,” Johnson said in LSU’s release. “The mentorship, and most importantly, the friendship we built is easily one of the best, most rewarding and special relationships I have ever had. What an honor it has been to sit with, talk baseball with, smile with and laugh with Coach.”
Since 2013, the College Baseball Foundation’s annual award for the nation’s top coach has been named in Bertman’s honor. Bertman won the award six times from 1986 to 2000.
Bertman coached the Tigers a total of 18 seasons, retiring in 2001 with a record of 870-330-3 and 11 College World Series appearances. He then served as athletic director until 2008 and athletic director emeritus after that, continuing to live in Baton Rouge, support the university and attend LSU events for the rest of his life.
He coached the Tigers to the program’s first five national titles in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000, and his tenure also included seven SEC championships. Bertman’s NCAA Division I baseball tournament winning percentage of .754 is the highest in the history of the event.
He was also the head coach of the 1996 U.S. baseball team that competed at the Olympics, which at that time included only amateur players. The Americans won a bronze medal that year in Atlanta.
He played college baseball for the Miami Hurricanes — he spent most of his youth in South Florida after being born in Detroit — before going into coaching, starting at the high school level in Miami Beach from 1965-75. His final job before taking over at LSU was as an assistant for the Hurricanes from 1976-83.
“Today is a big loss for the city of Baton Rouge, the state of Louisiana, and the country,” Mainieri said in a tribute posted on the LSU athletic department’s website. “Skip Bertman had such a profound impact on so many people, even if you didn’t know him personally. For those of us that were lucky enough to know him and were part of his life, it’s almost impossible to put into words what he meant to us.
“In my case, everyone knows he was the athletic director that brought me to LSU. But actually, I’ve known Skip since I was 11 years old. Our families were very close while we lived in Miami. I’ve idolized him for almost my whole life and wanted to grow up and be a coach like he was. As a close friend and confidant, he was always there with advice and encouragement for me. When I came to LSU, I said that I had only one goal as the custodian of the program that Skip built — and that was to make Skip proud!
“There is a new hole in my heart today that hurts so much. However, I’m going to try and remember just how grateful and lucky I was to have had Skip in my life for as long as I did.”
Bertman was preceded in death by his wife, Sandy, and daughter, Lisa.