News: Tigers Lose Pitching Coach Jason Kelly to Washington

Make that two assistant coaching positions Jay Johnson and the Tigers baseball program will need to fill this offseason. Pitching coach Jason Kelly has accepted a position as the head coach of the University of Washington, where he was previously on staff.

Prior to his lone season with LSU, Kelly spent seven seasons with Washington (2013-2019) and two seasons as the Arizona State pitching coach (2020, 2021).

Kelly helped guide Washington to a College World Series in 2018, paving his way to win Assistant Coach of the Year for the Huskies. Now heading back to where he saw the highest level of success, he’ll look to make an immediate impact.

It’s a big loss for the Tigers, who now have lost both recruiting coordinator Dan Fitzgerald and Kelly to head coaching gigs. Kelly helped improve LSU’s pitching core significantly this season, even if the SEC tournament and Hattiesburg Regional may not have gone their way on the mound.

The Tigers finished with the No. 4 ERA (4.09) in the SEC this season, a huge step in the right direction from last year’s squad who finished No. 8 (4.53) in conference.

For Coach Johnson and the rest of this LSU staff, the offseason just became that much more difficult in Baton Rouge. Needing to now fill two assistant coaching positions while also improving a pitching core will be a process, but Johnson has said he’s prepared for the highs and lows of this. He’s been there before.

The Tigers will shift their attention to keeping their No. 1 2022 recruiting class intact after the departures of both Kelly and Fitzgerald. Another hurdle they’ll have to jump is keeping the guys who are MLB Draft eligible loyal to their LSU commitment, which could go the Tigers way with the new NIL rules. Nonetheless, it’ll be another busy offseason for the Tigers and Johnson as they continue pushing this program in the right direction.