Raymond Peter "Smoke" Laval was born on December 20,1955 and is an American college baseball coach who was the head coach of the University of North Florida Ospreys.
13 Facts About Smoke Laval
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Smoke Laval is a former head coach of the Louisiana State University Tigers and the University of Louisiana at Monroe Indians baseball teams.
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Smoke Laval has led his teams to two College World Series, five conference championships, and seven NCAA Division I Baseball Championship appearances, and has received a number of coaching awards.
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Smoke Laval enrolled at Gulf Coast Community College in 1974, where he played catcher on the college baseball team.
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Smoke Laval transferred to Jacksonville University in 1976, playing for the Jacksonville Dolphins baseball team.
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Smoke Laval became head coach of the Northeast Louisiana Indians for the 1994 season.
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Bertman retired at the end of that season having won five national championships and Smoke Laval took over head coaching duties in 2002.
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Dusty Rhodes 8.
Smoke Laval was named the 2003 SEC Coach of the Year.
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Smoke Laval began feeling pressure from LSU fans and the athletic administration, and it was generally felt that 2006 would be a make-or-break season for him.
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In 2009, the University of North Florida announced that Smoke Laval would succeed Hall of Fame coach Dusty Rhodes as head coach of the Ospreys upon Rhodes' retirement.
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Smoke Laval took over prior to the 2011 season, becoming the second baseball coach in the school's history.
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Smoke Laval led the team to its first Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship in 2015 and was named Atlantic Sun Conference coach of the year that season.
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Smoke Laval was removed as head coach after the 2017 season.