LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri has many reasons to celebrate after winning a national title June 24.But sharing the moment with his father made the championship more special for him, considering his father’s age.”It’s no secret my dad’s getting older,” Mainieri said. “You don’t know how often you’re going to have an opportunity to fight for a national championship.”It’s well documented that both Mainieri and his 80-year-old father, Demie, have shared the profession of coaching college baseball.But the two share more than just baseball and a direct bloodline — they share about as close a friendship a father and son can have.”I was the best man at his wedding,” Demie said. “I think you get a good idea of how close we are.”Their friendship was strengthened when Demie suffered a heart attack in Colorado Springs, Colo., when Paul was coaching at Notre Dame.”It was an awfully long flight,” Paul said. “He was in surgery while I was flying. I prayed the entire flight.”Demie said Paul did “everything” for him to take care of him after the heart attack.”He took charge when I had the heart attack and did everything,” Demie said. “He just took over.”Paul said Demie isn’t in critical condition. He said he simply has health issues that come with age.Demie and his wife, Rosetta, have a total of five children, all of whom Demie said have all contributed to the success in his life.But something about Paul stands out to him.”He’s my confidant,” Demie said. “Paul has always been something special as far as guiding me and what to do and things of that nature, particularly with my health problems.”Demie said Paul comes across to most people as an easy-going person who goes out of his way to help people. But he isn’t an easy-going coach, according to Demie.”You’d have to know Paul to understand him,” Demie said. “He comes over as a real gentleman and a down-to-earth type of guy, which he is. But when it comes to coaching, he’s a very dedicated and very committed person. And people around him have to be that way, or you’re not on his ballclub.”Demie was a successful coach in his own right, leading Miami-Dade North Community College to a Junior College World Series championship in 1964.But that championship was 45 years ago, and Paul wanted nothing more than to end the family’s title drought.”I really wanted to give him this gift,” Paul said. “I was really happy and proud that we could do that. To see the joy that it’s given to him is beyond words of description.”Paul said all he wanted to do as a kid was hang out with his father. He said while other kids were going to camp or hanging out with friends, he was in the dugout, where he said he didn’t even realize he was learning about baseball.”I was just watching,” Paul said. “It just seemed like it was as natural as anything.”Paul has had success at each of his four stops as a college coach. He turned around the programs at St. Thomas in Florida and the Air Force Academy, and he brought Notre Dame to its first College World Series in 45 years in 2002.”When I saw what he had done particularly at Notre Dame, I was convinced that he could coach anywhere,” Demie said. “It’s a pleasure to watch him do it.”Demie retired 18 years ago after 30 years as a baseball coach.But Demie has been at Paul’s side ever since then, from the dugouts of Miami Dade to the field at Rosenblatt Stadium.”Everybody should be blessed to have a father like him,” Paul said. “I was just the fortunate one.”—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]