Earlier this month, LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson was asked a question about managing in Major League Baseball.
Johnson was honest in his answer. He said that he hadn’t considered that future, but he had also not been reached out to by any MLB clubs regarding a role like that. He mentioned that he was monitoring newly minted San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello after his departure from Tennessee, as well.
That response was parlayed with previous public comments from Johnson, signaling to LSU athletics to further fund the baseball program. A fanbase, disgruntled with a revenue split that, at the time, saw baseball receive less than 5% of the LSU Athletics budget pie, sprang into action.
Several accounts in the LSU baseball sphere on X began encouraging their peers to donate to LSU baseball’s Coaches Committee, a booster club where all donations go directly to LSU baseball.
One of those accounts, a then-small profile that went by the handle “Coyote_Operator,” shared some optimistic math in his appeal: If every LSU baseball follower on X donated $10 a month, the program would earn north of four million dollars a month.
“I was like, ‘It’s not going to hurt to get a post out,’” Jarrod Ashley, the user behind the account, recalled. “I’ll probably get 10 views like I normally do, and that’ll be the end of it.”
Contrary to that belief, Ashley’s post turned out to be one of the most impactful in the fundraising effort, sparking a movement that would raise thousands of dollars for the LSU baseball program in just a few days’ time.
To date, his initial post has amassed over 263,000 views and is littered with comments and reposts of people echoing the message or sharing their own donations.
“I opened my phone, and my phone was — it was freezing,” Ashley said. “I opened Twitter, and I saw the post. I was like, ‘Oh, that might have been what it was.’”
Ashley began keeping track of donations that were shared with him, a sum that totaled north of $10,000 after just four days. He believed that the total was a group effort rather than just the byproduct of a single post.
“All I did was make a tweet,” Ashley said. “This was a community effort.”
That effort displayed just how tight-knit of a community the LSU fanbase is. As time passed, other figures in the community began to find their own ways to raise money for the program.
Paul Jarrett, host of “Walk It Off,” offered an incentive to donate on his show. With proof of a $25 contribution, fans can be entered to win a jersey autographed by 2023 Golden Spikes winner Dylan Crews.
“Instead of me getting on X and being like, ‘Please donate,’ it’s like, ‘Okay, please donate, but you have a chance of winning something,’” Jarrett said. “Just to kind of keep it going, because Jay [Johnson] deserves more.”
That offer is still ongoing, up until the morning of LSU’s game against Texas A&M on Saturday.
One figure is Brandi Frey, mother of LSU baseball alumnus Ethan Frey.
When she became aware of the fundraising push, she found a use for some spare baseball cards that her son had autographed after being drafted: raffling them off, with a contribution to the Coaches Committee serving as a ticket.
“How can I up the ante to get these people truly to donate to LSU?” Brandi Frey said. “I said, ‘Okay, well, I have five extra [cards]. So, if you’re willing to donate, and if you donate through me, I’ll raffle off five cards.’”
Frey later guaranteed items for contributions that surpassed a certain amount. In all, her mini-drive raised over $2,500 for the team. It also gave her a perspective on the nature of LSU fans.
“With the donations would be a note, like ‘We love your son, we love that he played at LSU,’” Brandi Frey said. “It’s been really fun to see the overwhelming amount of support, not only that the LSU fans have for LSU baseball, but also for my son.”
The contributions have a concrete effect: LSU Athletic Director Verge Ausberry publicly said that LSU was looking into an increase in baseball funding. A side effect of it was the community in LSU baseball being revealed.
“We all had a part in it,” Frey said. “It’s a way to show Jay Johnson the support we give him.”
“The whole fanbase rallied, and they put their money where their mouth was,” Jarrett said. “I think that shows Jay and Mrs. Maureen [Johnson] and the entire coaching staff how loved they are here.”
“Baseball means a lot to people on a more personal level,” Ashley said. “I think that’s probably more of why people kind of got on the train to donate. Not necessarily to make us win, but because it genuinely means a lot to people.”
