Former LSU baseball coach Raymond “Smoke” Laval is expected to be named the University of North Florida’s baseball coach for 2010 later this afternoon, the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., reported Monday morning.
Laval was LSU’s coach from 2002 to 2006, bringing the Tigers to the College World Series in 2003 and 2004. He did not return as coach after 2006, when LSU failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1988.
Laval will take over for Dusty Rhodes, the only baseball coach in UNF history. He has coached the Ospreys for 21 seasons, compiling an 879-420 record in that span.
Rhodes wil coach UNF for the 2010 season and will then retire, according to the Times-Union’s report.
 
—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at [email protected]