BATON ROUGE — Another national championship, another raise for LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson.
The LSU Board of Supervisors is set to approve a new deal for Johnson that will make him the highest-paid college baseball coach next season at $3.05 million per year, per public records The Daily Advertiser obtained. The board is scheduled to meet Friday and expected to approve the new term sheet.
Johnson’s new annual salary surpasses Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello, who makes $3 million a year. This season, Johnson was the fourth-highest paid coach in the Southeastern Conference behind Vitello, Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin and Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan.
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The new contract, which LSU and Johson agreed to back in August, is a seven-year deal in which the coach sees compensation increase each year he’s with the program, topping out at $3.65 million by the final year of the contract.
Johnson has seen his salary more than double since initially being hired in 2021 when he signed a five-year contract for $1.3 million per year.
LSU has won two NCAA championships in the past three seasons under Johnson’s direction, the first in 2023 and the second this past season when the Tigers went undefeated at the College World Series to capture the program’s eighth national title. In four years at LSU, Johnson is 190-77.
Two of Johnson’s assistant coaches are set to get new deals as well. Josh Jordan and Josh Simpson will make $470,000 and $250,000, respectively, under their new three-year deals that expire in 2028.
During the NCAA tournament, Jordan’s name was mentioned as the frontrunner to be the next Duke head coach, but he announced while the team was in Omaha he would be staying on at LSU. The new deal is LSU’s latest effort to keep Jordan on staff.
Simpson has agreed to a one-year extension and raise that increases his salary to $250,000, a $50,000 increase.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.