Smoke Laval
| Sport(s) | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | North Florida Ospreys |
| Conference | Atlantic Sun Conference |
| Record | 165–117 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
December 20, 1955 McDonald, Pennsylvania |
| Playing career | |
| 1974–1975 | Gulf Coast CC |
| 1976–1977 | Jacksonville |
| Position(s) | Catcher |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1977 | Jacksonville (Asst.) |
| 1978 | Wolfson High School (Asst.) |
| 1979 | LSU (Asst.) |
| 1980–1981 | Gulf Coast CC (Asst.) |
| 1982–1983 | Florida (Asst.) |
| 1984–1993 | LSU (Asst.) |
| 1994–2000 | Louisiana–Monroe |
| 2001 | LSU (Adm. Asst.) |
| 2002–2006 | LSU |
| 2007–2010 | Toronto Blue Jays (scout) |
| 2011–present | North Florida |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 616–385 |
| Tournaments | 17–17 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1995 SLC Tournament Championship 1999 SLC Championship 2000 SLC Championship 2003 SEC Championship 2015 A-Sun Championship |
|
| Awards | |
| 1995 LSWA Coach of the Year 1999 SLC Coach of the Year 2002 LSWA Coach of the Year 2003 SEC Coach of the Year 2003 LSWA Coach of the Year 2004 LSWA Coach of the Year 2015 A-Sun Coach of the Year |
|
Raymond Peter "Smoke" Laval (born December 20, 1955) is an American college baseball coach who is currently the head coach of the University of North Florida Ospreys. He is a former head coach of the Louisiana State University Tigers and the University of Louisiana at Monroe Indians baseball teams. He 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.
Laval was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania. He enrolled at Gulf Coast Community College in 1974, where he played catcher on the college baseball team. He transferred to Jacksonville University in 1976, playing for the Jacksonville Dolphins baseball team.
After college he served in a variety of assistant coaching positions at Jacksonville, Wolfson High School, Louisiana State University, Gulf Coast Community College, and the University of Florida from 1977 to 1983. In 1984 he took a longer term assistant position with the LSU Tigers baseball team under the legendary coach Skip Bertman. During that time the LSU program became one of the best in the nation winning two National Championships (1991 & 1993). As a result of the success at LSU, Laval was offered the head coaching position at nearby University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1993.
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