LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker made sure to say the right thing on Friday, even if he didn’t get there first.
During a rare press conference with an LSU football assistant coach, Baker was asked about the death of Skip Bertman, the LSU baseball icon who died at age 88 early Friday. Baker admitted he should have opened with that topic, then made clear what Bertman meant to the program and the school.
“I should’ve started the press conference with that,” Baker said when asked about Bertman. “He obviously put LSU baseball on the map and really LSU Athletics in a sense when you talk about a five-time national champions (1991, ’93, ’96, ’97, 2000). My heart goes out for him and his family and LSU’s baseball family for sure.”
Baker, 44, is a familiar sight around LSU baseball, usually in an LSU cap and openly loyal to the Tigers on the diamond. But he came to that fandom through an unusual route: Tulane.
“Honestly, when I was at Tulane, they were really good in baseball,” he said.
Baker played linebacker for the Green Wave from 2000-04, and Tulane was in the middle of one of its best stretches. The school reached the College World Series in 2001 while Baker was on the roster and again in 2005 after he had left. Baker recalled the 2001 run, though he initially got one detail wrong.
“I think they beat LSU in the Super Regional, if I’m not mistaken.”
He wasn’t. LSU won the opener of the best-of-three Super Regional on June 1, 2001, 4-3 in 13 innings on a Mike Fontenot home run. Tulane then took the next two games, 9-4 and 7-1, and advanced to Omaha for the first time in program history.
When Baker brought up the Tulane win, a member of the media made a joking show of offense.
“Hey,”
Baker’s answer for how he went from Tulane fan to LSU fan was simple.
“But you know, once they start paying your bills, you become a fan,” Baker said of his switch from Tulane Baseball to LSU Baseball.
He added that the Tigers are easy to root for, and he pointed to what Jay Johnson has built in Baton Rouge. LSU has won two national championships in the last four years under Johnson, taking the title in 2023 and again in 2025.
“No. In all seriousness, they’re a fun group to watch, man,” he said.
Baker is heading into his third season as LSU’s defensive coordinator, but his future looked different after last season. He had chances to become the head coach at Tulane or Memphis, and either job would have been his had he chosen to leave. Instead, he stayed at LSU under new head coach Lane Kiffin, and the deal came with a big payoff: a $500,000 raise and a new three-year contract worth $9.3 million.
He said Jay Johnson was part of that decision-making process.
“Jay Johnson, he’s one of my good friends,” Baker said. “A guy that honestly I leaned on when I was deciding about being a head coach. They do an outstanding job now, and I can’t wait to see what they do next season.”
Baker also said his belief in Kiffin and the direction of LSU football helped convince him to stay.
“I had a couple of great opportunities (at Tulane and Memphis), but talking to Lane Kiffin, I truly believe in what he does on offense and what we do on defense,” Baker said. “And the ultimate goal is to bring a national championship to LSU. I kind of want to see that through.”
Skip Bertman would have appreciated that.
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