North Florida Fires Smoke Laval After Seven Seasons
North Florida on Wednesday fired head coach Smoke Laval after seven seasons. The Ospreys went 33-24 this season, and Laval was 237-160 in his tenure, including 45 wins in 2015.
Laval, whose given first name is Raymond, became the UNF coach on July 1, 2010 after previously coaching at Louisiana-Monroe and at Louisiana State, where he was an assistant for 10 years under Skip Bertman before taking over for Bertman and bringing LSU to the College World Series in 2003 and ’04.
The Ospreys twice won 40 games under Laval, who was a pro scout for the Blue Jays (2007-09). Laval was also known at LSU as one of the nation’s best recruiters.
He began his coaching career in 1977 as an assistant at Jacksonville before moving to Wolfson High School in Jacksonville as a baseball and football coach.
| 2017 COACHING CHANGES | ||
| School | Departures | Arrivals |
| Alabama | Greg Goff | |
| Cincinnati | Ty Neal | |
| Citadel | Fred Jordan | |
| Dayton | Tony Vittorio | |
| La Salle | Mike Lake | |
| Massachusetts | Mike Stone | Matt Reynolds |
| North Florida | Smoke Laval | |
| Santa Clara | Dan O’Brien | |
| Stanford | Mark Marquess (retiring after season) | |
| Tennessee | Dave Serrano | |
| Texas-Rio Grande Valley | Manny Mantrana | |
| Towson | Mike Gottlieb | |
| Virginia Tech | Patrick Mason | |
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