BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - LSU coach Paul Mainieri has been named

the 2009 National Coach of the Year by Rivals.com. The honor is the

third National Coach of the Year designation this season for

Mainieri, who has also been recognized by Collegiate Baseball

newspaper and Baseball America magazine.

Mainieri, who directed LSU to the 2009 College World Series

title, was also the Rivals.com National Coach of the Year in 2008.

Mainieri's 2009 National Champions completed the season with a

56-17 record, marking the second-highest wins total in LSU history.

The CWS title was the sixth for LSU and its first since 2000, when

Skip Bertman led the Tigers to their fifth NCAA championship.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)