HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University baseball program ushered in a new era Monday, naming veteran coach and Louisiana native Bobby Barbier as the 18th head coach in school history.
An introductory press conference is scheduled for 1:00pm on Wednesday in the Victory Club at Strawberry Stadium.
In the search for a new leader for the Southeastern baseball program, Athletic Director Jay Artigues was looking for someone who would help the Lions achieve higher levels of excellence in all aspects of being a student-athlete. Artigues believes he found the right person to take the Southeast to new heights in Barbier.
“I’m very excited to bring in a coach of Bobby Barbier’s caliber,” Artigues said. “He is a proven winner and a first-class person in every way. Bobby has all the intangibles and experience to lead our baseball program to be a consistent contender in the Southland Conference year after year. I could not be more excited to having Bobby Barbier as head coach.”
Barbier, whose hiring is pending approval by the Louisiana State University System Board of Supervisors, comes to Hammond with 17 years of collegiate coaching experience, including five in the Southeastern Conference.
Barbier replaces Matt Riser, who enjoyed a 10-year tenure at the helm of the SLU program.
“I think the tradition of Southeastern baseball is known across the country and I’m very happy to be a part of it,” Barbier said. “I want to thank Dr. John Crain, to Dr. William Wainwright and coach Artigues for believing in my family and me, and for bringing us into the fold. There is a lot of interest in Hammond and Southeastern from players and coaches. I’m excited to get started.”
Barbier, a Northwestern State alumnus, spent five seasons as an assistant coach on the Alabama staff before returning for a second stint at his alma mater.
While a member of Mitch Gaspard’s Crimson Tide staff, Barbier helped coach Alabama to four regional appearances from 2010-14, including the regional championship at Atlanta and a berth in the 2010 Super Regional at Clemson.
Barbier’s responsibilities at Alabama included coaching outfielders, helping with receivers and outfielders, running camps and scouting and being heavily involved in recruiting. He also served as the staff’s academic coordinator. Barbier was a key contributor on the field as Alabama’s defense set a school record for rushing percentage in 2011.
Returning to Northwestern State, he served two seasons as the Demons’ pitching coach before taking over from Lane Burroughs. Barbier has led Northwestern State to an overall record of 181-169 over the past seven seasons.
He engineered the biggest single-season turnaround in program history, an 18-win jump, that led to the Demons’ first Southland Conference Tournament championship and first NCAA regional appearance since Barbier’s junior season (2005) as a player.
Throughout his coaching career, Barbier has mentored 32 players who were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Eight of those players have earned Major League playing time.
Entering the 2023 season, a pitcher from Northwestern State has been selected in each of the last four drafts, the latest being Johnathan Harmon, who went in the 13th round to Cincinnati in 2022. Harmon followed Levi David (2021, New York Mets), Logan. Hofmann (2020, Pittsburgh) and Nathan Jones (2019, New York Mets) as pitchers Barbier has helped guide the MLB Draft.
He has coached four All-Americans, seven Freshman All-Americans and a pair of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. Three of their players have earned ABCA All-Region honors and two have received ABCA Gold Gloves. His No. 51 All-Conference players and 14 others have been selected to the Southland All-Academic team.
Twice his players have been named the Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year. He has also coached a Southland Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Hitter of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.
Barbier was a four-year letterwinner at Northwestern State, finishing his career ranked in the Top 10 in eight statistical categories. During his Demon playing career, he set the program’s career record for HBPs, was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American, earned first-team honors on the Southland’s All-Conference team and was named the conference’s baseball Student-Athlete of the Year.
The New Orleans native played baseball and football at Archbishop Shaw, earning all-state, all-district and all-metro honors on the diamond. He was also part of two American Legion state championship teams.
Barbier earned a bachelor’s degree (2006) and master’s degree (2008) in health and human performance from Northwestern State. He is married to the former Kody Sprout and the couple has a daughter, Landry.
