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Hold the Rope: The Legacy of Skip Bertman
17 JUNE 2000: LSU coach Skip Bertman is congratulated after his teams defeat of Stanford University during the Division 1 Men's College World Series held at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE. LSU defeated Stanford 6-5 for the national championship title. Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images | NCAA Photos via Getty Images
There’s heroes and legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.
That old quote from The Sandlot will hang around the game of baseball forever. It’s one of a kind. Not just because of it’s impact within one of the greatest sports movies of all time, but because it’s true. Legends stick with you long after they’re gone.
It could be a personal legend. A family member or a friend. Someone that will live with you in your heart for the rest of your life. It can also be an athlete, a musician, or celebrity. It’s someone that made such a profound impact on a mass of people, their legacy lives on for generation after generation.
That’s Skip Bertman. Legend.
Some may say that you can’t tell the story of LSU baseball without Skip Bertman. That’s not true. Not because there’s enough of a story after him, but because he wrote the story.
He was the author, the editor, the publisher. He was THE main character.
There would be no Jay Johnson without Skip Bertman. There would not have been a Paul Mainieri. Because if Coach Bertman didn’t make that trip from Coral Gables to Baton Rouge, there would be no LSU baseball. Not anything like it is today, at least.
A coach like Johnson would be elsewhere in the SEC right now. He’d be competing for titles in colors that weren’t purple and gold. He wouldn’t be re-certifying LSU as The Powerhouse of college baseball.
We owe everything to one man. Stanley “Skip” Bertman changed the course of our beloved Tigers forever.
Prior to his arrival, LSU had made the NCAA tournament just one time in it’s history. They had won the SEC just five times, one of them being in 1975 when they made the tournament. Before that, it was 1961. You’d then have to go back even further to the 1940s.
Baseball was an afterthought prior to Skip. It’s been often discussed that the only people in the stands were parents and players’ girlfriends.
Ben McDonald once said, “When I was a kid, I used to go over there (to Alex Box) and sneak into the ballpark and there’d be more pigeons flying around than there were people in the stands.”
Fast forward to current day, LSU has now led the country in attendance 26 times dating back to 1996. On two separate occasions, 13,000+ fans have packed the new Alex Box. In 2025, average attendance was over 11,000.
That’s the Skip Bertman effect.
His legacy at LSU is clear. There’s a giant billboard above the Right Field Landing called “The Intimidator” that shows his national championship resume.
So, for a man that was born in Detroit, then grew up, played, and started coaching in Miami, how was his path paved to Baton Rouge?
Early Days of Coaching
In 1965, just 5 years after playing for the Miami Hurricanes, Skip became the head baseball coach at Miami Beach High School. That was in large part thanks to the job he did with American Legion team in 1962. After convincing local Miami businessmen to donate money to the team, he then led them to a city championship.
Once at Miami Beach, he won his first state championship in 1970.
“How does a high school team win a state championship in Florida with a team batting average of .222? It was Skip. He was worth 3 runs by himself in the dugout,” said former Hi-Tide player Gary Kelson on SEC Network’s “Hold the Rope” documentary.
Along with the one championship, Skip also led Miami Beach to two runner-up finishes and was named Florida’s Coach of the Year three times.
Assistant Coach at Miami
In 1976, Coach Bertman became Assistant Coach Bertman at his Alma Mater, Miami. Hired by Ron Fraser, he became Associate Head Coach and spent 8 seasons with the Hurricanes. Fraser developed great trust in Skip, trusting him with many of the coaching responsibilities. It was the attention to detail, carried over from his high school days that delivered a sense of comfort in his abilities.
Things started to come together for Miami in 1982, as they went on to finish with a 55-17-1 record. Fraser and Bertman helped lead the school to their first national championship. They bashed their way to the College World Series with a combined score of 42-9 in their regional. Once in Omaha, the Hurricanes won 5 straight games, including the title clincher over Wichita State, highlighted by a famous trick play.
Coined the “Grand Illusion”, Skip made the gutsy call to utilize his fake pick off attempt on a national stage. Phil Stephenson was successful on 86 of 90 stolen base attempts that season and with everyone in Rosenblatt knowing that he was set to take off, Bertman gave the sign by sticking his finger in his ear while in the dugout. The fake-out overthrow worked and it was just another sign that it was Miami’s year.
Early days as Head Coach at LSU
In Spring of 1983, Athletic Director Bob Broadhead convinced Bertman to leave Miami and accept the job as LSU’s newest head coach. That was no easy task, considering that Skip had previously said on record, that although he had aspirations to become a head coach, he didn’t know if he’d want to leave Miami-Dade County.
Broadhead stated, “Never dreamed of having Skip Bertman come and coach the LSU Tigers. Fortunately, I was able to land him. I think he’s the best baseball coach in the country.”
Skip called the decision “an agonizer” and said, “I’ve lived here all my life. I love it in Miami, I love the University of Miami. I just don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t take an opportunity to go for the gold.” His wife, Mrs Sandy and their daughters all told Skip to go for it.
“I started for $30,000 and I was making twice that at Miami, but I knew I could do something and I wanted to be a good coach,” Bertman later said.
Wherever SkipLSUSkip BertmanStanford UniversityDivisionMenCollege World SeriesRosenblatt StadiumOmahaStanfordThere’sHeroes
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