Jack Marucci has been a fixture among LSU athletics for the past quarter-century, and in the field of athletics training, Marucci long has been seen as a bit of a visionary.
Now, he's officially moving into a new role that LSU believes can only further enhance Marcucci's gifts: Director of Performance Innovation, the school has announced.
Marucci's new role dovetails nicely with his comments this week on an LSU athletics podcast, when Marucci provided a bit of a glimpse into his approach to working with football players and athletes in general.
“Don't use numbers as a goal. Because if you say, 'I've got to have 10 sacks,' and you don't have them the first couple (games), now you're going to start pressing,” Marucci said. “I'm telling you, I've seen it.
“Enjoy what you have, enjoy, your goal is to be coached, listen to what the coaches have to say to you. Study film. Go to class. I don't care if you like school or not; that's showing that you can show up.
“We talk to our young kids that come in here, we talk to them about guarantees in life. We're not going to live forever. There's some probably some taxes you're going to play and you're not playing football. Let us assist what we can do to help find out where your path is. I'm willing to try anything; there's stuff in this office, making these stadium bowls, making baseball bats, I'm not afraid to try something. We have to look at athletic training; we have to expand it.”
LSU already tracks many of Marucci's innovations the way a linebacker spies a quarterback; the school notes Marucci's “eye-dominance, eye-tracking test' and also Marucci's work to aid and expedite athletes' recoveries from ACL injuries, with LSU noting Marucci's work in that regard has helped lead Tigers' players to shorter rehab stints and quicker returns to competition.
"Jack is the most innovative trainer I have ever worked with," said LSU football coach Ed Orgeron in the school's release. "He was an integral part of building the culture of our championship program, and he will be a tremendous asset to us in his new role.
“His ability to take cutting edge technology, and use it to study performance in order to help us develop our players, is the best in the nation."
Marucci likewise has been an innovator away from LSU athletics – most notably on the baseball diamond. Marucci founded a bat company, the Marucci Bat Company, that has gone from a popular wooden-bat manufacturer for Major League Baseball players to also encompass aluminum bats utilized in baseball and softball at all levels.
Per The Advocate, LSU has zeroed in its search to replace Marucci's direct role on Beau Lowery, who is the New Orleans Saints' director of sports medicine.