Now that LSU coach Jay Johnson has filled the pitching coach position, he has one vacancy left to fill: the recruiting coordinator.

And so far, there are no candidates. 

“It’s wide open, we need to find one of the elite recruiters in college baseball," Johnson said over the phone with The Advocate on Monday.

Dan Fitzgerald, who was the first of the assistants to leave for a head coaching job (Kansas), was the recruiting coordinator behind the No. 1 Class of 2022 haul, while also coaching the infield and serving as the third base coach under Johnson. 

But Johnson expressed in his post-season media availability that locking in his next class of players was his first priority, and he's shown that already with the additions of right-handers Dylan Tebrake (Creighton) and Christian Little (Vanderbilt), shortstop Jack Pineda (Baylor) and infielder Tommy White (N.C. State).

"Right now, for me, the players are the most important thing," Johnson said. "I'm addressing that and then obviously the coaching staff." 

But the pitching coach was the first priority, Johnson said on Monday. Despite LSU having the No. 4 best ERA in the Southeastern Conference this season, Johnson will need to bring in pitchers who can start and eat up innings. LSU spent most of its season with one consistent starter in Ma'Khail Hilliard, but mostly bullpen games. 

In a radio interview on WNXX-FM, 104.5 a week later after landing both Little and White, Johnson said he was enjoying the recruiting process.

"I've been kind of enjoying it," Johnson said. "With that being said, I'll be very happy to have a staff here shortly, but that kind of takes you back in time a little bit to the late 2000s as a recruiting coordinator (at San Diego) — doing a lot of it by yourself and wearing a couple of hats. I think the excitement of right now is, the guys we're talking to can immediately impact next year's team. That hasn't really always been the case."