BATON ROUGE, La. – Justin Bridgman has been elevated to the position of assistant coach on the LSU Baseball staff, head coach Jay Johnson said on Monday.
Bridgman, who joined the LSU staff in September 2025 as Director of Player Development/Defense, will work as the Tigers’ infield coach and assistant recruiting coordinator in his enhanced role. He will also assist with hitting, offensive development, practice structure and player development plans.
"I am very excited to add Justin to our staff in a full-time capacity,” Johnson said. “He adds tremendous value as an excellent coach that relates well to our players. His experience as a former player in our program (at Nevada), a former professional player, along with his coaching experience working for some excellent coaches has him well-positioned to make a great contribution to our team in 2027."
Bridgman arrived at LSU last year after working for three seasons as hitting/infield coach at Tulane, where he was promoted to the role of recruiting coordinator in the fall of 2024.
Three Green Wave hitters coached by Bridgman received 2025 All-American Conference recognition, and Bridgman led in 2024 one of the most potent offenses in both the American and the nation.
Tulane hitters led the American in 2024 in homers, triples and walks, while placing second in doubles, RBI and OPS. The Green Wave’s 91 home runs ranked fourth in program history, while the 98 HBPs worn by Tulane hitters set the school record for a single season.
Defensively in 2024, Tulane ranked 17th in the nation in double plays turned, and shortstop Marcus Cline led all shortstops in the country in defensive runs saved.
Four of Bridgman’s Tulane hitters were selected in the MLB Draft over the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Bridgman came to Tulane after spending two years as the volunteer assistant coach at Cal Poly. He worked primarily with position players and hitters, he also coached first base. He sported a 78-31 record and an overall win percentage of .716, and he picked up 43 Big West wins during his two years at Cal Poly.
Prior to his time with the Mustangs, he served as a graduate assistant coach at Arizona in the spring of 2020 under Johnson following a four-year playing career at Nevada and two seasons in the Minor Leagues.
A graduate of Damonte Ranch High School in Reno, Nev., Bridgman played under Johnson in his freshman and sophomore years at Nevada (2014-15). Bridgman became a starter as a true freshman and appeared in 203 games for the Wolf Pack, hitting .311 with 33 doubles and 75 RBIs with 33 steals. He was primarily a second baseman early in his career with the Wolf Pack before becoming a shortstop as a junior and senior.
Bridgman was named to the All-Mountain West Tournament Team as a junior after hitting .351 and earning second-team All-Mountain West Conference honors as a senior with a .313 average.
In the summer of 2017, Bridgman was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 28th round as the 829th overall pick. He played for four teams in the minors — Princeton, Hudson Valley, Charlotte and Bowling Green, hitting .281 with 11 doubles and 34 RBI in 100 games.
After his playing career ended, Bridgman served as a broadcaster for Reno Aces games in 2019 before he was hired to serve as Arizona’s graduate coach for the 2020 season.
Bridgman earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Nevada in 2017 and his master’s in Science – Marketing from Arizona in 2020.