bertman began coaching at lsu in 1984 and transformed lsu into a baseball powerhouse, guiding the tigers to 16 ncaa tournament appearances, 11 college world series appearances, seven southeastern conference (sec) championships, and five ncaa baseball national championships in his 18 seasons as the lsu head coach. lsu won its first two college world series titles in 1991 and 1993, in each defeating wichita state in the championship game. in 1996, lsu defeated bertman's alma mater miami for its third national title. its fourth title came with a 13–6 victory over alabama in an all-sec championship final in 1997. lsu defeated stanford in the 2000 championship game for bertman's final cws title.