Coach Garidel is now entering his 50th season to be coaching baseball at one level or another. This includes 28 years as the Head Baseball Coach at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, every level of American Legion summer baseball as well as high school summer travel ball teams. He is in his 15th year coaching here in Zachary including 5 years as the head baseball coach for Northwestern Middle School teams and is in his 10th year as an assistant coach with our ZHS Varsity Baseball teams. Over his 28 seasons as the head baseball coach at Catholic High he had over 60 players get the opportunity to play at the college level with 23 playing at LSU including his own two sons Jamin and Jeffrey. He also coached football at Catholic High for 30 years and was the Defensive Coordinator for 27 of those years. In 2019, he was inducted into the Catholic High Grizzly Greats Athletic Hall of Fame. He is a 1970 graduate of Baton Rouge High School, a 1977 graduate of LSU in Education and earned his Master’s degree in Sports Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1995. He married his high school sweetheart Sharon Hippchen Garidel, and they have three sons, Jamin (46), Jody (44) and Jeffrey (38).
