OMAHA, Neb. — Hours after being introduced as the new head baseball coach at the University of Central Florida, LSU pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney arrived Thursday night at the site of the College World Series.
His long-range plans for UCF now take a backseat to his immediate goal: to finish the job the right way with LSU.
Stetson coach Pete Dunn, for whom Rooney worked as pitching coach in 2002 and 2003, said LSU fans shouldn’t worry about Rooney’s focus being in the wrong place during the CWS, which begins this weekend.
“I can guarantee Tiger fans that once Terry got on that plane in Orlando to head to Omaha,” Dunn said, “his preoccupation returned to winning the College World Series.”
Rooney, 35, accepted the UCF job Wednesday, flew that night to Orlando and was on campus for the introductory news conference Thursday.
