UCF baseball coach Terry Rooney leaves program – Orlando Sentinel
UCF baseball coach Terry Rooney has left the program after eight seasons to pursue another coaching opportunity, the school said in a statement Tuesday night.
Rooney, 42, has joined the Alabama baseball staff as an associate head coach, according to national baseball writer Kendall Rogers, who broke the news on twitter.
UCF was Rooney’s first head coaching job. He compiled an overall record of 261-209. He was the 2014 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and led the Knights to NCAA postseason play in 2011 and 2012.
“We wish Terry and his family the best of luck,” UCF vice president and athletics director Danny White said in a news release. “During his tenure at UCF, Coach Rooney showed a great deal of passion for his players and the program. We thank him for his efforts over the past eight years. Terry and his teams have laid a great foundation to continue building on in the future.”
The Knights named Ryan Klostermann their interim head coach and will conduct a national search to replace Rooney.
Rooney’s departure marks one of several personnel changes made since White took over as athletics director last December. White fired both basketball coaches (Donnie Jones and Joi Williams) before hiring Johnny Dawkins to lead the men’s team and Katie Abrahamson-Henderson to lead the women’s team. He hired John Roddick to replace the men’s tennis coach and most notably pulled an under-the-radar hire that earned national praise in selecting Scott Frost as the new football coach.
Rooney left by choice but many believe he was on the coaching hot seat after back-to-back underwhelming seasons during which the Knights went 57-60.
Prior to joining UCF, Rooney served as a pitching coach for the College World Series-bound LSU Tigers in 2008.