UCF baseball coach Terry Rooney has resigned from his position at UCF to take another position at another school, reportedly the associate head coaching position at Alabama. Ryan Klosterman has been named the interim head coach, but a national coaching search will begin immediately, athletics director Mike White said in a press release.
This was a move many expected following a disappointing 26-33 season for the Knights. There was a lot of turnover from the 2015 season, but still it seemed the team and players failed to make meaningful progress.
This came after a 2015 season where UCF rose to the top-15 in the polls but failed to make the NCAA Baseball Tournament with a 31-27 record.
Overall Rooney totaled a 230-183 record but guided UCF to just two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2012. The program is still relatively young with Rooney following the longtime coach whose name graces the stadium, Jay Bergman
The Knights this past year though were tough to watch. And with a new athletic director and changes to the other major sports on campus, for poor performance, it seemed baseball was the next to get a major facelift. The team had stagnated and was clearly failing expectations and not moving forward in any meaningful way.
As it is with any college program, it fell on the coach for struggling to replenish the talent and develop players into some kind of consistent program. In a talent-rich state like Florida — with top teams at Florida, Florida State and Miami — it was puzzling to see UCF continue to struggle so much. Even coming from Conference USA and the American Conference.
The Knights should expect more from the program. It seems like it could do so much more.
With White seemingly pushing more for the major programs on campus,change with the baseball team seemed like only a matter of time. Considering all the change, UCF seemed to thinking about doing something bigger with the baseball program.
It appeared the Knights though were going to give Rooney another year. It had been long enough since the season ended to make a final decision.
The decision was ultimately made for them. And now UCF will have to move on at an odd time in the offseason.
Chance McSpadden tears ACL
Rooney’s departure was not the only big of surprising and bad news for UCF.
UCF men’s basketball guard Chance McSpadden tore his ACL during a scrimmage, UCF athletics confirmed to Christopher Davis of the Central Florida Future.
McSpadden had a solid freshman season, averaging a little more than five points per game largely off the bench. The scoring point guard still had a lot of growth and development to go.
McSpadden is expected to be back in December if his rehab goes well.
