Former Alabama Baseball Interim Head Coach Headed to Gamecocks: Roll Call, June 11, 2024

A former Alabama baseball staffer is headed east after an SEC baseball shakeup.

Terry Rooney (26) during his stint as UCF's head coach. / Associated Press

The South Carolina Gamecocks made waves Monday with news that it will be none other than 2009 national champion Paul Mainieri replacing Mark Kingston at the helm of the baseball program. Mainieri, who has won six SEC Tournament titles, retired from LSU after the 2021 season. He'll be bringing on former Alabama associate head coach Terry Rooney as his pitching coach in Columbia.

Rooney, 50, spent just one season on the Crimson Tide's staff after previously being the head coach at UCF. That 2017 campaign ended in disaster and the eventual firing of former head coach Greg Goff after his first year. Rooney was subsequently named interim head coach but did not stay with the program after Goff's successor was hired. As such, he never officially took charge of the program for any games. The associate head coach title is presently held at Alabama by Jason Jackson.

After a short time as an assistant at LSU, Rooney will now make the jump to Columbia as part of a move that substantially shakes up the SEC baseball picture. With four teams from the conference advancing to the College World Series this season alone, there is now an additional national title-winning head coach amongst those leading programs in the stacked league.

Today's Crimson Tide Schedule:

• No games scheduled.

Crimson Tide Results:

• No results.

Did You Notice?

• Taulia Tagovailoa, the former Alabama and Maryland quarterback who is also the younger brother of Tua Tagovailoa, signed a contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. The younger Tagovailoa previously sought another year of college eligibility to continue his career with Mike Locksley and the Terrapins, but those pursuits came up empty. He also tried out for the Seattle Seahawks but was not signed.

• Star Alabama baseball shortstop Justin Lebron was announced as an NCBWA First Team Freshman All-American. The Florida native recently announced his plans to return to Tuscaloosa for his sophomore season following an excellent freshman year which also saw him earn first team All-SEC honors.

• Former football coach David Cutcliffe, speaking at the Alabama Sports Writers Association annual convention over the weekend, on what he learned as as student at Alabama:

Countdown to Crimson Tide's 2024 Football Season Opener:

• 81 days.

On This Day in Crimson Tide History:

• June 11, 2012: Alabama athletics came off NCAA probation following violations of the textbook disbursement policy. Specifically, the NCAA had placed Alabama’s football program and 15 other of the school’s athletic teams on three years' probation for major violations due to misuse of free textbooks. The penalty included stripping the Crimson Tide of 21 football wins over a three-year period.

Crimson Tide Quote of the Day:

• "Here's a moment you dream about happening, and here it was staring at us in the face. Gut-check time. Coach always preached it, jaw-to-jaw, cheek-to-cheek. They weren't going anywhere."

— Rich Wingo, of the goal-line stand in '79 for the national championship.

Check us out on:

• Twitter/X
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Instagram