June 23, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - New UCF baseball coach Terry Rooney announced Monday that he has hired LSU assistant coach Cliff Godwin to the same position with the Knights. Rooney and Godwin both recently wrapped up a season with the Tigers that witnessed the program post a 23-game winning streak towards the end of the year and earn a trip to Omaha and the College World Series.
"Cliff and I have been together for the last three years and I have seen first hand why he is regarded as one of the top offensive coaches in the nation," said Rooney, who was named UCF's head coach June 12. "Development is going to be the cornerstone of our program. Cliff has developed individually some of the best position players in the country and inputted an offensive philosophy into many of the best programs in college baseball. He has assisted in landing several nationally-ranked recruiting classes and will coordinate our recruiting efforts here at UCF. The UCF baseball program is extremely fortunate to have one of the top assistant coaches in the country join our family."
Godwin, a native of Snow Hill, N.C., will take the reigns of the UCF offense and serve as the recruiting coordinator as well. He will begin his duties with the Knights later this week.
"Working with Terry will be an honor," said Godwin. "We are really good friends first and foremost and we have been working hand in hand for three years now. Anytime you leave a place like LSU it's a tough decision. But I am going to be working with a guy who has the same beliefs as I do and that's what made this decision easy.
"Our intensity and the way we approach the game is the same, and it's a very good fit for us to be at UCF. Part of my coaching style depends on what personnel and players we have in place. You have to adapt to that to a certain extent. But fans should look for us to be aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths. We will put pressure on people offensively and do whatever it takes to get runners on, then have our bats in the middle drive them in."
Rooney also was pleased to announce that UCF volunteer assistant coach Rich Wallace will remain with the Black and Gold and serve in the same capacity for the 2009 season.
Under Godwin, the LSU offense hit .306 last year with 100 homers and 95 stolen bases. The squad recorded at least 10 runs in a game 20 times and posted a .509 slugging percentage (UCF's all-time single-season record is .503). The Tigers were paced by Baseball America First Team All-American Blake Dean, who batted .353 and had 73 RBI. The sophomore was the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Most Outstanding Player and the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Meanwhile, a pair of LSU position players were selected in the top 20 rounds of the 2008 MLB Draft, as first baseman Matt Clark, who led the nation with 28 dingers, went in the 12th round and third baseman Michael Hollander was taken in round No. 20.
Godwin and Rooney built the top ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2007 for LSU, according to Collegiate Baseball magazine. That class featured nine signees selected in that season's MLB Draft.
The duo also spent one season together at Notre Dame before venturing to LSU. During that 2006 campaign, the Fighting Irish had a .313 team average en route to claiming the Big East Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Lexington Regional. First baseman and consensus All-American Craig Cooper sparked UND, earning Big East Player of the Year accolades and was drafted in the seventh round after not being selected out of high school. In the classroom, Notre Dame had a 3.28 team grade-point average for the 2006 spring semester.
Before heading to South Bend, Godwin served as Vanderbilt's Director of Baseball Operations in 2004-05 and was a volunteer assistant coach at UNC Wilmington in 2003-04. The 2004 Seahawks put the program on the map by winning their first Colonial Athletic Association championship and going 2-2 in the NCAA Regionals.
Godwin received his first taste of coaching with one year as an assistant at Kinston (N.C.) High School in 2003, a year after he played professionally for two seasons with the Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies.
A magna cum laude graduate of East Carolina in December 2000, Godwin earned a bachelor of science degree in management information systems at ECU. He later received the Pat Draughon Postgraduate Scholarship, as well as his master's in business administration from East Carolina in 2002.
On the diamond, Godwin was instrumental as the Pirates' catcher from 1997-01 after being named an all-conference performer in baseball, football and basketball at Greene Central High School. At ECU, the two-time Academic All-American was a three-year captain who made 126 starts during his final three campaigns. As a senior, Godwin hit .322 with 15 homers and 45 RBI to earn ABCA All-East Region and First Team All-CAA accolades.
East Carolina brought home two CAA tournament titles and reached the NCAA Tournament as the top regional seed from 1999-01 while Godwin was with the team.
Wallace recently completed his third season as a member of the UCF coaching staff. He has helped the Knights make the transition from the Atlantic Sun to Conference USA, one of the toughest leagues in college baseball, and will continue to work with the Knights catchers and play an important role with the UCF baseball camps.
A four-year player with the Black and Gold from 2000-03, Wallace was key contributor to UCF's three A-Sun regular-season titles and two tournament crowns during that stretch. He hit .380 in his first season and was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball News. Wallace currently ranks second on the UCF career charts with 46 hit by pitches and 10th in on-base percentage with a .444 mark.
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