LSU baseball hires Terry Rooney as Director of Recruiting and Program Development

LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson has reportedly made an important hire. The Tigers are bringing in Terry Rooney as Director of Recruiting and Program Development, according to Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.

Rooney is joining the LSU program after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Purdue. He was also the pitching coach for the Boilermakers in 2023.

Rooney was previously the head coach at UCF. This marks the second time in his career that Rooney has been on staff at LSU.

He joins a Tigers program that won the national title this past season, beating Florida in a best-of-three series to capture the crown.

Rooney coached in the College World Series during his first stint with LSU and also won a pair of SEC titles. He helped the Tigers sign the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, before accepting the head coaching job at UCF.

Terry Rooney was in charge of the Knights program for eight seasons, earning 261 victories from 2009-2016. His best year came in 2012 when UCF won 45 games and reached the NCAA Tournament. Rooney also spent time at Houston during his career.

LSU star Gavin Dugas selected by Washington Nationals in 2023 MLB Draft

It was a big day for the LSU baseball program elsewhere, too, as Gavin Dugas was drafted on Monday.

Dugas was taken in the sixth round, No. 165 overall by the Washington Nationals.

Dugas played an important role in helping LSU win the 2023 national title as he hit .290 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs. The Louisiana native appeared in 68 games, while starting 66 of them.

Gavin Dugas was named to the College World Series All-Tournament Team at second base after he hit .308 with two home runs, two doubles and four RBIs in Omaha.

Dugas spent five seasons playing at LSU. He appeared in 201 games, while starting 178 of them. For his career, Dugas hit .287 with 44 home runs and 148 RBIs.

More on the 2023 MLB Draft

The 2023 Major League Baseball Draft will begin during All-Star week, with the first two rounds getting underway at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. Rounds 3-10 will then begin at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, July 10, with rounds 11-20 starting at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 11.

This year’s MLB Draft is a historic one, as a draft lottery was used to determine the order for the first time. The Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics each had a 16.5% chance to receive the No. 1 overall pick. Ultimately, Pittsburgh won the right to have the first selection, with Washington finishing right behind them at No. 2. Oakland, however, fell all the way down to No. 6 overall.

While the MLB Draft is always unpredictable, the consensus is that this year’s top prospects both hail from LSU, who won the 2023 College World Series. Pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews headline this year’s class, which is considered a deep one.

Within the first ten rounds of the draft, each slot is assigned a certain value. Each team has a bonus pool that they are able to spend on these picks, and players will sign at, above or below their assigned slot value.

In rounds 11-20, there is no assigned slot value and MLB teams are free to spend up to $150,000 to sign their picks from the second half of the draft. If they exceed the $150,000 mark, that added amount will be deducted from their bonus pool.

Following the final day of the 2023 MLB Draft, selected players will have until August 1 to sign a contract.