Thursday was a busy day on the assistant coaching carousel, as East Carolina and Houston announced they had hired full-time assistants, while Nebraska hired a high-profile volunteer assistant.

The Pirates hired Dan Roszel away from College of Charleston to be their new pitching coach. Roszel, who spent the last two years as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at CofC, did a fine job handling a Cougars staff that ranked fourth in the SoCon in ERA despite playing in a very hitter-friendly ballpark. Roszel, a 2000 graduate of North Florida, had previous coaching stints at Florida Gulf Coast and Gardner-Webb.

"We are excited to have Dan Roszel join our coaching staff at East Carolina," ECU coach Billy Godwin said in a release. "He is well respected in baseball circles, has an outstanding reputation as a pitching coach and recruiter and will be a great asset to our program."

Houston hired Trip Couch as its recruiting coordinator. Couch served alongside new UH head coach Todd Whitting on the Houston coaching staff from 1996-2000, and he has been a scout for the Diamondbacks since 2002. [...] Continue Reading »

Notre Dame is close to naming Boston College coach Mik Aoki its next head coach, though the process has not yet been completed, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. An official announcement is expected early next week.

Reached by phone Wednesday morning, Aoki declined to comment on the negotiations. He did, however, refute a report on a blog last Tuesday night that the deal was done then.

"At the time that that blog report came out, which I think was on a Tuesday night, that was fiction," Aoki said. "There had been nothing offered, nothing accepted, basically nothing. I had interviewed, I don't know where Notre Dame was in their thing. Who else interviewed for it, I don't really necessarily know. But there was no offer even—it was completely false. At the time that report came out, that was totally and unequivocally untrue. "

Another source said Kent State coach Scott Stricklin had also interviewed for and been offered the Notre Dame job, but he opted to remain at Kent State, so the Irish set their sights on Aoki. Stricklin said Tuesday he will sign an extension at Kent State within the week, and he is happy to be staying at his alma mater. [...] Continue Reading »

USA Baseball's collegiate national team trials start today at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Thirty-six players will compete for spots on the 22-man roster during trials, which last from today through Sunday. The trials roster also contains three alternates.

Following the trials and a training period in Cary, the Team USA will play a five-game series against Korea before squaring off against a Japanese collegiate all-star team in a one-game, international friendship competition in Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium on July 21. From there, the team will travel to Taipei, Taiwan for a four-game series against Chinese Taipei at Tien-Mu Stadium beginning July 25.

Team USA will close its summer season at the FISU World University Championships in Tokyo from July 30-Aug. 7.  The U.S. has won the last three FISU Worlds (2004, ’06, ’08), while host nation Japan will be looking for its first title.

Eleven players at trials appeared in the recently completed College World Series, while four players return from the 2009 national team: Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, Brad Miller and Kolten Wong. The roster also contains seven Baseball America All-Americans, headlined by Player of the Year Anthony Rendon.

Here is the complete Team USA trials roster (name, 2010 class, position, school): [...] Continue Reading »

We've got several coaching tid-bits to pass along from the last two days. Winthrop fired longtime coach Joe Hudak; Houston hired Todd Whitting as its new head coach; and Dallas Baptist hired Bob Keller as its pitching coach.

Hudak will be reassigned within the Winthrop athletic department after 19 years at the helm. He led the Eagles to five regionals and a .580 winning percentage, but they finished with a losing record in two of the last three seasons, and athletic director Tom Hickman said in a statement that "the program has not progressed in recent years as we would have liked."

Hudak told The (Columbia, S.C.) State that he was "extremely disappointed" to "have one really bad coaching year in the last 10 and then be let go." [...] Continue Reading »

NO NAME, Colo.—The mood Wednesday morning was more somber than previous years outside Rosenblatt Stadium as we watched workers dismantle Fan Fest booths while souvenir vendors pushed their remaining stock with closeout sales. That's because we all know what's coming. Or going.

I wanted to get one last picture of The Road to Omaha statue outside the front of the stadium. I had to wait in line. South Carolina fans were busy posing in front of it, alongside it, on top of it, all over it. One guy must have gotten every angle of the thing. Maybe he's going to go back to Columbia and make a replica. As excited as Gamecocks fans are, I wouldn't put it past him. I waited as patiently as possible for a man who had a 1,599-mile drive ahead. He finally finished, perhaps eager to proceed to the souvenirs, which were still crowded with shoppers. There were a few Gamecocks players among the crowd. I thought they already had authentic gear, but perhaps Coach Tanner made them turn it in. [...] Continue Reading »