Back from Denver, where the Marlins made a pleasantly surprising move bringing up top pitching prospect Chris Volstad, who pitched two scoreless relief innings to win his major-league debut and beat the Rockies on Sunday.
In Miami, another pleasantly surprising baseball move....
As if having the No. 15-nationally ranked college baseball recruiting class wasn't already enough of an accomplishment in his first season, FIU baseball coach Turtle Thomas's next class should have a higher ranking at this time next season.
Only the Florida Gators (No. 12) had a higher-ranked recruiting class among Florida schools this year.
TT filled his vacant assistant coach position on Tuesday with the hiring of Rod Delmonico -- the winningest coach in Tennessee Volunteers history -- and along with TT, RD is one of the top recruiters in the nation with his recruiting classes having cracked the Top 10 many times while he was at UT and as an assistant at Florida State.
You may remember when the FIU Witches (yes, that is a gratuitous photo placement of the FWs) were casting their FIU coaching search spells last summer that RD was in the running for the FIU head coaching job along with TT. When he didn't get the 
job, RD took an assistant coaching position at FSU. Now with the chance to work again with his good friend TT, RD could not pass up the opportunity.
"We've been friends for more than 30 years," RD said. "This is a great opportunity to help Turtle turn FIU into something special. FIU has always been a place that can be great. I've spent a lot of time recruiting South Florida. This is a hotbed for talent.''
TT and RD coached together at Clemson earlier in their careers and TT has always been looking to coach again with RD.
"I've been quietly waiting on Rod for a long time,'' TT said. "He's always done a great job recruiting South Florida and the state and he knows the game as well as anyone."
Besides helping bring top talent to FIU, RD will coach the infield, baserunning and be TT's bench coach. Sean Allen, last year's infield coach, is now the pitching coach. And before you ask, SA has been a pitching coach before. None of that old FIU musical chairs coaching carousel going on with TT's staff.
We'll continue MC's Q & A on the next post. Also, will have an updated FIU Stadium tour with pictures on here soon.
ridgepanther: Who or what is to blame for UM stopping the crosstown matchups?
UM will not play FIU, because of two reasons: 1) God forbid, if FIU happens to start beating UM on a consistent basis, the people in Coral Gables won't know what to do with themselves. And while no one over there will admit it, that could happen in the future, because FIU finally has its athletic act together. Since PG took over as AD, the coaching and recruiting at FIU has improved 200 percent. The athletic academic mess has been cleaned up and not swept under the rug. And the athletes arriving at FIU have more talent than ever. Just witness, the No. 15 baseball recruiting class in the nation. Football cracked the top 100 (No. 81) for the first time in the 6-year history of the program and 
basketball looks to have a promising year.
2) While this is not the main reason, you also have to take into account that some of UM's coaches are not exactly inviting some of FIU's coaches over for a Bar-BQ on Sunday afternoons. Remember "Alligator Arms" JM at home plate at FIU earlier this year?
The Home of the Griffins (left) has joined the Prowl....Quahog, Rhode Island reads the GPP....actually it's Pawtucket, Rhode Island (home of the Pawsox - Red Sox Triple A team).
Count 'em down, Dingo and the Baby: The 30 states the GPP is read in: ALA, CA, COL, FLA, GA, IDAHO, IL, IND, IOWA, KAN, KY, LA, MASS, MD, MICH, MIN, MO, NEB, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TEN, TEX, VA, VER, WIS. 9 Countries: Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Italy, Panama, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, U.S.A. 1 District: Washington, D.C. and 1 Territory: Puerto Rico.
So what have we learned from the last 3 poll questions: FIU Nation loves the classic unis (blue top/gold pants), The Golden Panthers offensive line should be a major reason for FIU's success in 2008 and UM is the yearly opponent you good people would like to see FIU play. . . .Well, going 2 for 3 (UM not going happen) leaves you with a batting average of .667 and a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Here's a baseball question for you:
That is just some amazing news for our baseball program!! Having Delmonico, a very successful former SEC Head Coach, to be just an assistant at FIU is very big indeed. Of course, I would suppose Delmonico, who was the favorite of many of us to replace DP, would be waiting to go back to head coach as soon as an "acceptable" offer from other top program happens....Thanks for the news, PP!!
Posted by: FIU Fanatic | July 08, 2008 at 09:46 PM
Seems like great news for FIU. I remember him being the guy that most people wanted as head coach when FIU was looking for Danny's replacement. Great hire, I look forward to seeing what he can do.
Posted by: Max | July 09, 2008 at 09:03 AM
Great hire indeed. Building this thing up baby, love it.
Posted by: scUMsanitizer | July 09, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Reading Barry Jackson's article it appears that the UM AD does not want to play FIU in football. That is really too bad, I believe we could have built a really good rivalry. Some of it I am sure is due to the rumble that happened in the OB BUT a lot of it is that UM can not come to grips that they are not the main university in Miami... that belongs to FIU and that UM's fan base is, can we say, fickle at best.
Posted by: NYCFIUFan | July 09, 2008 at 01:49 PM
For those anxious to see some pictures of the stadium, we went out and took some today. Check out the FIU forum for the pictures:
http://fiugoldenpanthers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=97
Not as good as Pete's will be but just to wet the appetite a bit.
Posted by: Max | July 09, 2008 at 02:09 PM
Holy moley. Delmonico as an assistant? That is just an amazing hire. To think that a former SEC head coach is an assistant at FIU is absolutely mind-boggling.
Delmonico was pretty good at Tennessee; he wasn't an Ed Orgeron. And he recruited this area very well... he's up there with TT in terms of recruiting. This isn't just a good hire. This is a freakin' coup! Gotta give it up to TT on this one (and PG, too). Jim Morris has to be sweating it out right now after hearing about this. Hell, probably every school who recruits here will crap enough bricks to help FIU build that brick campaign they're promoting.
It probably won't last, though, considering he's probably going to get a good offer once FIU takes off. But if he leaves after helping FIU get to Omaha, I doubt many of us will complain too much about it. Call it a hunch.
I guess the only thing I wonder about right now is that the hire, as good as it was, doesn't exactly address the pitching problems FIU had last year. I mean, I'm sure Delmonico can snag a good arm or two, but moving a hitting coach to be a pitching coach has been tried before (Tony Casas) and it didn't work then. Still, though... that's a risk I'd take to land a Delmonico.
I gotta admit... I feel a lot better about TT now after hearing this bit of news. Good work, PP.
Posted by: Clawing Cancer | July 09, 2008 at 06:25 PM
Amazing HIRE for TT and FIU !!! This is a serious step in the right direction for FIU. Gotta believe that good things can happen, if only we can get some arms on the pitching staff !!
Posted by: FIUBlueandGold | July 09, 2008 at 06:50 PM
I'm estatic! Hell, I wanted Delmonico much more than TT during the search for baseball coach! As Clawing Cancer says, brownie points for TT on this one.
Pete we know about Morris and TT, however your statement about FIU coaches not enjoying a cold one with UM coaches sounded more than just baseball. How is MC's relationship with RS? If they are tight, then I guess RS is not in charge of scheduling. Their AD must be. Your thoughts.
GO FIU!!!
Posted by: Ultimate FIU Fan | July 10, 2008 at 12:15 AM
sounds like a great hire for baseball... again not a baseball guy but things are looking good.. pete just got a question for ya.. in my boredom at work i have taken some notice that FAU team are getting together for voluntary player hosted practices. do you know if FIU is doing the same thing. i remember seeing during summer A PM out there w/ a couple of Players (had a class in the trailors) wondering if he's got more out there now that the frosh have gotten to FIU. maybe you've heard about any of this?
Posted by: CJ | July 10, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Mr. Pete. Lets talk Marlins baseball. Now that Johnson is back and Anibal Sanchez is expected after the break, whats going to happen to Hendrickson, Miller and Badenhop? I guess Tucker is working out of the bullpen now. Hendrickson and Miller have been pitching very badly as of late and I havent seen Badenhop pitch in a while. Is the starting rotation going to look like
1)Nolasco
2)Olsen
3)Johnson
4)Sanchez
5)Miller/Hendrickson
oh and what the hell is up with Joe Nelson's face? He kind of looks like Popeye. Thanks a lot Pete.
Posted by: alt7787 | July 11, 2008 at 02:44 AM
hey everyone the new Media Guide is out for FIU football. its looking great and if you look at the front/back cover you can see the logo on the helmet and honestly it actually doesnt look to bad
Posted by: CJ | July 11, 2008 at 04:19 PM
hey just for a Football fix Foxsports.net just posted a preveiw... not sure if some1 already posted it but seems possitive and some high expectations for FIU 5 games or bust apparently http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/wcStory?contentId=8315024#story=8315104
Posted by: CJ | July 11, 2008 at 05:03 PM