'Turtle' goes home

Former LSU assistant baseball coach Henry "Turtle" Thomas is finally a head college coach.

Thomas, who left LSU to join Pat Murphy's staff as an Arizona State assitant, was hired as the head coach at Florida International University, taking over for longtime FIU coach Danny Price. Price build the FIU program into a perennial NCAA Tournament team before falling on hard times the last couple of seasons.

Thomas always had a reputation as one of the best recruiters in college baseball, a rep that he will be under more pressure to prove now that Major League Baseball has eliminated its draft-and-follow policy.

Thomas drew rave reviews from Murphy, who called him the "hardest working coach I've ever been around." He'll need that work ethic if he is to succeed in rebuilding FIU, which stands in the shadows of one of college baseball's premier programs (Miami) and a talented mid-major (Florida Atlantic).