Former G. Central grad headed to LSU

Published in Sports on July 9, 2006 2:01 AM

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BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former East Carolina Pirate and Greene Central grad Cliff Godwin was named hitting coach at LSU on Thursday afternoon, head baseball coach Paul Mainieri announced. In addition to Godwin's hire, Mainieri named pitching coach Terry Rooney to his staff.

Godwin and Rooney, who both worked for Mainieri at Notre Dame, join volunteer coach Blair Barbier on the LSU staff. Mainieri and his coaches toured the campus Thursday and were introduced to university administrators and athletics personnel.

"I'm very excited to have these three outstanding coaches on our staff at LSU," Mainieri said. "They are first-rate young men who will represent LSU with great dignity and class, and they will bring tremendous energy and enthusiasm to our program."

A former a standout catcher at ECU, Godwin joined the Notre Dame staff as an assistant coach in the fall of 2005. Godwin served as Notre Dame's hitting coach, worked directly with the team's catchers and assisted Rooney in the baseball program's recruiting effort.

Prior to serving as director of baseball operations at Vanderbilt during the 2004-05 academic year, Godwin spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach at UNC Wilmington (2003-04). His duties at Vanderbilt included helping organize daily activities associated with the baseball program and serving as liaison to the Bullpen Club support group.

Godwin was part of the historic UNCW season in 2004, as the Seahawks claimed their first Colonial Athletic Association conference title and advanced to the final game of the NCAA regional in Kinston.

An all-region catcher and two-time Academic All-American at East Carolina (1997-2001), Godwin was a three-year team captain who started 126 games in his final three seasons. He earned all-East Region honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2001 after batting .322 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs. The lefthanded-swinging Godwin was also named first team all-Colonial Athletic Association in '01, when his other season stats included 14 doubles and 23 walks in 57 games played.

Godwin, who spent 2003 as an assistant coach at Kinston High School, played two seasons of professional baseball (2001-02) for the Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies (based in Sauget, Ill.).

The Snow Hill native was a three-sport standout at Greene Central, earning all-conference honors in football, basketball and baseball. He also was an all-state performer in baseball, starred on the hardwood as a shooting guard for his father's team and quarterbacked the Greene Central football team to the best season in the school's history, receiving 1995 conference player of the year honors.

Godwin graduated magna cum laude from East Carolina in December of 2000, with a science degree in management information systems.

He received the Pat Draughon Postgraduate Scholarship and -- after completing his final season -- received his MBA from ECU in 2002.