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Kenny: SID To AD

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 28, 2008

When Eddie Kenny set foot on the Spring Hill campus of Bishop McLaughlin Catholic School, he must have been hit with an instant rush. There was no athletic news release that needed to be e-mailed to the media. See, Kenny, who took over as the Bishop McLaughlin's athletic director this summer, was Saint Leo University's sports information director and assistant athletic director for the previous three years.

Alas, as the hectic pace of SID work switched to the hastened life of an AD, Kenny's sights were set on increasing enrollment as well as having a successful athletic program.

"Athletics is the face of the institution," he said. "It's important to have successful athletics to help grow the enrollment. The baseball and soccer programs are currently successful. We plan on communicating their success and bringing the other programs to that level."

Kenny took over his new post after Mike Zelenka, Bishop McLaughlin's athletic director for the school's first five years, accepted an assistant principal position at Christ the King School in Tampa. Zelenka helped make Kenny's transition a smooth one. Athletic schedules were complete and Zelenka even spent additional time helping Kenny.

"Mike has helped me tremendously by spending time to walk me through things and showing me how things work," said Kenny, who earned a communications degree from Florida International University and later earned a master's degree in sports management from Nova Southeastern. "As a result, I know where we're at and where we need to be."

NEW PIRATE IN TOWN

The Pasco High basketball program underwent a change of leadership when Derek Heard was hired to fill the vacancy left by former coach Poncho Broner. Broner stepped down following the 2007-08 season, ending his eight-year tenure. Heard came in with a heralded background, having served three seasons as an assistant to Miami Monsignor Pace coach Mark Lieberman. Monsignor Pace had made six consecutive final four appearances, yielding four state titles, including championships the past two campaigns. Heard was there 2003-2006 and served the last two seasons as an assistant at Orlando Oak Ridge. In addition to his high school coaching, Heard, who played at Florida Southern (1999-2002), scoring 1,064 points for the Moccasins and earning team MVP honors during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons, is the coach of the AAU Florida Rams.

"Mark Lieberman was probably the one who probably taught me the most about basketball," Heard said just after being hired. "He just continues to take pride in defense and up-tempo style and forcing teams to do things they don't want to do, attacking the basket.

"That's the kind of style I'm going to have. Just be really solid defensively and forcing teams into turnovers and really look to attack them. Up-tempo and fast pace."

TASTE OF HISTORY

Team Florida took a trip to Boulder, Colo., to compete in the Louisville Slugger Independence Day Tournament and left having done something no other Florida team has done at that tournament. The 16-under softball team, which featured 13 players from Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties, including Sunlake sophomore Alex Rogers, finished second, the best finish for a Florida team.

Team Florida reached the championship game, where it lost to the Southern Cal Lady Magic, 8-0. Before that, a team from Clearwater finished third nearly a decade ago.

"It was a great feeling to make history," said Rogers, who batted second, hitting .303 in the tournament. In the semifinals, against California Victory USA, she had the winning hit in the top of the eighth inning.

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