In the 2000 College World Series, Louisiana State was being no-hit through five innings by Southern Cal's Mark Prior, the best pitcher in college baseball.
Noticing what the Tigers were doing wrong, then-LSU hitting coach and current FIU head coach Turtle Thomas called the lineup together for a quick talk before the sixth inning.
''Turtle let them know that they were guessing at Prior's pitches and not taking committed swings,'' said Skip Bertman, then LSU's head coach and its current athletic director. ``We got our cuts and scored five off Prior and knocked him out. Turtle showed he was a head coach in the making there. He did something the head coach should have done. He's as much responsible for that national championship as anyone. He knows why a team loses and how they win.''
LSU scored 10 runs to beat USC en route to the 2000 national title.
''I was the hitting coach, and it was my responsibility,'' a humble Thomas said when asked about the USC game.
THE DRIVE TO WIN
Now, Henry ''Turtle'' Thomas -- who received the nickname from a high school teammate, because Thomas resembled a turtle when he wore green catcher's gear -- is trying to restore the winning tradition of FIU baseball with teaching and his specialty: recruiting. Thomas has had 19 consecutive top-10 recruiting classes during previous stints at Georgia Tech, Miami, LSU and Arizona State.
''Turtle puts in more time than the other people,'' Bertman said. ``He sees more players than anyone. Turtle recruits kids with the force of his personality, enthusiasm, love for the game, and kids buy into that. When kids want to win as much as Turtle, then half the battle will be won at FIU.''
Last week, the Golden Panthers gave a glimpse of what could be a habit under Thomas.
For the first time in its 35-year history, FIU defeated a No. 1 team by closing out the 35-year crosstown series against Miami with a win.
UM coach Jim Morris is not expected to continue the series because of bad blood with Thomas, his former assistant.
This past weekend, the Golden Panthers won a three-game series against the Sun Belt's top team, Louisiana-Monroe. FIU (16-30, 8-13 Sun Belt) is one game behind Middle Tennessee for the final conference tournament spot with nine games remaining.
''We feel good about the way we're playing right now,'' Thomas said. ``I think the talents of our players are really coming through. They are playing much more up to their capabilities now than they were earlier in the year.''
Said FIU second baseman and leading hitter Ryan Mollica (.425): ``Turtle helps you stay loose when you play. When he tells you something, there's a purpose, like when he helped me shorten my stride at the plate. We've grown as a team throughout the year; he's grown as a coach. We're starting to mesh right now, which is a good time to for conference play.''
TURNING IT AROUND
It's been five years since FIU reached the NCAA postseason, when it lost in the 2002 Gainesville Regional. Ironically, FIU's best season ended against Prior and USC in a 2001 Super Regional.
When Thomas, an assistant last year at Arizona State, was hired last June to replace Danny Price, he inherited a program with academic issues and deficient recruiting.
In the 2007 fall semester, the baseball team posted a 3.04 GPA -- its best ever.
As for recruiting, after his introductory news conference at FIU, Thomas was scheduled to fly back to Omaha, Neb., to join the Sun Devils in the College World Series.
Instead, he took a detour to Cincinnati to scout players for FIU.
Thus, it's not a shocker that scouting service Perfect Game USA has FIU ranked with the No. 15 2009 recruiting class in the country ahead of UM (No. 17) and Florida State (No. 18). Arizona State, Thomas' former team, has the No. 1 class.
''Knowing Turtle for 20 years, I'm surprised it's not higher,'' FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said. ``We're going to have top recruiting classes every year and consistently compete for the College World Series with Turtle. He's the total package.''
The ''total package'' continued teaching Sunday morning before the series finale against Louisiana-Monroe. In its previous game, FIU was shut out 10-0 and Thomas saw that his batters were having trouble with the slider.
At Sunday's pregame batting practice, FIU batters saw only sliders. About four hours later, the Golden Panthers had a season-high 20 hits and 17 runs to defeat the Warhawks.
''I think every year and every team that you go into is always a challenge,'' Thomas said. ``[FIU] is certainly the most enjoyable and fun situation because you're able to dictate more of what's happening in games and practice than what you can do when you're an assistant coach . . . I always kind of liked doing that.''
