Glenn Caruso went 6-12 in two seasons at Macalester after inheriting a 2-25 team.

St. Thomas' new coach won't have to change his commute much. The Tommies hired Macalester coach Glenn Caruso, who was introduced Thursday afternoon as the program's 29th head coach.

He replaces Don Roney, who resigned after compiling a 54-44 record in 10 seasons. St. Thomas and Macalester are separated by a little over a mile of Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Caruso, who inherited a Macalester program with two dozen players, led the Scots to a 4-5 record this past season. He had inherited a program that had lost its past 14 games and 25 of its past 27. St. Thomas finished an uncharacteristic 2-8 this past season.

"My feelings for this job are very real. It this a place I could be for the rest of my career? Yeah," said the 33-year-old coach at Thursday's news conference. Caruso, an Ithaca graduate, was an assistant at South Dakota before taking the Macalester job.

"I was looking for a guy who could take this campus by storm," said athletic director Steve Fritz. Other finalists included an NAIA national coach of the year, UW-Whitewater offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski and a 30-year Division I and II assistant coach.