The “State” of Tennessee Baseball A Disappointment So Far

I know this will not resonate with many readers, but as a fan the Tennessee Baseball Team has been a big disappointment so far in 2015. In my opinion, it is unacceptable. There are too many good players in the State of Tennessee to be one of the worst teams in the SEC over the past 10 seasons. It has to change.

Head Coach Dave Serrano is in charge of Volunteer Baseball right now. I had hoped that he would get the Vols back to being at least respectable within the conference. It has not happened yet. Progress can be seen in some cases, but it should be much better. Serrano is a good coach. He has taken two teams to the College World Series. So is it the Serrano, a lack of resources, or lack of caring on the part of the Athletic Director and Administration?

Since 2006 Tennessee’s best finish has been 4th in the SEC East! From 2006-present the Vols have one 4th place SEC East finish, 3 5th place SEC East finishes and 5 last place finishes in the SEC East. Again, unacceptable. That is the worst in the SEC.

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Rod Delmonico has been Tennessee’s most successful coach recently. He coached 18 years at Tennessee from 1990-2007. Delmonico led the Vols to three consecutive SEC titles from 1993 to 1995. He also had a first place finish in 1997. Delmonico and the Vols had a great run in the College World Series in 1995.

Serrano was actually an assistant in 1995 at Tennessee. The Vols had player of the year Todd Helton who also quarterbacked the Vols as well. On the mound was Montgomery Bell Academy standout RA Dickey. Helton went on to being one of the best players in the Major Leagues with the Colorado Rockies, and Dickey resurrected his career as a knuckleballer with the New York Mets and was the Cy Young Award Winner in 2012.

The Vols made it to the semi-finals (final four for you non baseball types) but loss to Cal State Fullerton in that game, and that was it for the Vols. Fullerton went on to win that World Series over USC.

That was a big shot in the arm for Volunteer Athletics. It spilled over into other areas as well of the sports program Winning is contagious. So is losing. Tennessee Football went 11-1 in 1995, 10-2 in 1996, 11-2 in 1997 and 13-0 in 1998. Tennessee Basketball made the NCAA tournament in 1998 and 1999.

I am not saying the Baseball team was responsible for the Football and Basketball Team’s success, but I am saying that the athletic teams feed off of one another. Good athletes like to be around winning programs.

Down Interstate 40 in Nashville lies the defending National Champion Vanderbilt Commodores. They have been a national contender for the past several seasons in baseball. Tim Corbin is an energetic, good baseball coach. He is getting anyone he wants in the State and from all over the country. He gets hitters, fielders, and more importantly pitchers. I have no idea how he is doing it on the recruiting trail, but Tennessee needs to catch up. Vandy is a top 5 team again this season.

When Vandy started winning as soon as Corbin got to Vandy. He went to the NCAA Super Regionals in his second year as head coach. He has been at Vandy 13 years. He has been to the NCAA tournament 10 of those years. He has been SEC champion 3 times, and has been to the College World Series twice. He won it all last season, and they are the favorites to repeat this year.

When Corbin began winning on the College World Series level the Athletic department at Vanderbilt started to attract better athletes in football and better coaches in football. It promoted the “brand”.  All of the sudden athletes and coaches started to see that you could win at Vanderbilt, and you could win on a national level.

A Coach like James Franklin noticed, came in and did a resoundingly good job on the football field before jilting the Dore’s for his Penn State job. But the point is that winning became contagious. Vanderbilt is known in Middle Tennessee as the place to go to play baseball. I dare say that Lipscomb, Belmont, and Middle Tennessee State University have just as good of baseball programs as the University of Tennessee. Again, unacceptable.

I contend there are too many good kids in the Middle Tennessee area to not be competitive at Tennessee. Go up to Murfreesboro, Franklin, Hendersonville, Nashville, and Mt Juliet and you will find more good, solid baseball players that can play at the college level than you can shake a stick at. Coaching is good in these areas at the little league level, and these kids can play. But they need to be found by Tennessee. Rest assured Corbin is finding them.

The Vols are off to a another slow start this season. They were a preseason top 25 team. They have not played like it, and this is the reason I am so disappointed. I listened to them get killed by Murray State the other night and just got fed up. They are presently 9-9 and 1-4 in the SEC. They can turn this around, but it is not the start I wanted to see. The SEC East is a who’s who of College Baseball. Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky are all having huge success on the diamond in recent years. Unfortunately, that is who we have to battle just to get to the SEC tournament. It is daunting, but it needs to get done.

I want Coach Serrano to succeed big time. I care about Tennessee baseball. I think Tennessee baseball is important. It is time for Dave Hart to think it is important as well. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. From my view point it does not seem it is getting the attention the sport deserves.