Qualifying for the postseason has become a given for the University of Tennessee in its five most prominent sports.
During the past five school years, Volunteers and Lady Vols teams have earned NCAA tournament invitations each year in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball, while the football team has ended every season either in a bowl game or in the College Football Playoff. No other Southeastern Conference school can claim that 25-for-25 success rate.
Yet playing in the postseason isn’t the chief objective for Tennessee athletic director Danny White.
“Depending on how you count it, we have the second- or third-biggest budget in America now,” White said on April 28 at the Big Orange Caravan stop at Riverdance Restaurant overlooking Nickajack Lake. “We have the best fan base in sports. We have sold out stadiums and arenas, and the operating revenue that we’re generating allows us to be an everything school.
“We are undeterred, and I’m confident all 20 of our sports are set up to win championships.”
SEC championships eluded Tennessee in those five sports this year — there were league titles in women’s golf and rowing — and three of the five came up empty in the postseason when the Vols lost to Illinois in the Music City Bowl, the Lady Vols were dumped by North Carolina State in the NCAA basketball tourney’s first round, and the baseball Vols went 0-2 in the Chapel Hill Regional.
Here is a look back at the good and the not as good.
FOOTBALL
Preseason: 24th in the AP poll
Synopsis: An 8-5 season would have been celebrated for much of the 2010s, but coach Josh Heupel quickly raised expectations with the 11-2 Orange Bowl championship season in 2022 and the CFP trip two years later. The Vols had to scramble after quarterback Nico Iamaleava bolted in spring practice and transferred to UCLA, but they found a capable replacement in Joey Aguilar, who led the SEC in passing. There were also notable injuries at cornerback, but Tennessee’s biggest issues were self-inflected wounds: a missed field-goal attempt against Georgia, an interception at Alabama that was returned for a touchdown, and an Aguilar fumble against Oklahoma that was returned for a score. Tennessee did rout Florida 31-11 for its first win in Gainesville since 2003 and was ranked No. 18 heading into the season finale, when the Vols stunningly rolled over in a 45-24 loss to visiting Vanderbilt. They were inept defensively for much of the season and especially against the Commodores, which resulted in Heupel firing coordinator Tim Banks and bringing in Jim Knowles.
Grade: C+
Heupel quote: “There has been some disappointment this season, obviously, but it was a group that continued to compete and get better. We’re not where we want to be, because this isn’t the standard at Tennessee. It’s about going and chasing and winning championships.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Preseason: 18th in the AP poll
Synopsis: Tennessee attained a third straight Elite Eight appearance under Rick Barnes, but it was achieved in a very different way. The Vols did register a huge November win over No. 3 Houston, but they were not as successful in SEC play compared to their predecessors — they had two sizable leads evaporate in losses to Kentucky — which resulted in them missing out on the double bye at the conference tournament in Nashville. What this Tennessee team did achieve was playing its best in the NCAA tournament, as the Midwest Region’s sixth-seeded Vols defeated third-seeded Virginia and second-seeded Iowa State before falling badly to top-seeded Michigan, which went on to win the national championship. Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and freshman forward Nate Ament led the 25-12 Vols, who were constructed to dominate inside and finished second nationally to Florida in offensive rebounding. They did not have a pure shooting guard such as Dalton Knecht and Chaz Lanier on previous teams, but Barnes recently addressed that with one of the nation’s top transfer portal classes.
Grade: A-
Barnes quote: “Our defense got us here. It really did. We’ve had games when we’ve struggled to score. We will all have to get better, and we will all have to keep working at it. We certainly know what it takes to get here. Now we’ve got to figure out getting to the next level.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Preseason: Eighth in the AP poll
Synopsis: Kim Caldwell’s first season as Tennessee’s coach contained a win over eventual national champion Connecticut and a trip to the Sweet 16. Her second season ended with eight consecutive losses, which set a program record, and a 16-14 mark that is the worst in school history. There was the challenge out of the gate of overcoming the dismissal of senior guard Ruby Whitehorn after multiple arrests on misdemeanor charges, and lopsided losses to UCLA (99-77) and Louisville (89-65) were early signs Tennessee would struggle against the nation’s elite. The Lady Vols did start 6-0 in SEC play, but that was largely due to a back-loaded schedule with games against South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and Vanderbilt in the final month. In an unprecedented situation for a coach only two years into her tenure, Caldwell would lose her entire roster to either eligibility or the NCAA transfer portal, placing an immediate make-or-break scenario for her in year three.
Grade: D-
Caldwell quote: “You can’t play this style of play and put in a plan B, and we put in a plan B. When you do that, you lose your identity and you lose your buy-in and you lose your staff a little bit. The fault starts with me, because I did that in the middle of the season. I know better than to do that, and it was the worst year of my professional career.”
BASEBALL
Preseason: 14th in the D1 Baseball poll
Synopsis: Tennessee was college baseball’s model program from 2021-25, reaching the NCAA super regional round all five years, advancing to the College World Series three times and winning the 2024 national championship. Then came last October’s unexpected departure of coach Tony Vitello, who became Major League Baseball’s first managerial hire without professional baseball experience as a player or a coach. With Vitello off to San Francisco, hitting coach Josh Elander was promoted and guided the Vols to a 38-22 record that included a 15-15 mark in SEC play. Tennessee won series against four SEC teams that reached the NCAA tournament — Alabama, Mississippi State, Oklahoma and Texas — but went 1-5 against LSU and Vanderbilt, which missed out on the 64-team field. It’s hard to know if the Vols would have been more effective in the NCAA tourney had starting pitcher Landon Mack not missed the last month with arm soreness, because the Chapel Hill losses to East Carolina and VCU were more about the bats going cold. This team clearly wasn’t as successful as the five before but was ranked No. 23 entering the NCAA tournament, so credit Elander for providing some stability after Vitello’s unique exit.
Grade: B-
Elander quote: “It’s been a crazy year for us, and I loved how they stayed in it. It was not smooth sailing. Our league is unforgiving, and sometimes when you get punched, it’s hard to get back up. Because of the makeup of some of our guys, we were able to do that and fight our way into the postseason.”
SOFTBALL
Preseason: Fourth in the Softball America poll
Synopsis: Tennessee’s preseason ranking was mostly based on the pitching prowess of Karlyn Pickens, Sage Mardjetko and Erin Nuwer, a trio who wound up leading the nation in team earned run average, but it was a very youthful roster from a position standpoint. That youth was quickly served as Tennessee raced out to a 26-0 start, the best in program history, but the Lady Vols did not really challenge for the league title and lost their SEC tournament opener to Ole Miss, which was their third loss to the Rebels in four games. Tennessee was in danger of losing its Knoxville Regional debut to Northern Kentucky but won its first seven NCAA tournament games, which included an impressive super regional sweep of Georgia and then triumphs over Texas and Texas Tech at the Women’s College World Series. Texas ended up defeating Texas Tech for the national championship, which shows just how close coach Karen Weekly came to getting a crown of her own.
Grade: A
Weekly quote: “I’m really proud of our team. I think a lot of people counted us out and didn’t think we would get here. We certainly had our ups and downs during the season, but we made a lot of noise here.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.