To appreciate the renaissance Tennessee’s baseball program is enjoying under fourth-year coach Tony Vitello, which includes earning the third overall seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament, some reflection is needed.
The Volunteers were mired in mediocrity for more than a decade before Vitello’s hiring in June 2017, when John Currie was nearing the midway mark of his turbulent nine-month stint as Tennessee’s athletic director. Mediocrity may be the kindest way of putting it, because the Vols wound up enduring 14 consecutive losing seasons in Southeastern Conference play from 2006-19.
Tennessee was an abysmal 100-195 in SEC contests during the decade of the 2010s, and a 12-18 league record during Vitello’s debut season in 2018 marked a five-game victory improvement from the year before.
“I think self-belief was a big thing when we got here that kind of needed to be transitioned,” Vitello said this week on a Zoom call, “and we now have a lot of guys who believe in themselves. The proof is kind of in the pudding. (Arkansas standout and SEC pitcher of the year) Kevin Kopps is pretty difficult to hit, but our guys have at least stood in there and done some damage to the guy.
“The bottom line is that this league prepares you, and if you can hold your own in our league, then there is no reason you shouldn’t believe in yourself or your team. I think that’s the spot we’re in right now.”