Category Archives: Softball

This is the day

Last May, when Tennessee baseball was on its historic tear, we started looking at how hard it is to win an SEC Championship. When a team was making it look as easy as that group was, you can forget that the Vols had just four league titles in the five lead sports (football, men’s & women’s basketball, baseball, softball) since expansion in 2012.

Make that five:

https://twitter.com/Vol_Softball/status/1654911428208521216

And, as we discovered in doing that research last year? When it can feel like things were down for Tennessee’s athletic department for so long, it’s gratifying to remember how those five league titles compare to the rest of the SEC. Because “just” five titles is actually good for fourth on this list:

SEC Regular Season Championships since 2012 Expansion

Since 2012FootballMen’s BballWomen’s BballBaseballSoftballTotal
Alabama7200211
Florida0203611
South Carolina007007
Tennessee012115
Kentucky040004
LSU110204
Arkansas000123
Auburn120003
Mississippi State002103
Georgia200002
Texas A&M011002
Vanderbilt000202
Missouri000000
Ole Miss000000

The 2023 baseball crown is still up for grabs, with five teams within two games of the lead. But no matter who wins it, this will still be true:

Since the league added Missouri and Texas A&M in 2012-13, Tennessee is the only program to win an SEC title in four of these five sports.

Only Alabama, Florida, and LSU claim titles in three sports during that span.

And Tennessee’s lone blemish on this chart is football, which just enjoyed its best season in two decades.

Something we echo a lot on this site: there are always meaningful moments available, in any sport, in any season. I don’t know what you’d consider to be the “worst” period in Tennessee’s athletic history, but there was certainly a lack of consistent momentum in many of these sports not too very long ago. Among the breadwinners, football’s worst campaign was 2017, basketball struggled in the transition from Donnie Tyndall to Rick Barnes in 2015 and 2016, and Lady Vol basketball didn’t make the Sweet 16 from 2017-2021. Softball missed the super regionals in 2016. Tony Vitello was hired to begin the 2018 season.

Even in seasons like these, meaningful opportunities are always available. But just a few years later, every one of these sports is in the hunt.

That’s the linked component of that echo: the hunt is the real prize. It’s not winning national championships or bust, which makes for a terrible quality of life. It’s the belief that you can win one. That’s the promised land. And across the board, that’s where Tennessee’s programs now find themselves.

So while baseball may not be winning the league title in more dominant fashion than it’s ever been done like last year, are they in the hunt? Softball is ranked fourth in the nation as they open play in the SEC Tournament today. They’re in the hunt.

I don’t know if football will end up with 11 wins again this fall or not. But coming in, I believe they’ll be in the hunt. In 2024 projections and bracketologies, you’ll find Rick Barnes’ squad in the same hunt they’ve pursued now for the past six seasons. And Lady Vol basketball, now back in the tournament’s second weekend for consecutive years, is a three seed in ESPN’s 2024 bracketology.

I’m a big believer in today being the most important day and all that good stuff. I find it most meaningful to do life and faith that way. And that meaning is always available.

These days, that’s as easy to believe for Tennessee as it’s ever been. This is what it looks like to be the ol’ everything school. And it’s a great gift to turn on any of these programs in any season, and believe we can win.

Go Vols.

Gameday Today: Settlement agreements, 71% off! Today only!

Gameday Today leads off with an offer nobody wants, but at a bigly discount. Also, talking about the season, Larry Scott’s contract, softball, and who is this Travis Kelce guy?

Football

Tennessee receiver Josh Smith’s roommate, Kennedy Foster, wants to file a $3M lawsuit against Smith for allegedly beating him up, but he’s reportedly offering a 71% discount if he can pay, like, today, man. Hurry! Offer expires soon! (Yes, this smells like the backseat of the Grumpy Old Men car to me.)

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You know it’s the summer doldrums when sites start asking questions like What if basketball was football? Lay it on me, I’m famished. (And the answer, of course, without having to wear out your mouse button clicking through the morsels, is that Tennessee would beat Iowa State on the football field.)

Wes Rucker identifies the two most important swing games for Tennessee’s 2017 season. Hint: They rhyme with Skullfrogs and Waiters. 

Tennessee offensive coordinator Larry Scott got a $280k salary increase and a contract extension when he was promoted from his position as tight ends coach. He’ll be making $650k for the next two years, and his contract runs out at the end of February, 2019. Typing that out makes me wonder. When was the last time a college coach’s contract simply expired at the end of its term?

Tight end commitment Jacob Warren recently told The Swain Event that he wants to model his game after Travis Kelce. Who is this Travis Kelce, you ask? He’s a tight end (duh, I know) for the Kansas City Chiefs and was first-team All-Pro last season. But what’s the connection? Kelce played for Butch Jones at Cincinnati from 2010-12, and he was a third-round draft pick in 2013. So that’s why Jones has been whispering his name into Warren’s ear. Me, I’d shout “JASON WITTEN!”, but I don’t know either of them personally, so volume and brand awareness is all I have.

Softball

Tennessee lost its last two games against Texas A&M and came up just one win shy of making the Women’s College World Series. Mike Griffith puts it all in perspective, saying the team overachieved this season and is poised for something special in the immediate future.

 

 

Gameday Today: Vols Tight Ends and the Ninja Persuader Dad Power

Football

Who knew that promoting your tight ends coach to offensive coordinator would ignite a sudden interest in the tight end position? Seriously, I go on vacation for a week and suddenly everyone’s talking about tight ends. The current roster is looking pretty good, as is the incoming crop of tight end recruits, including local guy Jacob Warren, who sounds like a mature young man who’s made a careful and considered choice to follow in his father’s footsteps by playing at Tennessee, all without any undue pressure from his father. More likely, his dad has unlocked the Ninja Persuader Dad Power that steers your kids in the right direction without them knowing it. Dad High Five.
 
Speaking of new recruits, the 2018 class, which is already looking good in May, could begin to look outstanding in June. And SEC Country has an interesting theory on how Tennessee has refined its recruiting pitch to in-state prospects, asking them to consider life back home after they’ve played for a rival out-of-state.
 
One of the guys who’s buying in is kicker Brent Cimaglia, the nation’s No. 4 kicker in the 2017 class from Franklin, Tennessee, who’s ready to go, like right now.
 
We said this a lot in our magazine, but we’ll keep saying it because it’s true: Tennessee’s offensive line is experienced, deep, and talented. 
 
There is no easing in to the 2017 season, with Tennessee  a meager three-point favorite over Georgia Tech. I’ll take “meager favorite” over “underdog” any day, but three points is making for a nervous summer.
 
Butch Jones is extolling the virtues and early results of his new strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson while simultaneously playing the expectations game by telling us all not to expect the hire to reduce injuries this fall. Last year’s injuries, he says, were all in the “freak” category, and there was no pattern suggesting any correlation between the injuries and last year’s strength and conditioning program. Which, of course, begs the question: Why the change then, coach? Expect someone at the upcoming Big Orange Caravan to ask. And then expect to hear Jones say the exact same thing with no new information. But there’ll be food.

Softball

The No. 8 Tennessee softball team beat No. 9 Texas A&M last night 8-1 and is one win away from advancing to the Women’s College World Series. They can clinch their spot with another win against the Aggies tonight at 5:00. ESPN2 has the broadcast.
 

Basketball

Rocky Top Talk looks at the incoming class of basketball recruits and predicts that they’re going to be a fun group to watch.

Miscellaneous fun stuff

 
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