I don't have much knowledge

#1
bornbleddinorange

bornbleddinorange

we'll get em next year
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#1
Of UT baseball, I love football and basketball but I have been watching some of the super regionals and have a few questions.

Is the SEC as big of a powerhouse in baseball as they are in football, Iam seeing a lot of SEC teams still alive.

Was Serrano the coach at CSF cal state Fullerton and got fired and then came to UT? Or was he currently the head coach and chose the UT baseball job over Fullerton? I am seeing where they are still in play to make it to the college world series.

I feel like he (Serrano) has been the coach for several years now and we haven't been very competitive. What is the reason behind that?


I'll hang up and listen
 
#2
#2
bornbleddinorange said:
Of UT baseball, I love football and basketball but I have been watching some of the super regionals and have a few questions.

Is the SEC as big of a powerhouse in baseball as they are in football, Iam seeing a lot of SEC teams still alive.

Was Serrano the coach at CSF cal state Fullerton and got fired and then came to UT? Or was he currently the head coach and chose the UT baseball job over Fullerton? I am seeing where they are still in play to make it to the college world series.

I feel like he (Serrano) has been the coach for several years now and we haven't been very competitive. What is the reason behind that?


I'll hang up and listen
Click to expand...

Yes, the SEC is arguably more dominant in baseball from top to bottom then in football. Serrano did not get fired from cal state Fulerton, they would have been more than happy to keep him if possible. He wanted to come back to where he was a pitching coach for Delmonico.

The problem with the baseball team really has little to do with Serrano. Raleigh did more damage to this baseball program then any other coach has done to a sport at UT. This upcoming season will be Serrano's third in Knoxville. After his first we pretty much started over and had the youngest team in the SEC and one of the youngest in the country. There are some good pieces on this team with players like Simcox and Vjax, but still some holes that need to be filled. Kyle Serrano coming to Tennessee is huge for this program.
 
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#3
#3
vol2013 said:
Yes, the SEC is arguably more dominant in baseball from top to bottom then in football. Serrano did not get fired from cal state Fulerton, they would have been more than happy to keep him if possible. He wanted to come back to where he was a pitching coach for Delmonico.

The problem with the baseball team really has little to do with Serrano. Raleigh did more damage to this baseball program then any other coach has done to a sport at UT. This upcoming season will be Serrano's third in Knoxville. After his first we pretty much started over and had the youngest team in the SEC and one of the youngest in the country. There are some good pieces on this team with players like Simcox and Vjax, but still some holes that need to be filled. Kyle Serrano coming to Tennessee is huge for this program.
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Will Serrano catch us up to Vanderbilt in the near future? No sarcasm
 
#4
#4
bornbleddinorange said:
Will Serrano catch us up to Vanderbilt in the near future? No sarcasm
Click to expand...

I would tend to say no in the near future, and don't think that their is a coach out their that could. Vanderbilt's success is one of the things that made this a tough rebuild. You've got tennessee competing in its own state with a program that can point to players like Alvarez, Price, Gray, etc and offers the education that they do at the same time. This current crop will be a middle of the SEC team and NCAA tournament participants by the time they graduate, but don't see a top of the SEC type potential at the moment.
 
#6
#6
It's gonna take AT LEAST a few years to be competitive at that level. I do believe Serrano can be that coach that takes us places. Just got to have some patience
 
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#7
#7
vol2013 said:
Yes, the SEC is arguably more dominant in baseball from top to bottom then in football. Serrano did not get fired from cal state Fulerton, they would have been more than happy to keep him if possible. He wanted to come back to where he was a pitching coach for Delmonico.

The problem with the baseball team really has little to do with Serrano. Raleigh did more damage to this baseball program then any other coach has done to a sport at UT. This upcoming season will be Serrano's third in Knoxville. After his first we pretty much started over and had the youngest team in the SEC and one of the youngest in the country. There are some good pieces on this team with players like Simcox and Vjax, but still some holes that need to be filled. Kyle Serrano coming to Tennessee is huge for this program.
Click to expand...
I have to respectfully disagree, while Raleigh was a ridiculous hire and drove the baseball team into the ground, I don't think he was as bad as Dooley was for the football team. Worst 3 hires in UT history have all come in the last 10 years. 1. Hamilton as AD 2. Dooley as football coach 3. Raleigh as baseball coach. All 3 were hopelessly in over their heads.
 
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#8
#8
TNRazor said:
I have to respectfully disagree, while Raleigh was a ridiculous hire and drove the baseball team into the ground, I don't think he was as bad as Dooley was for the football team. Worst 3 hires in UT history have all come in the last 10 years. 1. Hamilton as AD 2. Dooley as football coach 3. Raleigh as baseball coach. All 3 were hopelessly in over their heads.
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Meh, agree to disagree, I see where you are coming from, but I would be surprised to see Butch having to start the percentage of freshman that Serrano had to. I think overall the percentage of NFL talent on the football team is higher than MLB talent that Serrano inherited.
 
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#9
#9
:birgits_giggle:
bornbleddinorange said:
Of UT baseball, I love football and basketball but I have been watching some of the super regionals and have a few questions.

Is the SEC as big of a powerhouse in baseball as they are in football, Iam seeing a lot of SEC teams still alive.

Was Serrano the coach at CSF cal state Fullerton and got fired and then came to UT? Or was he currently the head coach and chose the UT baseball job over Fullerton? I am seeing where they are still in play to make it to the college world series.

I feel like he (Serrano) has been the coach for several years now and we haven't been very competitive. What is the reason behind that?


I'll hang up and listen
Click to expand...
 
#11
#11
As a long term baseball guy that played the game at the D-1 level I can say the Vol2013 and I are in 100% agreement with each other. Raleigh's performance was also worse in that Dools at least made a bowl game his first year and left quite a few future draft choices to work with. There are several local HS baseball coaches far more qualified and capable than Raleigh was to head the program. When he was hired by Hamilton there was a collective "who?!", "WTF?!" and so forth. Most folks had no clue who he was, much less his qualifications for getting a top SEC job (at that time).

Serrano is the real deal and strongly wanted this job, otherwise he would probably still be at CSF Not only did he lead CSF, but he also took UC Irvine to the CWS for the first time in that school's history. If everyone is patient we will see results over time that surpass Delmonico's because he is very highly respected in the industry and by HS coaches nationwide. That's is what it takes to build a roster.

It was rumored that Serrano had applied for the job when Raleigh got it over him because Serrano either did not have a degree or had recently gotten one from a non-accredited diploma mill school. Hence when they reached out to him this time they changed the job description on that issue. Personally I could care less if the head coach has a college degree or not - he is there to teach/coach baseball, not English Lit or Physics. But I inderstand the other side of it when folks think he should have a legitimate one.
 
#12
#12
The title of this thread describes at least 95% of VN posters.
 
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#14
#14
bornbleddinorange said:
Of UT baseball, I love football and basketball but I have been watching some of the super regionals and have a few questions.

Is the SEC as big of a powerhouse in baseball as they are in football, Iam seeing a lot of SEC teams still alive.

Was Serrano the coach at CSF cal state Fullerton and got fired and then came to UT? Or was he currently the head coach and chose the UT baseball job over Fullerton? I am seeing where they are still in play to make it to the college world series.

I feel like he (Serrano) has been the coach for several years now and we haven't been very competitive. What is the reason behind that?


I'll hang up and listen
Click to expand...

Just as in football, the SEC is the premier collegiate league for baseball. As you mentioned, we have the most teams in the super regional BUT...look at the draft. We had nearly twice as many athletes chosen in the first five rounds. Of course, that makes Serrano's job harder.

Serrano really wanted the job. He could have stayed on the west coast and gone to super regionals until he decided to retire. I think he really wanted to come to Tennessee because he wanted to raise his family here, it was a nice raise too.

I WILL SAY THIS...I believe CDS underestimated how tough the conference had gotten and how tough recruiting to UT would be. I can take it,:p.

Serrano has been through two full seasons. He got here too late in his first year to do anymore than secure the class Raleigh had built.

Then, after season one...he gutted the roster. Of the fielders, only Maddox, Bennett and Luther would have any significant playing time. The rest were freshmen like Vincent Jackson and AJ Simcox or new JUCO players like Price. We had the least experienced team in the toughest conference in the country this season and I'd say our division was a bit down from previous years. Vandy was good, but SC got off to a slow start and UF was not as good as they have been the last couple of years.

What hurt us this year was pitching. Particularly, the bull pen and inconsistency during mid week games. We also had too many fielding mistakes early on which I chalk up to being young and unfamiliar as team mates. Base running also lingered as a problem most of the season, rearing it's ugly head at the worst time.

We did get better at the plate, by a wide margin. We still need power, but we finished in the top half in batting average.

It would appear that we've made it through the draft, now the messiness begins, how do you make room for the signing class when the roster sits at about 28(?).

We MUST make Hoover next year and we MUST win 10 or more SEC games to accomplish that.
 
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#15
#15
TNRazor said:
I have to respectfully disagree, while Raleigh was a ridiculous hire and drove the baseball team into the ground, I don't think he was as bad as Dooley was for the football team. Worst 3 hires in UT history have all come in the last 10 years. 1. Hamilton as AD 2. Dooley as football coach 3. Raleigh as baseball coach. All 3 were hopelessly in over their heads.
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If we're listing hall of shame hires Wade Houston would have to be close to the top.
 
#16
#16
gnm53108 said:
If we're listing hall of shame hires Wade Houston would have to be close to the top.
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This.

Raleigh was bad, but Wade Houston took over for the Vols the year after they made the NCAAT (granted it was a senior heavy team) and proceeded to have them winning about 5 games 4-5 years later. He was awful.

I'd put Houston at the top of the list, then Raleigh, then Dooley. None of them did anything to deserve getting their respective coaching jobs.
 
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#17
#17
VolsSportsFan said:
This.

Raleigh was bad, but Wade Houston took over for the Vols the year after they made the NCAAT (granted it was a senior heavy team) and proceeded to have them winning about 5 games 4-5 years later. He was awful.

I'd put Houston at the top of the list, then Raleigh, then Dooley. None of them did anything to deserve getting their respective coaching jobs.
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Hard to believe he was hired to get us to the "next" level. He took a proud sucessfull basketball program to the gutter.
 
#18
#18
Wade Houston was the Master of the No Motion Offense but he had been the top asst and lead recruiter for all Denny Crum during Louisville's run. He had a good resume.

Dooley had a losing record at La Tech and Raleigh had led Western Carolina to mediocre levels prior their hirings by the genius Mike Hamilton. I'd say Raleigh and Dooley were worse hires.
 
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