D1 Baseball Ranks UT #2 in College Baseball Programs

#26
#26
StarRaider said:
I think this ranking is a recent period (like 2-5 years but it seems to be behind the D1 pay wall).... we went from 17 to 2 since the last program ranking in 2022. Here is the criteria that they use

Top 100 Programs: By The Numbers​

1Baseball Staff - September 22, 2015


Over the last two weeks, we have counted down the Top 100 programs of the current era in college baseball, taking into consideration recent history, coaching staff quality, facilities, scholarship/financial aid situation, conference dynamics, and recruiting and player development proficiency. In the chart below, you can view all of the programs that made our list, and sort them by conference or state.


The SEC led all leagues with 13 teams on our list, including four in the top 10. The ACC and Pac-12 were next with 10 teams apiece in the Top 100, followed by the Big Ten (nine), Big 12 (eight),[…]
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Here’s the updated criteria from this year:

For the purpose of this exercise, we don’t care what happened in the 1970s or 80s, or even the 90s or 2000s — that’s ancient history to a potential recruit in 2021. Tradition is nice, but it’s more important to establish a tradition of consistent winning in the last decade, and especially in the last five years. Our ultimate goal here is to identify the programs in the best shape right now, with an eye toward the next five to 10 years.

So we began by awarding each program points for making regionals, winning regionals, reaching the College World Series, and winning the national championship in the last five (completed) seasons, and a fewer amount of points for success between six and 10 years ago. That gave us a starting point; then national writers Aaron Fitt, Kendall Rogers, Mike Rooney, Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge made adjustments based on evaluations of coaching staff quality and stability, facilities, scholarship/financial aid situation, conference dynamics, momentum, and recruiting and player development proficiency.
 
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#27
#27
Here’s the TN write-up (shhhhh):

Tony Vitello has built a behemoth in Knoxville, in very short order. It’s almost unfathomable that the Volunteers have skyrocketed from outside our Top 100 Programs list in 2015 and 2017 all the way to No. 2 on the list by 2024. The rise started when Vitello led the Volunteers to regionals in 2019, his second season at the helm, snapping a 14-year postseason drought. But since the pandemic, Tennessee has kicked its ascension into hyperdrive, going an absurd 211-62 (.772 winning percentage) over the last four years, resulting in four straight trips to supers, along with three CWS appearances, capped by the 2024 national title. Clearly, Tennessee is the hottest program in college baseball, and not just because it is the reigning national champion; its domination of the rough-and-tumble SEC and its four consecutive postseason runs are just plain loud. The Vols only land behind No. 1 LSU because the Tigers are also hot, and have a longer track record of sustained excellence. But Tennessee feels like an unstoppable rocket ship right now, and the future looks even brighter with extensive (and long overdue) renovations to Lindsay Nelson Stadium on the way. This program is a recruiting juggernaut, repeatedly hitting on its evaluations on high school players and transfer portal players alike, and developing talent with remarkable prowess. Soon enough, we’ll find out if the Vols can sustain this dizzying level of success, or whether they will slip back to the pack a bit like recent SEC national champions Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. Maintaining such an elite level of play is exceptionally difficult in the modern SEC, so it’s not a given that this locomotive will keep on chugging the way it is right now — but it certainly feels wise to bet on Tennessee remaining one of the very best programs in the country in the years to come.
 
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#28
#28
Tenacjim said:
Here’s the updated criteria from this year:

For the purpose of this exercise, we don’t care what happened in the 1970s or 80s, or even the 90s or 2000s — that’s ancient history to a potential recruit in 2021. Tradition is nice, but it’s more important to establish a tradition of consistent winning in the last decade, and especially in the last five years. Our ultimate goal here is to identify the programs in the best shape right now, with an eye toward the next five to 10 years.

So we began by awarding each program points for making regionals, winning regionals, reaching the College World Series, and winning the national championship in the last five (completed) seasons, and a fewer amount of points for success between six and 10 years ago. That gave us a starting point; then national writers Aaron Fitt, Kendall Rogers, Mike Rooney, Joe Healy and Mark Etheridge made adjustments based on evaluations of coaching staff quality and stability, facilities, scholarship/financial aid situation, conference dynamics, momentum, and recruiting and player development proficiency.
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That reads like it was written in 2021. Good stuff! We have nice things,
 
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#35
#35
Tenacjim said:
Hard to argue with LSU being above us. I expected us to be top 5 but a bit surprised (pleasantly) to see us at #2.

Arky must be slowly dying watching our program’s trajectory!
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If you read Drew Beam’s tweet showing stats of UT vs LSU during the last 5 years, you might change your mind. I sure did... With that said, LSU leads in the intangibles of facilities, tradition, attendance, and likely NIL $. TN leads in coaching staff, player development, momentum, etc.
 
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#36
#36
taylorvol said:
If you read Drew Beam’s tweet showing stats of UT vs LSU during the last 5 years, you might change your mind. I sure did... With that said, LSU leads in the intangibles of facilities, tradition, attendance, and likely NIL $. TN leads in coaching staff, player development, momentum, etc.
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I said in an earlier post, Drew makes good points. I posted the criteria and write up above. The criteria does mention facilities so I’m sure ours drags us down. The write up explains LSU beat us out mainly because a longer period of sustained success. Now, if it were just the last 5 years considered, obviously it would be TN. But the prior 5 were pretty bleak. I’m OK with going from not even being top 100 in 2015 to #2 in 10 years!
 
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#37
#37
Tenacjim said:
I said in an earlier post, Drew makes good points. I posted the criteria and write up above. The criteria does mention facilities so I’m sure ours drags us down. The write up explains LSU beat us out mainly because a longer period of sustained success. Now, if it were just the last 5 years considered, obviously it would be TN. But the prior 5 were pretty bleak. I’m OK with going from not even being top 100 in 2015 to #2 in 10 years!
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UF also has longer sustained success. They been to the CWS a lot under O’Sullivan.
 
#44
#44
preacherman20 said:
The top 5 are
1. LSU
2. UT
3. Florida
4. Vanderbilt
5. Arkansas
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Know Tony is recruiting like a mad scientist, but given our losses, that seems a tad high....well...a lot high. Not sure I'd put us in the top 10 headed into the coming season. Am I nuts?
 
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#46
#46
CAVPUT said:
Know Tony is recruiting like a mad scientist, but given our losses, that seems a tad high....well...a lot high. Not sure I'd put us in the top 10 headed into the coming season. Am I nuts?
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I hope you are making a funny. Tennessee is a top 5 team again
 
#47
#47
Vawlk Tuah said:
I hope you are making a funny. Tennessee is a top 5 team again
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Maybe by the end of the year, but replacing so much talent won't be easy even for Tony V. Suspect it will take some time for roles to be established and the team to gel. Not saying they won't have a top 5 year when the dust settles, but to be so high at this point seems suspect, but I do appreciate the respect the media is showing our program and coach. I mean Tony V doesn't walk on water.....or does he?
 
#48
#48
CAVPUT said:
Know Tony is recruiting like a mad scientist, but given our losses, that seems a tad high....well...a lot high. Not sure I'd put us in the top 10 headed into the coming season. Am I nuts?
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Respectfully, you need to read the criteria. It’s basically who are the top programs for the last decade, but with a huge emphasis on past 5 years. This isn’t a preseason ranking for the 2025 season. If it was, I’d agree that with losing 7 position players plus all of our starting pitching plus our key relievers, UT should be ranked closer to 5 or 6 for the 2025 season. Go Vols!
 
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