10 years ago we would not have given two ounces of goat feces that our baseball coach left for whatever reason at this point in the season. None of us would be discussing it. We would be talking about the Kentucky game and making fun of how depressed everyone over there is about football.
Tony elevated this program as soon as he was hired into a product worth paying attention to. I did. As soon as he was hired. It was hard to watch every game early, but when the SEC Network came along and pretty much every game was televised I watched all of them. And my 73-year-old mom started watching the games too so we had something to share with each other. I'm really blessed that I have that. I texted her that Tony was gone and she said, "Good for Tony."
The interest in baseball isn't going away because Tony Vitello is. It seems crazy to me that it wasn't enough for Tony that we provided the resources that brought in a #1 recruiting class and a #1 portal class, and another #1 recruiting class that was being assembled and that wasn't enough. But the good news is, there are going to be a lot of really good coaches around the country who have zero ambition to go to the Majors and will look at those resources and say, "I think that would be good enough for me."
If for some reason Elander doesn't work out ultimately, DW will make a good hire.