Coach Vitello agrees to contract extension

#29
#29
arkyvol said:
From over here in Arkansas, it's generally agreed that Vitello is an up and coming superstar coach. He helped Van Horn put together the last two teams who made it to Omaha. I expect him to have the success in Knoxville that I expected out of Serrano.
Click to expand...
How old is Van Horn? Because my guess is that once he retires that Arky is going to come hard after CTV.
 
#36
#36
JCP201 said:
View attachment 263181
Click to expand...


Here's my $.02 for what it's worth

First, I do agree somewhat with the rationale of moving TT up after we beat them and we couldn't even get into the rankings at all. College baseball rankings are tougher when you compare them to football and to a lesser extent, basketball. College football for the most part has the same top 30-35 schools every year ranked, with a few outliers each season. It gets juggled around when one of these schools have a down year or conversely, a special season. However, there are so many quality baseball programs in the NCAA, there just isn't the room to get everybody in the top 25. I have either played and watched a lot of college baseball. There are numerous really good programs that your average fan has never heard of or considered would be a good baseball school, therefore, I get it. However, UT is a top 25 school and they should be at least in the 20's.

Secondly, as far as Vitello is concerned, here is what i see. It's becoming pretty obvious he's a really good young coach that will be successful and creating good things here in Knoxville. When a big job becomes available and his name is thrown around, Tennessee has to make it too good for him to consider leaving. The baseball budget compared to other bigtime programs is something i don't have much knowledge about. But what i am assuming is what Tennessee could offer would pale in comparison to what other programs could, maybe I'm wrong. This would be a huge problem in trying to keep Coach Vitello. However, there is more Tennessee could offer when you are talking about the program as a whole.

#1. Winning and doing it consistently cures fan apathy. I could argue our 94 team was more talented and better overall than the 95 squad. However, we would fill the stands in 95 much more than 94 and that's because we kicked plenty of ass in 94 and people remembered it. If Vitello can keep this trend or more, fans will come. Tennessee needs to be regularly in the top 10, challenge for the SEC title, and host a regional every year. Mix in a college world series appearance consistently and fans will come. We had huge crowds back in 95 for SEC play and back then we didn't have the stadium you see today, for those that remember. Win and win big and fan apathy will change.
#2. I'd like to see better non conference opponents before SEC play and even midweek. I understand the weather can be ugly early on, but that might be a chance you have to take for perhaps the weekend before SEC play. Additionally, bring in a quality opponent for a midweek 2 game series. In 95, Clemson came in for a midweek 2 game series. If i remember correctly, the might have been ranked #1 and us #2. What i do recall was the atmosphere and crowds. Those were fun and beating a damn good Clemson team was good for the fans. Imagine having someone like a Florida State or UCLA here for a series. Again, I know the issues for weather and probably budget, but this is what needs to be considered.
#3. Look at #1. We have to win and win big to get big crowds and support. It needs to be a situation where they would need to consider expansion and add more seating. In 95, they had to bring in bleacher seating down the right and left field lines because seating was an issue. That's the kind of "good" problem we need to have.
#4. Local support needs to improve with the media. I just recently moved back to Knoxville last year and I was surprised and kind of disgusted I couldn't listen to the game over the weekend on our local sport station. Am i missing something or am i correct it wasn't broadcasted? Maybe it was on AM with bad reception you couldn't hear and enjoy. I turn on the local station while i was out and about and couldn't find the broadcast, even thought basketball wasn't play. All i could find was some terrible national syndicated show talking about the NFL. How do we not have more support locally than this? The local news i check online didn't have anything well published for good exposure. When i played, these things bothered us because we were kicking ass and on the front page would be an article about a basketball recruit or something similar. I don't know what can be done about this, but baseball needs more exposure.

Sorry for being longwinded. I'm a VFL and I love this baseball program and as a former player, I want to see it explode and get the respect it deserves. I could be way off on what my impressions are, but I would enjoy some discussion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: StrangeVol, iVolSoHard and JCP201
#37
#37
I do think winning will bring the fans. Heck, look at the participation in this forum recently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: feathersax
#38
#38
xman1102, I read your treatise & agree. Live in Nashville. Wife former employee at vandie & has season tickets. She attends every game & tells me their games are poorly attended, despite great success. We're both VOL fans. Tennessee fans need to show up to support the Diamond Vols! Follow the example of LSU, Mississippi State & the like! Coach Vitello & staff are building a championship program.
 
#41
#41
feathersax said:
xman1102, I read your treatise & agree. Live in Nashville. Wife former employee at vandie & has season tickets. She attends every game & tells me their games are poorly attended, despite great success. We're both VOL fans. Tennessee fans need to show up to support the Diamond Vols! Follow the example of LSU, Mississippi State & the like! Coach Vitello & staff are building a championship program.
Click to expand...


I don't want to make any assumptions, but Vol fans are more loyal than Vandy fans from my experience. I saw this in 95 when i played so I would think the same thing can happen if we sustain winning at a high level.
 
  • Like
Reactions: feathersax
#44
#44
We had frat guys sit above the visitor dugout and give the visiting team hell. One guy brought a trumpet if i remember correctly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: feathersax
#45
#45
xman1102 said:
Here's my $.02 for what it's worth

First, I do agree somewhat with the rationale of moving TT up after we beat them and we couldn't even get into the rankings at all. College baseball rankings are tougher when you compare them to football and to a lesser extent, basketball. College football for the most part has the same top 30-35 schools every year ranked, with a few outliers each season. It gets juggled around when one of these schools have a down year or conversely, a special season. However, there are so many quality baseball programs in the NCAA, there just isn't the room to get everybody in the top 25. I have either played and watched a lot of college baseball. There are numerous really good programs that your average fan has never heard of or considered would be a good baseball school, therefore, I get it. However, UT is a top 25 school and they should be at least in the 20's.

Secondly, as far as Vitello is concerned, here is what i see. It's becoming pretty obvious he's a really good young coach that will be successful and creating good things here in Knoxville. When a big job becomes available and his name is thrown around, Tennessee has to make it too good for him to consider leaving. The baseball budget compared to other bigtime programs is something i don't have much knowledge about. But what i am assuming is what Tennessee could offer would pale in comparison to what other programs could, maybe I'm wrong. This would be a huge problem in trying to keep Coach Vitello. However, there is more Tennessee could offer when you are talking about the program as a whole.

#1. Winning and doing it consistently cures fan apathy. I could argue our 94 team was more talented and better overall than the 95 squad. However, we would fill the stands in 95 much more than 94 and that's because we kicked plenty of ass in 94 and people remembered it. If Vitello can keep this trend or more, fans will come. Tennessee needs to be regularly in the top 10, challenge for the SEC title, and host a regional every year. Mix in a college world series appearance consistently and fans will come. We had huge crowds back in 95 for SEC play and back then we didn't have the stadium you see today, for those that remember. Win and win big and fan apathy will change.
#2. I'd like to see better non conference opponents before SEC play and even midweek. I understand the weather can be ugly early on, but that might be a chance you have to take for perhaps the weekend before SEC play. Additionally, bring in a quality opponent for a midweek 2 game series. In 95, Clemson came in for a midweek 2 game series. If i remember correctly, the might have been ranked #1 and us #2. What i do recall was the atmosphere and crowds. Those were fun and beating a damn good Clemson team was good for the fans. Imagine having someone like a Florida State or UCLA here for a series. Again, I know the issues for weather and probably budget, but this is what needs to be considered.
#3. Look at #1. We have to win and win big to get big crowds and support. It needs to be a situation where they would need to consider expansion and add more seating. In 95, they had to bring in bleacher seating down the right and left field lines because seating was an issue. That's the kind of "good" problem we need to have.
#4. Local support needs to improve with the media. I just recently moved back to Knoxville last year and I was surprised and kind of disgusted I couldn't listen to the game over the weekend on our local sport station. Am i missing something or am i correct it wasn't broadcasted? Maybe it was on AM with bad reception you couldn't hear and enjoy. I turn on the local station while i was out and about and couldn't find the broadcast, even thought basketball wasn't play. All i could find was some terrible national syndicated show talking about the NFL. How do we not have more support locally than this? The local news i check online didn't have anything well published for good exposure. When i played, these things bothered us because we were kicking ass and on the front page would be an article about a basketball recruit or something similar. I don't know what can be done about this, but baseball needs more exposure.

Sorry for being longwinded. I'm a VFL and I love this baseball program and as a former player, I want to see it explode and get the respect it deserves. I could be way off on what my impressions are, but I would enjoy some discussion.
Click to expand...

Yep, win and the fans will be back. Maybe not on a cold, wet Tuesday in February however they will show up.

Playing a mid-week 2 game set with Clemson and/or Georgia Tech would be great. It's already been proven that losing an early game against good competition may even bump you up a spot or two.......

Vitello will leave if stadium improvements don't happen and we are winning. If we win and Uncle Phil spends the money on stadium improvements then Vitello is here to stay in my opinion. He likes Knoxville and can create his own legacy here. Again, if we win and stadium improvements don't happen then Coach V is gone in 4 years if not sooner.

Until basketball is over, WNML only streams the games. You can stream the games through your phone or computer until then. Still no excuse for the local media. Once again, win and things will change.

Also, I'm thankful for any live streaming as for years we had nothing but smoke signals from 66 and a few others. we need 4 cameras for all games. Most of the other SEC schools have a 4 camera setup for streaming. There has got to be a media major at UT where students can get credit for working games.......
 
#48
#48
xman1102 said:
We had frat guys sit above the visitor dugout and give the visiting team hell. One guy brought a trumpet if i remember correctly.
Click to expand...
I was in school when Coach Delmonico started. He came to every fraternity near the ballpark and encouraged people to come out and ride the opposition from the first few rows above the visitors dugout. It was reserved for those students. It was awesome – unless you were on the receiving end of the crowd :) I recall seeing opposing players occasionally give a one finger salute-and if that happened those guys knew they were in the player’s head. On occasion pizza was sent up to the rowdy guys, which those guys appreciated.
 
  • Like
Reactions: txbo
#50
#50
@1RBFjr said:
I was in school when Coach Delmonico started. He came to every fraternity near the ballpark and encouraged people to come out and ride the opposition from the first few rows above the visitors dugout. It was reserved for those students. It was awesome – unless you were on the receiving end of the crowd :) I recall seeing opposing players occasionally give a one finger salute-and if that happened those guys knew they were in the player’s head. On occasion pizza was sent up to the rowdy guys, which those guys appreciated.
Click to expand...

That was great times. We looked forward to the frat guys.
 
  • Like
Reactions: @1RBFjr
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top