D1 Baseball Ranks UT #2 in College Baseball Programs

[Tenacjim]

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),[…]

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.

 

[Tenacjim]

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.

 

[chuckiepoo]

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.

That reads like it was written in 2021. Good stuff! We have nice things,

 

[Tenacjim]

That reads like it was written in 2021.

May have been but it’s fresh from behind the PW article that counts us down as #2….

 

[chuckiepoo]

May have been but it’s fresh from behind the PW article that counts us down as #2….

Yep. Slightly dated criteria, fresh evaluations.

 

[Tenacjim]

Yep. Slightly dated criteria, fresh evaluations.

Yeah, I think we take a bit of a ding for facilities. The TN write up also does a good job of explaining the LSU at #1 decision (which seems fair although Drew Beam makes some good arguments in his posts).

 

[StarRaider]

Drew from DrewBeamboro not too happy with the ranking

 

[Volfan1000]

The top 5 are
1. LSU
2. UT
3. Florida
4. Vanderbilt
5. Arkansas

SEC play is going to be a meat grinder.