How Vanderbilt Was Built Into A Juggernaut

by • Featured

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One of the most fascinating stories in college baseball history is how Tim Corbin turned around Vanderbilt.

Prior to taking over in 2003, Vanderbilt had losing records for five straight years and 7 of the previous 9. In 116 years of baseball, the most amount of wins the Commodores ever enjoyed was 37, and that only happened once. The program had never won a Southeastern Conference regular-season title

In 18 years at Vanderbilt, Corbin’s teams have won two national titles in 2014 and 2019 and posted a 753-359-1 record with four SEC regular-season titles. He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2020.

Prior to the 2020 season, which was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commodores secured three trips to the College World Series finals over a 6-year span while running their streak to 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths — the longest active stretch in the SEC.

Since taking over in 2003, 48 players have been named All-Americans, including 14 who have received first-team All-America recognition.

During that stretch, 28 Commodores have been named freshman All-America and 24 have made MLB appearances.

Corbin’s ascent into being one of the top coaches in college baseball history didn’t happen overnight.

His lessons came from being a baseball player, student football coach while attending Ohio Wesleyan, teaching in New Hampshire after he left Ohio Wesleyan and also served as a junior varsity baseball coach.

Then he was a graduate assistant at Ohio State, assistant at Wofford, head coach at Presbyterian for six years and an assistant and associate head coach at Clemson from 1994-2002.

His most painful lesson was dealing with a player’s death at Presbyterian. Off the field, being a step-father to two daughters changed his perspective on coaching.

All of these life lessons will be brought into focus in this article.

The first question is why was Corbin even interested in being the head coach at Vanderbilt?

He enjoyed nothing but success at Clemson as the Tigers earned NCAA Regional bids all nine years and qualified for the College World Series four times.

To read more of this in-depth article on how Tim Corbin built Vanderbilt into a juggernaut, purchase the Jan. 8, 2021 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.