Tim Corbin, a Costly Decision, and a Program at a Crossroads
For the better part of two decades, Vanderbilt baseball has been the shining beacon during some otherwise lean years in Commodore athletics. We lived through Derek Mason pulling a female kicker from the soccer team during a winless football season. We lived through Bryce Drew guiding Vanderbilt basketball through a winless conference season, before Jerry Stackhouse and Stephanie White dragged both basketball programs down to unprecedented depths of futility. How did we survive? Because we knew that spring was coming, and that meant Tim Corbin would have Vanderbilt baseball in contention for SEC and national titles. It was a given. Death, taxes, and VandyBoys in the tournament. For 19 consecutive seasons now. No other program can make that claim.
But over the last couple of seasons, the script has flipped. While the other high-profile sports have been ascending which culminated in historic seasons for football, men’s and women’s basketball this academic year, the VandyBoys have been trending in the opposite direction. With this weekend’s series loss to Alabama, it appears Vanderbilt baseball will be the only major sport not to make the postseason bringing an unceremonious end to the impressive streak.
During this decline, the perception of Corbin has also been a polarizing topic both nationally and among Vandy fans. There is an increasingly vocal segment of fans who believe it’s time to move on from Corbin and bring fresh blood to the program, while a sizeable contingent of Corbin loyalists still remain convinced the legendary coach can get the program back on track given time. That number might be shrinking after Corbin’s head-scratching coaching gaffe Thursday night that simply can’t be ignored.
With Vandy leading 4-1 in the bottom of the 6th, their top pitcher, Connor Fennell, was cruising. He then gave up a single to Alabama’s Brady Neal, but had only thrown 70 pitches to that point. And yet, despite his team struggling to find consistent pitching all season, Corbin found it necessary to pull Fennell.
You can predict what happened next. Jacob Shulz came in relief and walked the only batter he faced on four pitches. He was replaced by Luke Guth, who proceeded to give up the game-tying homerun on the first pitch he threw. Alabama would go on to win with a walk-off homer in the 9th.
Even in real time as Fennell was being pulled, both sides of the Corbin argument came to a rare moment of agreement – he blew it. What was he thinking? That managerial decision effectively put a bow on a season in which Corbin has consistently failed to push the right buttons on a flawed team.
It’s impossible to overstate how disastrous this specific mismanagement was. It was a game Vandy had to have, and a game in which they had complete control for 5 innings. Fennell clearly did not want to exit, and his visible anguish in the dugout as he watched his lead evaporate painted a picture I can’t adequately put into words. Will the players still stand behind Corbin? They certainly looked lifeless in getting shut out 5-0 the following day. They showed a little more fight in losing 8-5 on Saturday to complete Alabama’s sweep but make no mistake, the series – and the season – was lost Thursday night.
To my knowledge, Corbin still hasn’t given a public explanation for pulling Fennell, and I’m not holding my breath for one. One constant of his career has been his insular personality which is cute when the VandyBoys are going to Omaha but frankly hasn’t served him well in the NIL/portal era. Funny how that also happened to coincide with the program’s decline.
Two things can be true: Corbin can be the greatest coach in Vanderbilt history, and he can also be the coach who adapted poorly to the new era of college athletics as other programs have surpassed him. Coaching legends like Nick Saban and Coach K saw the writing on the wall and got out. In a lot of ways Corbin mirrors Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, who had his Tigers among the elite but remained stubbornly determined to continue doing it his way – with homegrown players investing years in the program waiting until it’s their turn. It’s a noble sentiment, but it isn’t how things work anymore.
To be clear, despite the calls from fans, Corbin is in no way in danger of losing his job. He will be given every opportunity to bring the program back to prominence, and he has probably earned that opportunity. Vandy did earn the top overall seed in the tournament last year, which isn’t nothing. Nevermind they would also make history as the only #1 seed not to make it to the regional final.
Corbin does deserve credit for the brilliant hire of hitting coach Jason Esposito in the offseason, which has made a world of difference with the bats. It would behoove Corbin to take a long look at Scott Brown in the offseason. As the pitching coach since 2012, his instruction seems to have grown stale as the pitching for this year’s team is the worst in the SEC. Corbin will also need demonstrate he can better identify and add talent through the portal.
To an outsider looking in, the fury of missing the tournament for the first time in 20 years reeks of an entitled, spoiled fanbase. Maybe there is kernel of truth to that, and the irony of a coach under fire for not living up to the expectations he himself established. But the overall pattern of regression is undeniable. Despite the flaws of this team, they still had a realistic chance to make the postseason – until Corbin let them down when they needed him the most. That will be a bitter pill to swallow heading into the offseason – which seems to be getting longer and longer every year…
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