This is the first. It will not be the last.
According to multiple reports, first by Jimmy Hyams via Twitter, Tennessee will name Cal State-Fullerton's Dave Serrano as its new head baseball coach at a press conference tomorrow. Knoxville will be Serrano's third stop as a head coach after being at UC-Irvine from 2005-2007, then Fullerton the last four years. His teams have made the NCAA Tournament six years in a row, including a pair of Super Regionals and two trips of the College World Series, with Irvine in 2007 and with Fullerton in 2009.
Serrano was the pitching coach for the Vols under Rod Delmonico in 1995 and 1996, and was with the team when the Vols made the College World Series in '95 (where they were beaten twice by Fullerton). A California native, Serrano inherits a Knoxville program with nowhere to go but up. The Vols last made the College World Series in 2005, but failed to qualify for even the SEC Tournament all four years under Todd Raleigh's command. The facilities and the local talent make Tennessee an attractive destination, and postseason play of any kind would be an improvement.
As we've mentioned before, we can't really tell you much about the returning roster because truthfully, none of us have been paying attention to the baseball team in the last four years. But hopefully this is the hire that is going to change that very soon; it seems to be generating a significant amount of positive buzz among those wiser than we on all things college baseball, and completes an eighteen month turnover of the football, basketball, and baseball coaches on campus in Knoxville. Stability, here we come...we hope.
Welcome to the family, Coach Serrano. Free and clear.