For Vols, Raleigh its attraction at first sight

Nick Hernandezs palms were sweaty as he waited to meet Tennessees new baseball coach Thursday morning.

After 18 days of waiting for an announcement as names and rumors swirled, Hernandez and a handful of Tennessee teammates who stayed in Knoxville for the summer finally met Todd Raleigh.

And they liked him.

Great guy, Hernandez said. He looks like hes going to get after it and turn this program around.

The conversation between the former Western Carolina coach and his new players took a few minutes to get rolling, but according to UT athletic director Mike Hamilton, the meeting could well have lasted well over an hour.

But by 11 oclock, Raleigh and the eight or so players had to go one floor down in Neyland Stadiums east skyboxes for the official announcement.

You could see immediately the connection with the guys, Hamilton said of the meeting. Now hes got to meet with all of them individually and see what they want to do. But he made it clear to them hes not here to run anybody off.

Hamilton said he doesnt expect any players other than Tony Delmonico to transfer.

Tony is a former Farragut High School All-American infielder the son of former Vols coach Rod Delmonico, and said Wednesday through the familys attorney he will transfer to Florida State where he will play second base.

Pitcher/designated hitter Jeff Lockwood said despite not knowing much about Raleigh before Thursday, hes excited about the prospect of playing for UTs new coach.

We met with him this morning, and hes been growing on me all morning, said Lockwood, a former Halls standout who was named to the SECs All-Freshman team this season. The more I hear what he has to say, the more I like him. Im going to miss Rod Delmonico, hes a great guy, but theyve got a guy in here with good credentials who wants to win. We have to move on, and our goal is a national championship next year.

The moving on can begin after 2½ weeks of speculation and uncertainty.

Hernandez, a rising sophomore left-handed pitcher, says the Vols have a sense of direction in their offseason workouts.

Whenever youre in a program like this, looking for a head coach for two or three weeks, it gets pretty hectic, he said. You just want to know who your coach is, so you can establish what he wants you to do, what (workout) program he wants you on. To finally realize coach Raleigh was going to be our coach, its a great relief.

Associate athletic director Carmen Tegano was the primary contact for players throughout the search, and Hamilton also met to assure them a coach would be in place soon.

I think its just important that for at least these two weeks, I was the face of Tennessee athletics, the face of Tennessee baseball for those guys, Hamilton said. They need to feel like, Hey, were working hard for you every day, and I let them know were going to have a coach for you within a 2-3 week period of time. We delivered on that, and now well see where we go.

The goals are simple.

During his press conference, Raleigh spoke of a desire to schedule top-flight non-conference opponents. He talked about his commitment to academics and his desire to recruit the best players in Tennessee.

And his ultimate goal is going to the College World Series in Omaha and competing for championships.

We needed a spark around this program, Hernandez said. I think coach (Raleigh) is really going to give us that spark we need to get to the next level. This is a program that should really be in regionals every year, like Mike said. Just giving the city of Knoxville something to cheer about other than football and basketball.

Outfielder Andy Simunic had a more succinct way of saying it Thursday.

Our one goal is Omaha, he said. Hes ready to take us to that level and get back to that as fast as we can.