Raleigh is raring to go with Vols

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Todd Raleigh was introduced as the new head baseball coach at the University of Tennessee during a press conference at Neyland Stadium Thursday. Raleigh comes from Western Carolina after coaching at the university for eight years and is the 23rd UT baseball head coach in the program's 98-year history.

A whirlwind courtship complete, Todd Raleigh stood at a podium and talked of an overwhelming dream come true.

Then he gave a geography lesson.

The University of Tennessees newly named head baseball coach pointed 921 miles west and talked of winning national championships in Omaha, Neb.

I want teams when they get on a bus to come down here to say, I dont want to come back, Raleigh said Thursday morning as the former Western Carolina coach was introduced as Rod Delmonicos replacement.

Were going to get after it. Were going to play hard. Were going to be talented and were going to be fun to watch. I cant think of one reason why we cant be successful here at Tennessee.

Neither can UT athletic director Mike Hamilton.

Raleigh and Hamilton met for an official interview on Monday in Atlanta. Hamilton said he knew almost immediately he had his man.

You could see an unbelievable passion come through and an obsession with baseball and winning a national championship, Hamilton said. Im not interested in the name. Im not interested in a sexy hire or non-sexy hire.

Im interested in the person whos behind the uniform and the person who is representing our student athletes and representing the University of Tennessee.

Raleigh again met with Hamilton on Tuesday night in Knoxville and he was offered the job Wednesday.

The 38-year-old Vermont native signed a five-year contract with a base salary of $155,000. Hell get an additional $120,000 in annual compensation for media, apparel and bat contracts.

Included in the deal are additional bonuses for academic and athletic incentives, as well as baseball camp income.

Raleigh was making a base salary of $81,090 after eight years, two NCAA tournament berths and a career record of 257-209 at Western Carolina.

The guy was working with five or six scholarships, a $5,000 recruiting budget, a $15,000 travel budget, and he rakes his own bases and drives his own van, Hamilton said. He literally built his own locker room. So what can a guy like that do with these resources?

According to Raleigh, its a no-brainer.

I firmly believe Im the right guy for the job because I know the area, I know what it takes and I know what this program needs, he said. I can understand people thinking, Well why didnt we go after Joe Torre.

But I dont think anybody can argue Mikes track record with hiring people.

UT basketball coach Bruce Pearl was Hamiltons first major hire as AD and has transformed the Vols into a national power in two years.

Raleigh has the same kind of goals and aspirations for a baseball program that has made the NCAA tournament only three times in the past 10 years.

He promised change.

His primary points of emphasis will be upgrading Tennessees schedule to include tougher competition and winning back the state in the recruiting wars for local talent.

I want to play Clemson home and away every year in a battle of the orange, Raleigh said. I want to play Virginia Tech home and away. I want to play Georgia Tech maybe in Chattanooga.

One of the first things were going to do is upgrade our schedule.

While at Western Carolina, Raleigh routinely played the likes of Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Kentucky, Pepperdine and North Carolina State.

I think our RPI was 30 something at Western Carolina and they were 70 something here, Raleigh said. When you play in the SEC theres no reason not to have a good RPI.

They played some non-Division I schools and that cant happen here. Everyone knows there is great baseball here on the weekends. I want everyone to know theres great baseball on Tuesdays and Wednesdays too.

Raleigh met with returning Vols early Thursday and told them to expect a totally different approach than theyve seen in recent years at UT.

Were going to change the way we do everything, he said, the way we take the field, the way we dress, how we play, and they were open to that. The meeting went great with the kids.

Former Halls High School star and All-SEC Freshman player Jeff Lockwood agreed, especially with the talk of Omaha and World Series berths.

Thats always been the expectations of the program, Lockwood said. We just need to get some fire in our tails and get it done, instead of talking about it.

Hopefully he brings some work ethic, goals and morals to this program. I think we can just skyrocket.

Raleigh also impressed Hamilton with his approach to academics.

UTs baseball team had the lowest APR score of any program on campus. Raleighs Western Carolina team had the highest APR among mens teams in the Catamounts program.

Another attraction was his fundamental approach to baseball.

I like to play gorilla ball, Raleigh said. You need some gorillas and a couple of rabbits in the middle. Thats how were going to play.

Were going to bang the ball around. I think we were in the top five in home runs in the nation this year and fourth in the nation in scoring (8.5 runs a game) at Western Carolina.

Raleigh isnt wasting time getting settled into his new position.

He hopes to have his staff in place by early next week and hell begin working on updating UTs 2008 schedule as early as today.

Were going to be blue collar, or maybe orange collar, but were going to work hard, he said. I cant wait to get this thing started and get this thing rolling.