Tennessee advanced to Super Regional play after winning the NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional with wins against Alabama State, Campbell and Georgia Tech.
Tennessee won the Southeastern Conference East division for the second consecutive season in 2022. The Vols won the SEC regular season title and the SEC Tournament championship in 2022.
The Vols were ranked No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll for 10 consecutive weeks (March 28-May 30).
Below are interesting facts, provided by UT, about every Tennessee player on the Vols’ 2022 roster.
A look at reaction to Jeffrey Macias ejecting Arizona head coach Chip Hale one week following the Tennessee-Alabama baseball series.
Jeffrey Macias served on the officiating staff for the Arizona-Arizona State baseball series April 22-24 in Tucson, Arizona.
Macias was the second base umpire for game No. 1, the first base umpire in game No. 2 and home plate umpire in the series finale.
During the Arizona-Arizona State series finale on April 24, Wildcats’ head coach Chip Hale was ejected by Macias due to Chase Davis deemed to not make an attempt in avoiding a pitch from the Sun Devils’ Jacob Walker.
In the Tennessee-Alabama series, Macias served as home plate umpire during game No. 1, third base umpire in game two and second base umpire for the series finale.
Vitello bumped into Macias in game No. 2 and was suspended for four games.
Below is reaction of Macias ejecting Hale from the Arizona-Arizona State game.
Lady Vols’ Tamari Key named Lisa Leslie Award finalist.
Lady Vols’ junior Tamari Key is a finalist for the 2022 Lisa Leslie Award.
The award, in its fifth season, recognizes the top center in NCAA women’s basketball, is presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The award is named after hall-of-famer Lisa Leslie, a three-time All-American and 1994 National Player of the Year.
The other four finalists include Ayoka Lee (Kansas State), Elissa Cunane (North Carolina State), Aliyah Boston (South Carolina) and Elizabeth Kitley (Virginia Tech).
Key, who hails from Cary, North Carolina, is averaging 10.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and a nation-leading 3.7 blocks per game.
In 31 contests this season, Key has recorded 10 double-doubles and one triple-double.
Her 115 blocks in 2021-22 represent a school record, breaking Kelly Cain’s mark set in 2009-10.
Key made the SEC All-Defensive Team and was a second-team all-conference standout.
George Quarles hired as East Tennessee State’s head coach.
George Quarles is returning to Tennessee.
Quarles served as head coach at Maryville High School in Maryville, Tennessee from 1999-2016. He was named head coach at East Tennessee State Thursday.
Quarles replaces former Vol quarterback and assistant Randy Sanders. Sanders retired after guiding the Buccaneers to an 11-2 record and a quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs during the 2021 season.
Quarles comes to East Tennessee State after serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Furman. He played at Jefferson County High School in Dandridge, Tennessee.
Quarles guided Maryville to 11 state championships, compiling a 250-16 record and won 74 consecutive games during one stretch.
1911-15: Vols’ football uniforms under head coach Z.G. Clevenger
Z.G. Clevenger served as Tennessee’s football head coach from 1911-15, compiling a 26-15-2 record.
Clevenger guided Tennessee to its first ever championship in program history during the 1914 season. The Vols won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship and were 9-0 in 1914. 1914 marked the first season Tennessee defeated Vanderbilt.
At Tennessee, Clevenger served as the Vols’ head coach for football, basketball and baseball. He compiled a 50-14 record (1911-16) and went undefeated during the 1915-16 campaign (12-0) in basketball.
As Tennessee’s baseball head coach, Clevenger compiled a 40-37-3 record between 1912-16.
Clevenger, a native of Muncie, Indiana, came to Tennessee after serving as Nebraska Wesleyan’s football, basketball and baseball head coach.
The Indiana graduate and halfback for the Hoosiers later went on to serve as a head coach in baseball, football and basketball at Kansas State. He was Indiana’s basketball and baseball head coach, where he also served as athletics director, before arriving at Nebraska Wesleyan.
Clevenger, who went on to become athletics director at Kansas State and Missouri before returning to Indiana, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968, two years before his death.
Below are clippings of Tennessee’s football uniforms from 1911-15 when Clevenger served as the Vols’ head coach.
Curley Hallman discusses how Phillip Fulmer understands staying with Jeremy Pruitt through Vols’ rebuild.
Tennessee (3-6, 3-6 SEC) plays host to No. 5 Texas A&M (7-1, 7-1 SEC) Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Kickoff is slated for noon EST. ESPN will televise the contest.
Tennessee will play its regular season finale as the early signing period concludes. The 2021 signing class is Jeremy Pruitt’s third as Tennessee’s head coach.
The season has not went the direction that Pruitt would like during the 2020 10-game, SEC-only campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tennessee ended a six-game losing streak last week with a 42-17 victory at Vanderbilt.
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Pruitt began his coaching career at Alabama in 1997 as a graduate assistant working under defensive backs coach Curley Hallman.
Hallman played defensive back at Texas A&M from 1966-68 for head coach Gene Stallings. He would later serve as an assistant at Alabama, Clemson and Texas A&M before becoming a head coach at Southern Miss (1988-90) and LSU (1991-94).
After his time at LSU, Hallman coached Pruitt as a player at Alabama and then had the current Vols’ head coach work directly under him in the secondary.
With the Southeastern Conference having three head coaching changes at South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Auburn during a season taking place in a pandemic, Hallman understands first-hand how pressure can mount leading a program in the SEC.
During his time at LSU, the Tigers compiled a 16-28 record (10-21 SEC).
“I keep up with all of the people in this occupation that I was associated with,” Hallman told Vols Wire as Tennessee prepares to play his alma mater. “The occupation is tough, but I try to keep up with Jeremy and Tennessee as close as I can.
“Of course this weekend, they play my Texas A&M Aggies, so naturally I’ll be pulling for A&M. I was a former coach there, and offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey I hired years ago, but that’s where I went to school and played for Coach Stallings.”
Nov 5, 1994; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; FILE PHOTO; LSU Fighting Tigers head coach Curley Hallman shakes hands with Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Gene Stallings after the game at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Network
Hallman understands that at a place like Tennessee, the program has expectations, a passionate fan base and big money boosters that make pivotal decisions.
“When you are trying to rebuild something, it takes a little longer than maybe what the fans and the big money supporters are looking for,” Hallman said. “Naturally it takes recruiting, talented athletes, and I go back to my situation at LSU, there are two things there that I’m very proud of. We recruited our fannies off and made some progress, but it never quite showed. The other thing there, I started a scholarship fund for any former player.
“The bottom line is, doing those things in recruiting, there’s got to be chemistry. We never could get that quite going at LSU like we did at Southern Miss. We developed football team chemistry at Southern Miss, and not sure if that has quite gelled for Jeremy at Tennessee, but I know he is going to recruit hard, work hard, he is going to care for his players and be tough on them. Scheduling is also important. In Jeremy’s situation at Tennessee, with the pandemic going on, and not having some lesser opponents, the fans want to see a big game every game and all that, but to develop young talent and to be able to play a lot of people, sometimes you need that scheduling. I just know one thing, that Jeremy Pruitt is going to recruit and stay positive – and what you need on a football team is one or two true difference makers. I’m not sure how many difference makers Jeremy has.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer, a former Tennessee player, assistant and head coach, hired Pruitt nearly three years to the date of the 2020 regular season finale.
No matter the outcome of the Tennessee-Texas A&M game, Hallman believes that Fulmer can show his confidence in Pruitt by stressing that the third-year head coach is continuing the Vols’ rebuilding process.
“I just hope, no matter the outcome of this next game is, that Coach Fulmer, who understands the game in every aspect, that he will motivate those people to work forward and have confidence in what Jeremy knows how to get it done,” Hallman said. “When you are at a great program like the University of Tennessee, a lot of times there is very little patience with the fan base. Tennessee has tremendous love and loyalty to their school, especially the football program, so there is a lot of negativity that runs left and right, that feeds fuel to the fire. Tennessee is one of those fan bases, where in modern day time, people do not have a lot of patience.
“Jeremy is going to be a tireless worker, and I just hope those people backup and say this is three years of trying to get the talent level where it needs to, and it’s Jeremy’s job, his staff’s job and those players. It’s complicated explaining what the team chemistry is. If you ever get that going in a positive direction, then some day they’ll line up and be competitive in every game and win a great majority of those games. I think the athletic director, born and bred in football, I know Phillip understands that, and they will stay with Jeremy through this rebuilding and trying times.”
Fuller entered the contest during the third quarter when she kicked off to Missouri.
She is a goalkeeper on the Commodores’ soccer team and joined the football squad after COVID-19 contact tracing affected Vanderbilt’s roster.
Nov 28, 2020; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores place kicker Sarah Fuller (32) warms up before a game against the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Tennessee (2-6, 2-6 SEC) plays at Vanderbilt (0-8, 0-8 SEC) today with kickoff slated for 4 p.m. EST. SEC Network will televise the in-state SEC East contest.
Ahead of the game, Fuller announced that she is “locked in” for today’s game against the Vols.
