University of Tennessee Athletics
Todd Raleigh Press Conference Quotes
February 18, 2008 | Baseball
???We open up this Friday against Morehead State, and we???re excited about that. It???s been a little different preseason this year because we???ve only had three weeks to prepare due to new NCAA rules. You just try to cram a lot in early, but it???s been fair across the board from a coaches??? perspective. Our guys practice for five days and think they???re ready to play anyway, but we???re really excited to see somebody in a different jersey. We???re excited to start the season.
"I don???t know a lot about Morehead State. They???ve got new coaches, kind of like us. And they did lose some guys from last year. They didn???t really have a great year last year, but with new coaches, we don???t really know what they???re style of play is going to be. I think they???re coach came from pro ball, so we don???t know a whole lot about him.???
Tennessee was picked to finish last in the preseason SEC coaches??? poll. Do you use that as motivation for your players?
???Well I haven???t brought it up yet, but I posted it in the locker room. I think any time you???re a competitor, of course you care. But I can understand, you lose three first-rounders like Tennessee did last year, and you play in the toughest league in the country ??? I can see it. But we???re not going to roll over and play to that. It???ll be brought up when the right time comes. We haven???t talked about it too much. But any time you???re a competitor, it???s got to hurt you a little bit.???
Do the new NCAA rules relating to a national start date and shorter preseason affect you adversely being it???s your first year with the program?
???Well it???s not my first year coaching, but it is tough because you want to do more. You want to try and get more things done. But we knew it was coming; we didn???t get blind-sided by it. We prepared our guys???especially our pitchers???to be ready to throw rather than waiting until two weeks in.???
What do you see as some of the team???s strengths?
???I think defensively we???re pretty solid. We don???t have a lot of depth, but I think we???ll catch the ball. And I think offensively, we???re going to hit better than people think we???re going to hit. We just always???on teams I???ve been with or coached before???we seem to have a knack for hitting. And I think our guys are really going to step up in that department. I think our quality of arms is good, they just aren???t tested. We???ve got young arms that are pretty good. But I don???t think we have anybody on staff who had more than four wins (last season).
"I think we???re going to be a better team down the road than we are right now. That???s the biggest thing???we???re focused on the process right now, not the outcome. We got a new team. The biggest thing for us is to build that reputation where, when you play Tennessee, this is what you???re going to get. Are you just going to have to worry about a few great players every year? Are we going to just be great at pitching, or just be great at hitting? I don???t want to be known for that. I want our team to be known as one that comes to play every day. I want our opponents to respect our will to win. For me, in my first year, that???s my biggest thing right now.
"It???s funny because last year we had a great team when I was at Western Carolina. And usually you???re focused on the scouting report and the minute details about each hitter and each pitcher you???re playing against. But right now I don???t really care about that. I care about what our guys are doing and how we???re going to play.???
Has that new mindset and approach taken hold already, or will it take real games to establish that?
???My coaching experience tells me it???s going to take real games. I think I???ve got a handle on it. We???ve pushed them pretty hard. But it???s easy right now because there???s no batting average right now, and there are no wins or losses. How are they going to respond to adversity? That???s what I want to see. So yeah, I think we do have a good handle, but it???s still different until you get into the season. Once you take a couple tough losses, how are they going to react to that? What???s the natural process for them? Are they going to come out and feel sorry for themselves, or are they going to get after it? I think there???s nothing in the world, except for games, that can show us that.???
How is your weekend pitching rotation shaping up?
?????We have probably five different guys who we could throw on a weekend. But this weekend I think you???ll see Steve Crnkovich (RHP), who is a sophomore transfer from Illinois-Chicago, open up for us on Friday. I think he gives us the most experience out there. He???s a good strike-thrower and good competitor.
"On Saturday we???ll throw Nick Hernandez (LHP). He???s a sophomore and had a good year freshman year last year. He???s going to be a really good pitcher here one day.
"And on Sunday it will be (redshirt) freshman Bryan Morgado (LHP). Bryan has our best stuff; there???s no question he can be electric at times. But he???s a freshman so we don???t want to throw him on Friday yet. That???s asking a lot.
"And of course we???ve got Aaron Everett (RHP), who could also be in that mix at some point. We play a Monday game (immediately after the Morehead State series). I didn???t schedule that. I???ve never played a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday before. We play Furman that Monday, and they don???t play the previous weekend. Then we play Austin Peay Wednesday and get on the plane to go to Houston to play Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma (in the Houston College Classic that weekend). So a lot of guys are going to pitch.???
Talk about your team???s depth?
???I feel pretty good about our outfield, depth-wise. We???ve got some freshmen there who are playing pretty well. We could start three freshmen in the outfield. We also have some other combinations. Catcher ??? I feel pretty good about it. It???s the infield that???s a real concern. We just don???t have numbers. We got here (in the summer) and had one returning middle infielder ??? one, which is crazy. So we had to take Andy Simunic out of the outfield and stick him at second. He???s done an outstanding job. And Danny Lima???s done a great job at shortstop. After that though, it falls off a bit. We have a couple guys who have never played at this level.???
Is there any nervousness for you as your first season at Tennessee finally gets started?
???No. Not too bad yet. It???s kind of like a kid at Christmas. As it gets closer and closer you get more excited and you try to block it out of your mind and focus on doing what you???ve got to do. We???ve got a strange week coming up next week, with Morehead State at home and then two tough midweek games before going to Texas. I don???t want to get too high or too low. I want to focus on the process right now, and I want our team to do the same. I really think we???re going to be a much better team down the road than we are right now. We???re still going to try to win right now, but we want to be a really good team come April, May.???
