By Mark Burgess and Drew Edwards edwardsd@knews.com and burgess@knews.com June 20, 2007
The University of Tennessee is expected to announce Todd Raleigh as its new head baseball coach Thursday morning at an 11 o'clock press conference, multiple sources have told the News Sentinel. Raleigh will replace Rod Delmonico, who was fired last month after 18 seasons at Raleigh, a Vermont native, has spent the last eight seasons at Western Carolina and taken the Catamounts to the NCAA tournament twice, in 2003 and 2007.
Additionally the News Sentinel has confirmed that Tony Delmonico will transfer to Florida State.
Tony Delmonico was an All-SEC tournament selection this season as a sophomore. The infielder led the Vols in runs, home runs, RBI and walks in 2007.
More details as they develop online at KnoxNews.com and in tomorrow's News Sentinel.
"If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot."
What type of personality does the man have and what type of team does he have? Is he "old school" or is he a "players coach"? Does he play small ball or look to hit the bombs?
Posts: 575 | Location: USA | Registered: December 26, 2002
Having only watched Raleigh's team at the Chapel Hill regional, my input is limited, but those guys ripped the baseball. Several folks who I think are in-the-know say that Raleigh is a great hitting instructor. Also, one the parents of a UNC player said that Eric Filipek(WCU assistant)had recruited his son hard while he was at Duke, and had gained much respect for him. I spoke to Coach Filipek this past weekend to congratulate him on their season, and he talked in a very confident tone, conveying the fact that they expected results. Don't know if he's going with Raleigh, but I was impressed.
Posts: 362 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: January 11, 2004
Wow! After reading 0204MOM's post and link it sounds like this new coach is a lot like Delmonico with his personality. For the sake of the UT players I certainly hope not.
Posts: 887 | Location: Orlando | Registered: August 25, 2003
after talkking to a returning player he said the same thing as far as personality. i believe the guy deserves a chance. Will see if my earlier comments come true.
Posts: 5 | Location: tennessee | Registered: June 02, 2007
Moc1: if you want more detail regarding accomplishments and records go to : www.southeastern baseball.com and go to message boards. There are 2 articles and in the second one where they announce his hiring is where the stats are located. Interesting what some of the players have said.
Posts: 5 | Location: tennessee | Registered: June 02, 2007
The players at UT better get ready to do some work. They will be a better team with Raliegh at the helm. He was a GREAT choice and will make all of the Vol nation proud of our baseball program.
Posts: 69 | Location: College Park, GA | Registered: February 03, 2006
Raleigh is as "old School" and rough around the edges as a young coach can be...he'll teach em to hit and not be overly concerned about whose feelings get hurt. he tough in all ways!!
There's a very revealing thread on the North Carolina board from 2004 when about 16 players quit the team - anyway it called "what's going on at Western Carolina" and it gets pretty divided with players and former players either praising him greatly or hating him.
Kinda what you'd expect from a tough hard nosed guy!
Posts: 768 | Location: Va. | Registered: December 26, 2002
