The more I dig into potential hires, the more I love Elander (associate HC/hitting and catching coach/recruiting coordinator from Tennessee). The parallels with Sark are incredible;
- Top assistant in the game who has coached under two greats, both of whom are currently battling it out for a natty in Elander’s case
- Could be coming to Texas directly off a natty win that they helped orchestrate, revolving around high-octane scoring and a dominant regular season
- One of the best recruiters in the nation
- Built the most prolific and consistent offense in both the country and their program history. Tennessee’s hitting has been unreal these last few years despite constantly having to reload
- Was offered and rejected multiple HC gigs waiting for the proper program
- Served as the interim coach for their powerhouse program when the primary HC was unavailable (in this case, because Vitello’s temper gets him thrown out a ton lmfao)
- Beloved by the program’s fans
Vitello and Schloss are of course much better hires on paper, but I frankly don’t see either of them as realistic options. Would love to be proven wrong, but wanted to emphasize that Elander is an amazing choice too.