VandyBoys: Inside the Most Powerful Baseball Program in America

hello and good evening tonight's Coach's Corner is a special one I'm really excited uh it's it's the fall uh we're talking fall baseball anytime we get to talk college baseball with the college coaches it's a great opportunity but tonight more than ever uh a good friend a longtime friend uh also uh a coach uh of my youngest son Tyler uh Vanderbilt University uh head baseball coach Tim Corbin Tim thank you so much I know it's a busy time of year and I appreciate your time no no problem great time of year as you mentioned fall and football and and fall baseball so I I really enjoy this time of year well I know you're a big fan of the Fall it's also the start of a little Boston Celtics but more importantly it's almost Bruins Camp time so we got hockey and basketball college football and obviously fall baseball you know Tim so much to talk about parents student athletes all people involved with the sport are anxious uh a lot of people submitted some questions and I and I can't think of anybody uh that I'd like to ask these questions of other than yourself because I know uh how much the sport means to you internally obviously externally there at Vanderbilt but I'd like to start with your interpretation of the college baseball experience you know I know that you were a student athlete at Ohio Wesley and you've played the sport you've coached it Presbyterian Clemson obviously now at Vanderbilt but college baseball as a collective experience what does it mean to you as a coach and what should it mean to the to the families and the athletes as far as the balance between the academics social and obviously the baseball well I've always been pulled by the innocence of the kids I mean I think at 18 19 20 years old I enjoy being around that age group I enjoy particularly being at Vanderbilt in a private school I enjoy that type of person that is academically strong and wants to be part of a private school where they can compete academically and athletically uh but I I like the pliability of of the young guys I I like the fact that they'll listen I like the fact that uh they you know old old values will never go away they they just they just don't I think in in even in today world and I say even it's it I I think kids still want discipline kids still want organization kids still want to have fun kids still want to be social kids still want to play a lot of baseball but I I think just guiding them and and walking alongside of them is is the part that I really enjoy and I know our staff does and and Maggie does too uh but it it's it's the polling power of of coming back every year and just being part of something like this it's my 42nd year as a coach and 23rd year here at Vanderbilt but I enjoy it more than ever I really do I love the kids and I know things around them have changed but they're still they're still the same they really are the circumstances have changed around them and they have to act accordingly but kids are kids are kids they they they still want to be guided in in a in a directive way so I I really enjoy that piece of it you know you and I were talking before we came here live on air and I really want to kind of get to this point you know 40 years ago 45 years ago uh albeit when dinosaurs roam the Earth college baseball really wasn't aggressive recruiting you know during your sophomore then sophomore year there were no freshman in my high school experience uh but it was really after the completion of your Junior season in high school entering into the legion process so this is really not anything new it's it's almost like we're bringing some sanity back to a process that might have got off tilt a little bit uh can you kind of talk about the ability and the benefit more importantly to student athletes families uh overall as far as slowing the process down and making sure it's a fit for everybody involved yeah when I when I think it comes to recruiting and this is this is difficult because probably social media pushes the attention of someone that commits whether it's football basketball or baseball in such a way that it becomes so celebrated that that becomes the main objective it's like the wedding but the wedding like everything else lasts one night and once the wedding's over then the marriage happens and the marriage is where the rubber meets the road I think going back to your point in the 70s or 80s or 90s back when uh recruiting was more juniors seniors in high school kids would make a lot of decisions their senior year in high school they oftentimes when they made that decision and you didn't have the transfer situation you could transfer but not the situation that we have now but I think what coaches did and kids did is they were apt to find a better fit just because time was their greatest resource and they understood it and with time comes more information when more information is granted to the parents and the player then they have a tendency to make a better decision on where they want to go and the school has a better decision on the fit of the athlete too so those worlds start to come together and it in in a I guess in a college baseball World There's an opportunity for a better fit to occur so I I do I I think it's it's better I I thought it was lunacy what we were doing the last few years making decisions on a 14 15y old kid when the brain development of a 14-year-old kid and making the decision isn't remotely close um but there again I I think the people who made those decisions were adults and those adult decisions that are made affect young people and we just we we we I think we're at a you and me and and administrators are in a position where we need to protect younger people we need to protect them from themselves and how you protect them is grant them the space space and the opportunity and the time to make favorable decisions later on in their life when they're equipped to do so but I I think in in a world where it's like get whatever you need as fast as you can whether it's Amazon or a college decision that that that shouldn't be the case College decision is a very big decision in your life and if it's a big decision you should be granted the time in order to make it and time equips you with making a better decision I think for the most part the industry as a whole and I'm speaking with regard to Youth Sports not specifically and only just Youth Baseball but Youth Sports we're we're trying to fast forward through a childhood and wish time away to get to a destination that is years or in some cases a decade away and I would I would love for you to share just preaching to to student athletes and parents take your time enjoy your high school experience enjoy your summer experience or your other sports we're we're we're becoming this one trick pony where we're 12 months a year we're focused on the prize at the end of the rainbow which is a draft pick or a division one scholarship but into in in between is where the magic happens that's where you're spending time with your children can you just talk about that process of working towards your goal but being in your moment and being present in in your now and embracing your now I think the only way a young kid is able to embrace now is if the people in his inner circle and in his life um will allow him to to do that and communicate to him in such a way that he knows that okay I I can I can just get better and really what I have command and control of is myself and my decisions and how I operate and if a young kid is left just to playing and if we if if we're really talking about playing playing baseball then he can play baseball he can get better at it with the objective of as I get better and as I get older the clarity of where I might fit whether it's school a school B what division makes no difference it it will start to become a little bit clearer for me as a person it'll start to get a little bit clearer for the people who watch me play and then what it will do is it'll give my parents enough information to support the decisions I want to make in my life I think that would that would be great but I know that we're in a situation where like I said at the beginning making a hasty decision or making a celebratory decision becomes more important on than the right decision and I think the right decision is more about allow the allowance of a letting a a a student athlete play his nth grade year play his 10th grade year with college not even being a thought College not even being a thought just try to try to expand yourself in terms of a player however that is try to get on the right teams just try to play try to grow try to learn and then as you go then the clarity of where you go from a summer team where you go from position um what you want to do just becomes a little bit clearer as you get into your junior year we just had camp and it was um it was Juniors and I had these same kind of conversations with the kids because I I do recognize that once the camp is over the kids and the parents are probably saying I wonder what Vanderbilt thought of me are they going to make a decision are they going to offer me and in a lot of ways that might be the worst thing that we possibly could do because we haven't even seen our team work out for an entire fall where we could evaluate them to see what the needs of the next year and the year after that would be so um yeah I I do think it's it's not pushing the accelerator down pushing the accelerator down for schools is more about saying they want to try to grab the best kids as quickly as they possibly can at that age but it might not necessarily be the best thing for the kid and it might not be the best thing for the school either so as I said time is is the greatest resource of of both the school and the kid you know I want to remind parents that as far as for camps anything pertaining to camps uh not only at Vanderbilt but schools all over the country all levels all divisions you can go into the Blue Book the baseball Blue Book the app is all redesigned it's in your app store Google or Apple uh and all the information for not only coach Corbin uh coach King Coach Brown coach blankin ship all the contact information for schools such as Vanderbilt are located in the Blue Book you know Tim you and I are from the great Northeast and I have this conversation a lot with f amilies specifically at this time of the year about multiple Sports and you and I have had this dialogue many many times you know I want to ask you about the creativity of just being a kid on a pond playing pond hockey you know you and I think Bobby or Phil Esposito Jerry chers that type of thing then we basketball John havich Larry Bird Etc on the black top baseball Sandlot you know for me it's Tony C it's Kio scy Rico Petrelli but can you just talk about it's okay for for high school athletes for junior high athletes to not only play multiple sports but play pickup Sports it doesn't have to be organized all the time have fun and compete with and against your peers uh in an unorganized capacity yeah well I think you you know how I feel I it uh I think it's very important I think number one um just because you're not playing baseball doesn't mean you're not getting better at baseball basically what you're doing is you're just taking a break from the skill itself but you may be getting better as an athlete you may be getting better as a human too because the team traits that exist inside of basketball and and football or hockey or any other sport there's so many transitional skills and I I think the the one thing that's that's uniquely helpful in basketball hockey football is just spatial awareness spatial awareness in baseball whether you're a pitcher whether you're an infielder whether you're an outfielder is so important in understanding the game at when the ball is in motion and I I feel like our best base runners some of the best players we've ever had some of the best pitchers I mean your your your son was a football player Sunny gray was a football player David Price was a basketball player Dansby Swanson was a point guard you know there's something to be said about playing in a gym full of people under the lights Sunny gray was a Friday night guy his entire life I mean he was a quarterback taking Snaps for Smyrna high school Friday night so the transition of him pitching on a Friday or Saturday night whatever night it may be the just the feeling of competitiveness in environments that meant something there was uh there was an easiness to it the competitive piece became a reality there was no auditioning and I think when it when it comes to playing a sport when you play a sport they turn on a scoreboard they turn on a scoreboard and then it becomes competitive being competitive means there has to be situations in your life and experiences in your life where you've competed to win and to lose that's real stuff and that's real stuff even when you go beyond Sports too because you do that in any type of of venture so I I just think that the ability to do that and not always be in a situation where you're auditioning to see who is potentially seeing you like it's a beauty pageant or you're posturing to see who may like you it it really you mentioned Legion Baseball but Legion Baseball was was a time where there was an emotion towards the sport itself because it became very community oriented and you were playing with people that you had an emotion for so the emotion to win was much greater than maybe getting with a bunch of kids that come from different people but you haven't had the time to develop a relationship so you have no emotion towards them toward or towards what they're doing so it becomes more of an individual quest to get what you can get um that's never felt right I think feeling right is just being put in a situation where you can actually compete and competition brings out the fibers that I think we all want when we start looking at players and pitchers that matter at this level you one of the things that I would love for you to discuss a little bit is you know another topic that I don't feel that parents really take enough time uh to understand and that is the the weight of expectation not so much when you're a student athlete or a college student athlete in particular but you know in social media world we look to our right and our left and this guy throws 90 with the spin rate and that guy hits 450 foot you know home runs with an exit velocity of 100 and so everybody's trying to chase numbers instead of the focus of becoming the best version of themselves and I think a lot of that is that weight of expectation that social media or or you know the the Youth Sports environment places uh can you just talk a little bit about you know you find your way to the college experience it's about time management it's about routine it's about immersing yourself in that team environment but specifically at Vanderbilt how do you man manage the the the mental development or the mental health uh component to the student athlete try to keep it simple I try to put Less on their plate I think um you know obviously the classroom's been a big deal for us and big deal for me personally because a I enjoy it but B I think it it centers the kids and you get in an environment where there's no phone and you can stay very localized on what you're doing I think kids operate best when there's just meat potatoes and a vegetable on their plate when you're putting three different Meats three different vegetables um doesn't matter how much food is on their plate you you're you're basically going to fill them up and when you fill them up they become very uncomfortable and I think in in today's world what adults would how we would benefit kids kids is by trying to take those expectations take the extras away from kids to where they're just focusing on um their academics their development and a social life I mean I think it's I think it's pretty simple I think if you keep things that simple and it's not about um what they're trying to do it's not about what they're trying to gain um then then I think the concentration level becomes greater I think the level of passion for what they're doing becomes greater I think the level of fun for what they're doing certainly becomes greater so I I think relinquishing them from those expectations I is is is a big deal and here um academics are pretty firm I mean they I I think it's it's a wonderful opportunity that they come here and they actually go to class they go to class and they're human IC they develop a relationship with a professor and as I tell the kids it's like you know a class cost $165 per class that's a lot of money so if you missed one it's like taking $165 and lighting it on fire the the guys here they look at classes as being special and you walk across campus and who knows you might be you might run into your future wife you might run into your future best man I mean there's there's so much that can be gained by a college education that done well the covid situation I don't think it really helped universities as in terms of it it it it did this you know it it we could hold classes on a computer and that that to me that's not education there there's no humanistic relationship that's developed there's no organizational skills that have to happen in the morning you're teaching these kids are moving closer to be adults and you're basically teaching you're basically learning teaching how to raise an adult and by raising an adult they there has to be humanistic skills that happen when they wake up on the mo in the morning on their own they make their bed they do the things that they need to do to organize their life they walk to class at a certain time after they've eaten and then they navigate the day in such a way that when parenting becomes a a a an experience for them or or it that becomes their environment they're they're better able to handle it so um I I you know that's that's why I Love College athletics because they're thrust into a world where other things matter too and you know it hasn't hurt you know the kids at Vanderbilt we got a lot of Major Leaguers right now we got more Major Leaguers than anyone right and we're talking about an academic school there's a reason why academic kids with baseball skill flourish at High levels it's because they handle discipline they handle organizational skills and they know how to manage their time and they know how to manage energy so I I think I think that's a big deal and I really I get it all the time I have more arrows and bullets in my back you know when Tyler made the decision to attend vanderbel and I used to always tell people it's much more than baseball it's about those four years of your life that you can never get back it's very easy for an adult to to tell a teenager a late teenager you can go to college at any time in your life but I I vividly remember Tyler's phone call when John caliper and the Kentucky Wildcats you know went into Memorial and you know Vil beat them uh and and the experience as of a college student rushing the floor rushing the court I think it's an intrical part of learning being part of someone being part of that fraternity of the team as a Commodore but the collective Campus of 6,000 uh students on a campus and I think that's a really big deal that we miss out as adults trying to help students and student athletes navigate College the questions that parents have right now Tim are more about the reduction in their minds of opportunities I tell people it used to be 35 it went to 40 you know we're going to 34 hasn't been officially voted on yet but do you foree this as a a good thing for college baseball do you think it's going to be a tough road to hoe for the first year or two what are your thoughts on the 34 as we see it today 34 man roster for college baseball I I think in the in the long run once we start calibrating our thoughts and decisions I I think it'll be a good thing for everyone I think it'll be a good thing for universities I think it'll be a good thing for players too I do think it will reduce movement in time uh because kids and and coaches will have to make more intentional decisions about player acquisition and roster management and roster building uh so I I do I I think it I think it um now we we've had rosters of below 34 before our first roster here was 26 so the great thing about a roster of 34 is there's more Harmony because kids get a seat at the table they get an opportunity to play uh when you have roster size of 40 and 45 it's difficult because kids get left out and they you know there's there's feelings behind that and there's emotions behind that too a kid when he goes to college he wants to see if he's got a chance he wants a chance to play he understands that if he goes to Vanderbilt or LSU or Tennessee it may take some time which it will you there has to be a level of patience that exist because you're playing at a very high level and baseball in this time is a little bit older just because of the transfer portal but I think longterm I think the 34 roster will create more harmony with kids and and and teams and I I do think there will be a level of less movement I think when there's more moving Parts There's an opportunity to move a little bit more for the kids and there's more opportunity to be more transactional with kids in making decisions and I I don't think that's beneficial to anyone but that you know that's me um but I do think in the long run I think it'll be beneficial now you know you and I had talked earlier do you feel this will become a conference type of decision or will it be school specific if the school whether it's Title 9 implications uh you know anything along those lines within athletic departments do you think we'll see some conferences universally adopt the full scholarship for 34 or do you think it'll just be a school by school decision yeah that's a that's a good question it it could be school by school it could be conference L I'm I'm I'm not sure you know we happen to be in a conference where whatever we're doing we're probably going to do it at the highest level whatever that may be um and the SEC is you know the slogan is it just means more it means more to a lot of a lot of schools let's face it you know Oklahoma State's not our conference but it means a hell of a lot to Oklahoma State I can guarantee you that but I think what it does is it is give it will give potentially conferences the option to to do what they can but to do what you can requires a balancing act for a department when you're managing a lot of other sports and when you're managing a lot of other sports the dollar only stretches out so far so um I'm you know I'm anxious like everyone to see what that's going to look like but it could be potentially left up to a school to do what it needs to do in order to fund the sport do you foresee you know Vanderbilt specifically taking a much slower or a much more efficient slower approach to making sure that the student athletes are not only a good fit academically and athletically but that they truly want to come to Vanderbilt as a freshman in other words is the high school athletes still going to be uh play an active role with regard to your recruiting or college based in general yeah as long as I'm here it will I I just like the The Freshman athlete I like the development piece of that and I like kids that really really want to go to Vanderbilt you know when you hear a kid say that's that's a school I want to go to then you understand that they've already played out the circumstances of what it looks like academically and athletically it's something that they're hungry for and not everyone's hungry for that and that's fine but um yes for us it's it's finding that person that a wants to come and B is a good fit for the University and good fit for our program and certainly skilled enough and uh there you know I was talking to Ty and uh ker and and brownie about that today and you've got a a clump of kids that are all very very good and you would take a lot of them but you can't you can't do that you you have to make decisions and when you're looking at a clump of kids that are all really good then in essence what you want is you want to you want to create more time so you can watch them develop some more so you can make a right decision but if they're recruited by other schools they may say well I'm not going to grant you that time because if you don't think I'm good enough now then I might go in this direction um you might have to live with that I I think at the end uh what I don't enjoy is sitting in this office looking across the table and and and looking at a young man and saying it's it's just not going to work out uh you can't be 100% right you're not going to be I mean there's there's going to be kids and situations where it might not be the right fit for them and it might not be the right fit for you and you the only way you will determine that is by more time at your school but at the same time if you for us if we can make less mistakes that way I I would rather do it we haven't been very active in the portal we we've we've grabbed a couple kids but you know I think for us it's more about patching holes and roster spots and trying to build a roster we're still very intentful on building rosters with young kids you my final question here Tim for you and it comes from a lot of the parents yep you and I grew up in a part of the country where the words Postgraduate School were more of an academic you know environment uh you know the Phillips handovers exitor uh those types of schools Salsbury can you talk about if a parent or a student athlete is going to consider a gap year wouldn't you would you feel it would be more beneficial in your opinion to make sure that you're Ming some some type of academic balance as opposed to just taking a hard left and going into the waight room for a year and getting on a rap SoDo or trackman or something and then reemerging a year later just talk about the benefit in your mind potentially of a post-graduate uh year in an academic uh environment yeah yeah uh I can't imagine doing it that way that you just mentioned number one I I'm a product of a PG year so right I went to high school very rural High School um I wasn't as mature as I needed to be mom and dad didn't go to college but they had to wherewith all to say this this young man needs another year so I took another year I I can't I can't tell you I I listen more than anything and and I'm at a school that Prides itself on private school education there's been more there's two rooms in this University that have helped kids get to levels that they never thought they could get to one of them is the classroom the second one is the wait room the wait room I think goes without saying when you start doing things things physically and from a fitness standpoint that you've never done before your self-esteem and your confidence grows but more than anything the Mind drives the body and the mind when you develop the mind and you start to developing mental skill sets that you didn't think you had then your confidence moves to levels that you've never seen a young man ever before developed and we had a daughter that played tennis here we saw that was she a Vanderbilt student when she came in she was not was she a Vanderbilt student when she left she was her processor sped up so her decision-making process became a lot greater her U her her brain developed it got stronger it developed more her mental toughness grew her Court skills as a tennis player took off so yes I I would I think that's the unfortunate piece of some people thinking that in order to play baseball and to move or move back a year and just develop in the weight room and develop as a baseball player with no educational skills no brain strength no brain development think that that's the right decision to develop as a baseball player I I I think that's really far-fetched and I think that's limited thinking um I I don't I I've seen it too I've seen a 42 two years I've seen I've seen certain kids whether it's your son or David Price or Fulmer or Bueller or sunny gray you you go on and on and on Austin Martin I mean Austin Martin wasn't your typical Vanderbilt student but Austin Martin became a pretty damn good Vanderbuilt student by the time he left I just think that they equipped themselves with so many social and humanistic skills that aren't in the classroom um I I just think it's for the benefit of of them and their baseball playing abilities and I I really believe and I I know this to be a fact when Tyler played in Japan he was spending time with students that he had met while he was at Vanderbilt and I try to get parents to understand the balance of the college or the academic experience both high school and then obviously college is really what this whole process is about and nobody says it better than you do so I appreciate you taking the time uh to to share these thoughts I think it's an invaluable um message for families and student athletes to hear so I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today and and share your thoughts well I I appreciate it I mean I think one of the things and as I told the camp people the other day I'm not in this just for Vanderbilt and I I think people know that I I spend a great deal of time with other kids to try to find places for them that have nothing to do with Vanderbilt that could be playing against Vanderbilt and beating Vanderbilt but I I just don't have that type of ego we want the best players yes but at the same time I can look at other kids and and try to help them and and and try to find their their fit because um someone needs to help them and and and I'm not saying I have all the answers I don't but I I feel like I can help people in certain cases like that so I I enjoy that piece of it Walter that's a lot of what we do here Tim is just try to be able to help parents with respect to the over all process offer some guidance you know as somebody who's lived it as a coach but more importantly as a dad and be able to share my relationships with with people such as yourself and coaches from all over the country so again I appreciate you taking the time uh please say hello to Molly for me and uh coach kinger and Coach Brown coach blankin ship I appreciate everything that Vanderbilt University has provided for my family my son more importantly and uh I want to make sure that parents have access to Tim Corbin being able to share he's like the ambassador of Youth baseball college baseball and I I love when you take the time to join us yeah thanks for all you do for a lot of people Walter I do appreciate it well it's I I love it I enjoy it I'm GNA continue to do it as long as people want to listen I want to tell parents go ahead and hit that subscribe button down below if you like conversations like this please give us a thumbs up Tim best of luck this upcoming fall as well as the upcoming spring season in 2025 yeah go Patriots absolutely I we I think we have a new quarterback UNCC Drake may I think that's our starting quarterback all right Tim thank you thanks Walter