Tennessee Baseball: It’s Time for Vols to Fire Dave Serrano

After losing the first two games to the Missouri Tigers this weekend, Tennessee baseball is done. The Volunteers have to fire Dave Serrano.

When Mike Hamilton fired Rod Delmonico in 2007 as head coach of Tennessee baseball, no senior class under him had failed to make an NCAA Tournament appearance. But it was clear to Hamilton that the Vols were a program destined for greatness beyond just a few College World Series appearances.

Ever since that firing, Tennessee has not made one NCAA Tournament through nine years and two head coaches: Todd Raleigh and Dave Serrano.

Raleigh was given four years. Serrano should have been given the same.

After three straight losing seasons, “Omaha or Bust” was the theme going into the 2015 season. But major errors in the field and on the basepaths cost them, as they only finished 31-23. Still, Serrano had made two College World Series appearances at previous schools, and his team had finished strong in 2015. That was enough to keep him around for another year.

But in his fifth year, inconsistency that have plagued his teams since he arrived never rang truer than they did in just this past week.

Last weekend, his Vols finally appeared to get on a roll, winning two of three against the No. 4 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores. But they lost a midweek game to the Alabama State Hornets and then dropped two of three to the worst team in the SEC, taking that title themselves.

And after losing two games to the Missouri Tigers on the road this weekend, Tennessee is certainly not going to make it this year.

That makes five years with no NCAA Tournament appearances, and that is just unacceptable.

Serrano’s small-ball style of aggressive players on the base paths is not working. The SEC is too talented with great pitchers and defensive players for that to work, and the Vols have fallen behind in doing it.

They now need another change. Five years is enough.