Photo via Tennessee Athletics/Vol Photos

It’s been quite the swing of emotions inside the clubhouse of Tennessee baseball. The Vols had their head coach, Tony Vitello, poached by the MLB’s San Francisco Giants after a week of uncertainty, leading to a nationwide coaching search. Ultimately, with the backing of current and past players, along with the fanbase, assistant coach Josh Elander was hired as the full-time replacement and head coach.

In the wake of Elander’s hiring, Tennessee outfielder Reese Champan joined Chris Low and Bob Baskerville on The RTI Low-Down to give an insight into the team’s feelings on the matter, Vitello’s sudden departure, the push for Elander to get the job, potential transfers and more.

Here’s what he said.

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On Josh Elander having full support from players to get the job, his reaction to the hire

“First and foremost, thanks for having me. I think everyone can tell based off that video and the reaction that we had, and that was authentic, that’s who we wanted and that’s who we wanted to go to war with. Five of us had a meeting with Danny (White) and we just showed passion for the program. We weren’t trying to like sales pitch E, cause E already said he was getting interviewed.

“But to answer the second part of your question, Elander has been there all the way ever since V has been here. It’s not only that he was the right guy for the job, but he deserves it. The relationship that he has built with every person that he has coached is different. That’s what everybody loves about him. He’s the easiest coach to go up to and ask about anything. Man, am I truly excited to go to war with him.”

On if he would have considered transferring if Elander didn’t get the job

“Those thoughts crossed my mind. The biggest thing was to have a positive outlook on knowing that E was prepared and that he was ready to be the new head coach and have faith in the Lord that he was going to do well in his interview and that Danny was going to have a no-brainer and select him.

“Yeah, I was scrambling. Really, there was a gray area in the transfer portal on whether if you’d be eligible or not. It was kind of a scramble for the last week asking my academic advisor if there’s any way I can graduate this December to make sure I would be eligible. But at the end of the day, I want to be a VFL. I want to be a Vol through my whole career. It really hurt having to try to scramble for these other methods of how am I gonna save my career.

“At the same time, not only save it, but there was only one guy here that I would have played under that I would have actually enjoyed baseball because I’ve built a relationship with him. E, over the last seven years, I mean, I’ve been committed to Tennessee since I was 15. It would have really been a shock to try to scramble and create a relationship with somebody over two months.”

On the swing of emotion from Tony Vitello leaving, not knowing who the coach would be, to Elander being hired

“A lot of us, to be honest, we would have late nights sitting by a fire and we tried not to think about it. But at the same time, we thought about it and we talked about it. What we really wanted to do was to try and rally together or at least just hang out together every night. We don’t know if it’s going to be our last time or if we’re going to have more of these throughout the year based on what decision was going to come up on who would be our head coach. There were plenty of people freaking out. I mean, who wouldn’t?

“At the same time, I respect the hell out of V. I told him, I have nothing but love and respect for him. He told us, he always preaches to challenge ourselves and to better ourselves within competing and he was like why can I preach that if I’m not going to do the same. I was like, that’s the perfect answer. I want him to go challenge himself and go succeed at the next level. It was the right choice he made because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“I don’t think it was selfish because he had to do it. It just left us in a little bit of a panic the last week. Now, since that’s done and over with, we can get back to focusing on baseball and what truly matters.”

On if it’s just getting back to business as usual now 

“Yeah, I mean, other than the new guys, the rest of the guys in the program, we know what works and succeeds in the long run over the course of 56 and a season. It’s not that we’re gonna have any drastic change because V’s gone to like the practice schedule or anything like that. We’re just gonna communicate way better because over the last week, communication was not there because we didn’t know anything. Nobody knew anything.

“That, and then, just going and having fun playing baseball. Because, yeah, the last week was really almost a stressful time. You’re trying to work on stuff, but at the same time, the mental side of thinking of all the possible outcomes, it weighs on you. Now, it’s just back to freedom and trust. We have freedom and trust within each other and within the program to go out and do our jobs.”

On who Elander is from a player’s perspective

“E is a competitor. He wants to win as bad as V wanted to win. There is no doubt about it. E is polar opposite of V. V showed a lot of emotion. At the same time, Elander brings the same intensity, but he’s very collective with his emotions. It’s all about respect and just going out and playing as hard as you can and, at the same time, having fun playing baseball. Nobody is better than nobody, but they just do different things, but at the same time, want the same results and bring the same intensity that players want to play hard for.

“All the coaches that I’ve played with, you can go to E about anything. It doesn’t have to be baseball-related. He’s got plenty of advice for everybody. He’s just a well-respected guy and has a lot of respect. He grew up in Texas. I would just say that he’s very calm, cool and collected and at the same time wants to win super bad.”

On his thoughts on this year’s team

“It’s great. I love it. I feel like we have a lot of depth. We have a lot of healthy competition. Through this past week, I think it only strengthened us and united us as a team to rally behind each other even more so than the beginning of the fall. I think everyone is out there wanting to see everybody do something special or consistent and no one is praying on each other’s downfall. It’s only helping us there as a team aspect, but it’s also elevating everybody’s game because there’s a lot of competition going on.

“The thing with E is he wants to make it as hard as possible to make it on the field and to stay and basically start at a position, because he wants that much competition in the locker room. I think that’s what we have. It’s tremendously, it’s a good thing because it just elevates everybody else’s game. I think, just go out there and play free now.”