Tennessee baseball has hired Keegan Knoll to be its new strength and conditioning coach in the wake of Quentin Eberhardt’s departure for the San Francisco Giants, multiple sources confirmed Nov. 14 to GoVols247.

Eberhardt played a major role in first-year Vols coach Josh Elander’s decision to hire Knoll. Eberhardt will remain in Knoxville throughout the holidays to assist with Knoll’s transition.

GoVols247 reported Nov. 14 that Eberhardt was leaving Elander’s first staff to join the Giants. Eberhardt is taking a significant off-the-field role with the Giants in which he will be the Director of Performance. He informed Tennessee’s players Friday afternoon that he was leaving.

Knoll arrives on Rocky Top after he spent the 2025 season with the Milwaukee Brewers as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. He previously spent seven seasons with the Chicago Cubs from 2018-24. He was promoted to the Cubs head strength and conditioning coach in 2022 after he served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2020-2022.

Former Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello was hired by San Francisco in October to become its next manager. Eberhardt served as Vitello’s Director of Sports Performance at Tennessee for seven seasons, and was set to enter his eighth this upcoming spring. The two are not expected to work as closely as they did on a day-to-day basis in Knoxville, as a result of Eberhardt’s new role.

Vitello originally hired Eberhardt in October 2017 after spending eight years in professional baseball. Eberhardt was Tennessee Baseball’s Director of Sports Performance from 2018-21 before he returned to fill the same position in July 2022 after one year as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Chicago Cubs.

Knoll has large shoes to fill. Eberhardt played a critical role in the rise of Tennessee baseball. He was widely viewed as one of the best strength coaches in college baseball. The Vols set multiple power records during Eberhardt’s tenure, as well as several strikeout records.

Tennessee finished as one of the nation’s leaders in home runs last season for the fifth straight year. UT hit 131 homers, which ranked second in the country and marked the fourth consecutive season it hit 100 or more homers.

On the mound, each of Tennessee’s top three single-season strikeout totals in program history came under Eberhardt’s watch with 738 in 2023, 729 in 2025 and 700 in 2024.