Coming into the season, absolutely no one thought anything was going to come out of Nashville Tennessee as it related to Vanderbilt athletics. Now, here I am writing this article on January 27th of the year 2025 trying to decipher if they are a team of destiny. Jerry Stackhouse was dismissed from his duties in the summer of last season after going 9-23 en route to a first-round exit in the SEC tournament. Practically the entire team left Nashville to pursue other opportunities, some better and some to play ball.
Coach Mark Byington in Year 1:
Coach Byington was hired to replace Stackhouse after his dismissal. When he was hired, the only "good player" and I am going to use that in relative terms on the team was AJ Hoggard who transferred from the Michigan State Spartans. Coming into the season, everyone had accepted the fact that Vanderbilt was going to have another "normal year".
Most fans of the Commodores had become accustomed to a .500 or slightly above .500 year and most were happy with that. Entering the season, the Commodores were projected to finish dead last in the SEC with only six wins in the entire season. We are headed into the back half of the season, the Commodores are ranked in the Associated Press T25 for the first time in nearly 12 seasons, coming in at No. 24 after two massive wins over Tennessee and Kentucky. In his first season in the SEC, is Coach Byington going to shock the world and do something in Nashville?
Coach Byington in all respects, built his entire roster ahead of what most projected to be the deepest SEC that the CFB world had ever seen. Pre-season the country saw six teams in the AP Poll T25 tied with the Big XII for most ranked teams. All looked bleak entering the season for the Commodores, not because they didn't have guys that wanted to compete, but simply because the conference was going to be that much better this year than it was in prior years.
Flipping the calendar over to 2025, Vanderbilt was 12-1 with their only loss coming to the Drake Bulldogs who are a projected T25 mid-major squad this season. The team was red hot entering conference play and no one wanted to see Coach Byington opposite them on the sidelines.
Can Vanderbilt keep up the pace?
At this point in the season, practically no one thinks that Vanderbilt is going to be able to keep pace with the top half of the SEC. Respectfully, neither do I. KenPom projections have them winning just three of their remaining eleven games this season. That would make them a 19-11 team on the year. While still great for where they were expected to be, I think it's clear, that Byington doesn't want anything to do with a rebuild. He jumped in head first, brought in guys who were going to buy into the culture, and built a killer lineup!
If the season were to end today, Vanderbilt would be the No. 6 seed, playing Texas in the first round of the SEC tournament. Now this Texas squad is a scrappy team, that I don't think anyone wants to see come March if they happen to sneak into the tournament. I do think that Vanderbilt could handle them though, for what it's worth.
If Vanderbilt wants to make it as one of the projected 13-14 teams that are going dancing out of the SEC, they have to win a few more than three of their last eleven games. Three games in which are currently projected losses, I think they can win. If they do, they should lock themselves inside the bubble. Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and Georgia are all currently projected as "small losses", I am deeming a small loss as anything projected as three possessions or smaller. A 6-5 record down the stretch, however, you want to craft it, will make Vanderbilt in the top half of the SEC and guarantee a ticket to the dance.
Is this all just a dream?
Vanderbilt fans, I can assure you, this is not a dream. The team is good, they are hotter than ever right now coming off of two wins over Top 10 teams, and its only going to get better. In the coming seasons. In the coming seasons, the NIL will increase, the fan base will become more rabid, and young talent will want to play for Coach Byington. I think that Vanderbilt found their guy for the foreseeable future.
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