Inside Tim Corbin's Introspective Presser After Vanderbilt Baseball Loss To Oklahoma
NASHVILLE—-Absent were the moments of Tim Corbin cutting it short and retreating to his office after this Vanderbilt baseball loss.
In the aftermath of Vanderbilt’s 6-5 Saturday loss to Oklahoma, nothing was off limits or brushed off. In a moment where Corbin needed to address this and where it’s all heading, he did. He may not have had all the answers or a number of one-liners, but he considered everything and opened up about his side of things. By the time it was over, Corbin went for eight minutes and 42 seconds.
It was as thoughtful and reflective as Corbin has been after a loss in the last four years. Deciphering what exactly that indicates is likely a fool’s errand without a deep understanding of what Corbin’s intentions were as he walked from the inside corner of the dugout to the left field corner is difficult. Perhaps it’s as much to do with addressing what’s in front of him and couldn’t be pushed off any longer, though.
Vanderbilt is 21-16 overall, 7-8 in SEC play, has lost its last two series and has lost three of its last four series. It’s yet to win a series away from Hawkins Field and is 2-10 overall away from home. Most importantly, if the season ended today this group would be out of the NCAA Tournament. Its streak would be over.
That’s a sobering reality. Sobering enough for Corbin to acknowledge its possibility, although he wasn’t necessarily discouraged while doing so.
“How fixable are issues in certain areas?” A media member asked Corbin.
“They have to be [fixed],” Corbin said. “We’re halfway through. I mean, there's a lot of things that can happen. We’ve been in tough stretches before, this game's very fickle. It can turn really, really quick.”
To build off of Corbin, this has to turn. Somehow, some way this program has to find a way to look like itself again, to look like Vanderbilt again. It’s done that in stretches, but this particular Vanderbilt team hasn’t found a consistent winning formula.
Corbin is hanging his hat on the reality that it will, though. Perhaps that’s why he’s willing to address this as candidly as he is. Don’t get it wrong, he wasn’t throwing in the towel on the season. All he was doing was addressing its current reality. No panic, just objectivity.
“We got a challenge ahead of us with more games on the road and we're just going to have to keep improving,” Corbin said. “We have to dig our way through this a little bit. That's okay. We're gonna find out over time what we’re made of. And sometimes these stretches right here–I remember 2012, we were well below 500 at this point right now, and I couldn’t have told you that at the end of year, we were going to win a national championship. We just grew. So, anything can happen.”
Corbin is a long-game, process-driven guy at heart and says he’s leaned on those ideas while preaching to his team in the classroom throughout its difficult stretches. The idea that Vanderbilt had a sound process heading into Saturday’s matchup with Oklahoma was one that Corbin subscribed to, which likely made him more level-headed while standing in left field once this was over.
If Corbin’s words apply to most in the program, the consensus was that Vanderbilt expected to win on Saturday. Corbin says the classroom and on-field preparation was positive, but acknowledges that there can be in-game anxiety caused by high-temperature moments. Even through Chris Maldonado and Mack Whitcomb’s ninth-inning at bats, Corbin believed that Vanderbilt was going to find a way to leave Hawkins Field with a series win on Saturday.
It didn’t, though. Now its margin for error is significantly smaller.
Back to the drawing board for Corbin and company. It appears, though, that he’s already there mentally and is hopeful that the reality his team sits in these days may not define it by the end of this. At least, that’s what he hopes.
"It's day to day,” Corbin said. These are 18, 19, 20 year old kids, and they're doing the best they can. So, just stay with them and encourage them, and keep digging. That's all you can do.”
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_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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