It’s been a little over a week since the Tennessee Vols won the College World Series, capturing the baseball program’s first national championship… ever. The last time any Tennessee team won it all was in 1998 when football reigned supreme. To put that in perspective, 23-year-old center Cooper Mays wasn’t even born yet. If you’re a fan of the Vols, a big-time victory for one team is a victory for the entire base, regardless of what sport you primarily root for.
It would be a bit of an understatement to say it’s an exciting time for sports in Knoxville. The baseball and football seasons may not have any overlap, but it doesn’t mean the importance of the championship is lost on someone like Mays and his gridiron teammates.
“Just really, really cool,” Mays said of being on campus with the National Champs. “We don’t have a ton of interaction with the baseball players just because we’re so busy doing our things and our schedules don’t really line up where we’re together at all… but I’ve had a class with a couple of guys on the baseball team and (they’re) just a bunch of great dudes and (I’m) super happy to see them do great things this year.”
Mays is a hometown guy, having grown up in Knoxville. As mentioned, he wasn’t around 26 years ago when the football team won the National Championship. So, what was it like to witness the orange and white take home the trophy? “I think all the sports have done really good while I was here,” Mays recalled. “But, specifically baseball… baseball has been super good the whole time. They’ve been studs the whole time we’ve been here and it seems like they’ve been like the number one or top five team probably consistently… I don’t even like watching baseball but I watch Tennessee play baseball and I love it.”
Going back to an earlier thought that a win for the baseball program is a win for all who love UT sports, one would have to imagine that Coach Vitello and his squad’s success has to inspire the other teams in the Vol Universe. Does it raise expectations? Does it make the challenge of winning it all seem more possible? Yes and no, according to Mays.
“(It makes us) maybe more motivated. I don’t know about more achievable,” Mays said. “I think people expect it, expect championships at this level. It’s very hard to do. I think it’s very challenging and it’s extremely tough to have one of those years. But everybody expects it and we expect it.
“Coach Heupel always talks about how great teams think and how they operate,” Mays continued. “And he talks about how hope and belief is always going to get crushed, but ‘expect’ is what great teams do.”
Mays isn’t alone. The Vols are considered one of the favorites to win a national championship by Las Vegas oddsmakers, who are pretty good at setting such numbers.
