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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
OMAHA, Neb. — Any stroll in or around Charles Schwab Field is a quick history lesson on a team that has celebrated a Men’s College World Series title. There are plaques covering the wall that separates center field from the outside world, broken down over the decades, all going back to the first MCWS in 1947. There are banners mounted on a wall high in the main concourse, listing each of the champions, five teams. in time. And finally, there is a mural on Mike Fahey Street, one of the most popular pregame selfie spots, with pennants posted for every college baseball program that has ever been the sport’s last team standing, er, dogpiling.
There are 31 champions in all, from the blue blood – OK, purple, orange and cardinal blood – from LSU, Texas and USC, to the legendary underdogs and wonder dogs in Coastal Carolina, Holy Cross and Fresno State. Rice, Michigan, Pepperdine, Wichita State, many schools from many areas over the years.
Except for two shining MIA programs. The very two will compete this weekend for baseball’s first natty and long-denied Omaha glory.
“It looks weird, doesn’t it?” admitted Jim Schlossnagle, coach of the Texas A & M Aggies, a proud program with a Rome-like ballpark built for intimidation and an eight-time MCWS participant, without a ring to show for it. But. “You look at the coach, the players and the history, especially the recent history of us and them and you would think that one of us is going to win at some point.”
“That’s the truth,” agreed Tony Vitello, the leader of the Tennessee Volunteers baseball program who had been empty-handed during Omaha’s six previous visits, a number that seems too low for a ball club that has produced the likes of a Baseball Hall of Famer. Todd Helton, 2012 RA Dickey Cy Young Award winner and two years ago four of the All-Americans in the same season. “When you dig into the history and this team and see the commitment that our school has made to baseball, it is strange that not one of us has won the College World Series. But one of us wants to fix that problem.”
The thread that intertwines to connect the Aggies and Vols reaches far beyond the June tournament frustrations. The first time they appeared in the MCWS were 73 years ago, the second series was held in Omaha, when they were in the same field of eight teams but never played in 1951. In attendance to see Tennessee will be upset in the title game by Oklahoma. is General Robert Neyland … yes, the man whose name is in Tennessee’s football stadium and whose statue guards the front gate. But before Neyland coached the Vols to four gridiron national titles, he was a baseball and football player at A&M for coach Charley Moran, who had played football at Tennessee. As Tennessee’s athletic director, Neyland worked to make Volunteer baseball relevant. That. Neyland retired in 1952 and the Vols did not return to Omaha for another 44 years, while Helton led them to the semifinals.
At #MCWS the final is set. Texas A&M vs. Tennessee, two all-time “Wait, have they ever won it all?!” baseball program with a shot at Omaha salvation. Let’s call it the General Neyland Classic. He played football as an Aggie, the greatest Vols coach ever. pic.twitter.com/UsstZg6276
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) June 20, 2024
The Aggies also endured an MCWS drought, back in 1964 but not again until 1993, when they came in as the No. 1 national seed. Since 1993, they have had more than 80 players taken in the MLB draft, and they were in Omaha for the third time in the last seven years.
Alas, no harm done.
That was easier to live with back in the day, when college baseball was still largely a West Coast sport. But over the past decade and a half, Tennessee and Texas A&M have been forced to watch teams from the conference win nine of the past 13 MCWS. Even worse, the postseason riches have been spread among six other teams, none of them coming from College Station or Knoxville.
“This is a school that people have been very committed to,” Vitello said of Tennessee, where he’s been the head coach for seven seasons, all on upward trajectories, including a No. 1 ranking in the nation for big chunks in the past. some seasons, just come up short. “I care about how these people have done … it’s quite incredible how positive people are and how loyal they are, for being in the SEC, because people are usually only as loyal as they win over.”
“It means a lot,” Schlossnagle said when asked about the meaning of finally bringing the NCAA trophy away from him during Friday’s pre-championship press conference. He came close several times during his 18 seasons at TCU, transferring to A&M three years ago, in part to experience the school’s large fan base, known for its lone title. “The 12th man is really special. If I start talking about it, I’m going to cry. They are a unique and special group of people and it will be great to reward them.”
Vitello also had to work to keep from choking up during a press conference, breaking down in tears when he started talking about Pat Summitt, who led the Lady Vols’ women’s basketball program to eight national titles. Vitello never knew Summitt. He died in 2016, two years before arriving on campus. But he walks past his statue almost every day and enjoys walking into Thompson-Boling Arena to see the banner in the rafters.
“The banner is cool, but it’s not what everyone is talking about,” Vitello said. “That’s how he does business, the kind of character he instills in his players. I think that’s what champions him, despite all the banners. The byproduct is really a lot of winning.
So did Vitello. So did Schlossnagle. So are the baseball programs and their respective athletic departments. But pain is also a big part of Tennessee and Texas A&M’s sports personality. Summitt’s last national title came 16 years ago. Tennessee’s last football Natty was ten years earlier. The last NCAA team championship in women’s track and field was in 2009. College Station just added the women’s tennis trophy to the case a month ago, but in a city built on football tradition, the Aggies’ last gridiron national title was in 1939. Even. 12th Man’s story of what almost happened but never did. In 1922, A&M student E. King Gill came out of the press box and suited up in the middle of the Dixie Classic because the football team was short on players due to injuries. King never played. His statue outside Kyle Field is a monument to loyalty, but also a testament to the tension of promise.
For thousands of fans and alums who have spent their lives at Tennessee and Texas A&M, that tension has been a big part of their identity, for years. So imagine how it would feel to finally be able to let go?
“Everybody comes and joins this program because you want to win championships. You want to be the best, you want to beat the best, you want to play against the best,” A&M pitcher Ryan Prager said. “For the guys that played here before us, you see the support that they still bring back. The guys that were on the 2022 (semifinalist) team, the guys that were on the previous team. They care. To be able to do it for them. , to give a sense of achievement.”
Therefore, on Friday night, on the eve of the title series, the hotel lobby of both teams, located next to Charles Schwab Field, began to be filled with former Aggies and Vols. Twentysomethings and gray hair, utility players and All-Americans, all roll to the Midwest for homecoming hardball, perhaps with Hollywood – no, Omaha – the last that has eluded this proud program since the first Men’s College World Series played ball. almost 80 years ago.
“I hope they all come,” said Tennessee pitcher Kirby Connell, the fifth baseman famous for his “Vollie Fingers” mustache as a bullpen masterpiece. “I hope all the former players are here with all these fans and we can all celebrate together. Finally.”
