Tim Corbin - Clemson Baseball Coaching Candidate

Currently the coach at Vanderbilt, Corbin is best remembered around Clemson as an assistant coach under Jack Leggett from 1994-2002. In fact, some point to his departure in 2002 as the beginning of a slow slide towards mediocrity because of Leggett's inability to replace him.

Corbin started his coaching career at Presbyterian College as the head coach where he had a 109-138 record over the course of 6 seasons in charge. During this spell PC was moving up from the NAIA to Division II. He was then hired by Jack Leggett in 1994 and was part of the staff that helped guide Clemson to 4 College World Series appearances as well as 2 conference titles.

He was then hired in 2002 by what can only be described as a rather terrible Vanderbilt team. Ahead of this weekend's Super Regional he is 555-267 at Vanderbilt, before his arrival the team had not made the CWS since 1980. At Vanderbilt Corbin quickly turned the team around, making the NCAA Tournament in all but 2 seasons, and finally won a CWS title last year with a fantastic team.

Corbin turned Vanderbilt around by improving recruiting, putting together a great staff, and convincing the school to invest in the baseball program. At Clemson we have plenty of evidence of his recruiting prowess, and given the recent investment in facilities Clemson would seem to be doing many of the things Corbin would want at a new job.

We had a chance to talk to Anchor of Gold, the Vanderbilt SB Nation site, and they provided a few thoughts on Coach Corbin.

I'd be very surprised if Corbin left. Despite his ties to Clemson, he's in a position where he can essentially write his own checks at Vanderbilt. He's gotten multiple facility upgrades and should be able to command even more after leading Vanderbilt to the only men's NCAA title in school history last year. He's been in high demand for several years now and rejected advances from NCAA and MLB suitors alike. I think he'll stay - but since I am a Vanderbilt fan and know almost nothing but defeat, I am still slightly worried.

Corbin is an A+ recruiter and an A- game manager. He has been over-reliant on small ball in years past but his proclivity for bunting has declined this year thanks to the league's new baseballs and the resurgence of the long ball. He's established pipelines to non-traditional locations like the northeast to bring in All-Americans like Pedro Alvarez, Jason Esposito, and Mike Yastrzemski while keeping the team's local ties in Tennessee intact.

You cannot undersell what he has brought to Vanderbilt. He's won a national title, made it to five Super Regionals in the past six years, and four SEC title games in the past five years. Corbin has elevated Vandy Baseball into one of the nation's elite programs, and I'm not sure what any other program could offer that would be a serious upgrade from what he's got in Nashville.