Vanderbilt Football: Do the Commodores Still Deserve To Play in the SEC?

With Texas A&M potentially joining the SEC and other schools in the mix to expand the conference, it stands to reason that if any of these moves come to fruition, writers and commentators will soon consider the conference too big and in need of cutting a school or two from it's roster.  

Enter Vanderbilt—"Tops in academics, last in the SEC."  

I remember hearing this joke in the dorm just a few short days into my freshman year.  

Sadly these and so many other jokes came from classmates who grew up in the South.  

I still remember how many of them would go to school in Nashville, but left their heart in Athens, Lexington, Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, etc. 

At the time you couldn't blame them as the Commodores were downright laughable. With each passing year the story never really changed as football games simply became entertainment between frat parties, basketball games a diversion to escape the cold of the dorm, and baseball games were played on a field somehow shoehorned between the football stadium and Memorial Gym where the press sat at card tables.  

By senior year I probably attended more concerts at the stadium and gym than actual games.

Deep down it always bothered me that the Commodores would forever be the laughingstock of not only the conference, but of most of the country.   

A few years later, in a move that seemed like the beginning of the end, the school dissolved the job of Athletic Director and restructured the entire department under something called the Office of Student Athletics, Recreation and Wellness.

Yet oddly enough the key pieces were already in place for something completely unexpected.  Starting in 1999 with the hiring of basketball coach Kevin Stallings and soon after Bobby Johnson for football and Tim Corbin for baseball, Vandy began a turnaround that more than a decade later has made the Commodores not just competitive, but in some cases amongst the best in the conference and country.   

With Stallings, the basketball program has reached the NCAA tournament five times over the past decade, including two Sweet 16 appearances, and this upcoming season looks to make some noise with an experienced team that could start the season ranked in the preseason top 10. 

Meanwhile, Corbin has turned around the baseball program into a perennial powerhouse that after several near misses finally reached the College World Series this year and just narrowly missed playing for the championship. With this consistent high level of achievement, the program continues to produce MLB draft picks year after year with the 'Dores setting an SEC single-season record in 2011 with 12 selections. 

Finally, the newest addition, football coach James Franklin, perhaps faces the biggest challenge, yet has already lined up recruits that some experts believe could rank as one of the best classes in the country. It remains to be seen whether they actually suit up for the 'Dores and recruiting classes don't necessarily equate to wins, but it's an impressive start in short time since taking over. 

This time last year, when Bobby Johnson abruptly retired, it seemed that all of the momentum and goodwill he had steadily built would quickly fade, especially after a disappointing followup to the successful 2008 season which saw the Dores ranked in the top 25 while winning the Music City Bowl. 

His replacement, Robbie Caldwell, had a happy-go-lucky attitude which made for great interviews, but didn't translate to wins as the team fell apart during a 2-10 campaign. From a numbers standpoint it's hard to imagine a quick turnaround in terms of wins and losses this year, but I imagine Coach Franklin will have his team ready to play week in, week out. 

While national championships might be a bit of a stretch, is this the dawn of a new era where the Commodores can remain competitive in the major sports within arguably the nation's top conference? 

Hard to say, but if anyone wants to kick Vanderbilt out of the SEC their argument is no longer a simple clear-cut case. Quietly, the school everyone loved to schedule for Homecoming has made significant strides towards legitimacy and will hopefully get a shot to defend themselves on the field of play within the SEC and beyond in the coming years.