Tennessee aims to win SEC title in every sport, but that’s harder for some teams – Knoxville News Sentinel

Tennessee set a goal of winning an SEC title in every sport in the next five years.

Thats the overarching expectation in the Vols five-year strategic plan. But athletics director Danny White acknowledged thats harder for some teams than others.

There are obviously programs here, whether historical success or opportunities we have competitively, that probably have a better opportunity to compete year in and year out for championships than others, White said.

Some of them are really positioned well right now. Some of them arent as much.

So which UT sports have the best and worst chances at winning an SEC title in the next five years? Heres a breakdown.

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UT baseball should be in contention as long as Tony Vitello is the coach. The Vols have been a contender for the past three seasons and swept the SEC regular-season and tournament titles this season.

The same goes for mens basketball under Rick Barnes. The Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournamentand finished secondor better in the standings in three of the past five regular seasons.

The Lady Vols have the unenviable task of winning an SEC womens basketball crown amid a pool of national title contenders. But theyve finished third place in each of Kellie Harpers three seasons, and shes built a roster that should be in the mix.

Mens tennis won the 2021 SEC title and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in back-to-back years under coach Chris Woodruff. The program is in greatshape.

Women's soccer won the 2021 SEC Tournament title, lost head coach Brian Pensky to Florida State and promoted long-time assistant Joe Kirt to head coach. Kirt helped build the program, and he was given a five-year contract to keep it at this level.

UT track and field won four national championships in the 2000s. The men captured the 2001 outdoor and 2002 indoor titles, and the women won the 2005 and 2009 indoor crowns.

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Neither track program has won an SEC title in more than a decade, but the mens team finished third at the 2022 NCAA outdoor championships. With most national title contenders in the SEC, the odds of winning a conference title or a national title are about the same.

That means new track coach Duane Ross, the 2021 NCAA Coach of the Year at North Carolina A&T, inherits a program with tremendous tradition but steep competition. His track record says the Vols will rise to the challenge.

Matt Kredich, director of UT swimming and diving, was given a contract extension to 2027 after the womens team won its second SEC title in three years. Expect additions to that trophy case.

Kredichs mens swimming and diving team hasnt won the SEC title since 1996, but it finished third in 2019 and 2021 in a loaded field. A new obstacle will come when Texas joins the SEC no later than 2025 because the Longhorns have been the NCAA champion or runner-up in 13 of the past 14 years.

Similarly, Lady Vols softball hasnt won an SEC title in a while (2007 regular season, 2011 tournament), but it routinely finishes in the top three. Karen Weekly has built one of the best programs in the sport, but soon-to-be SEC members Oklahoma and Texas just played head-to-head in the national title game.

Mens golf has been consistency competitive as one of just four teams to advance to match play in each of the SEC Championshipssince coach Brennan Webb arrived in 2018. But continuing that upward trajectory toward a title will be a bigger challenge.

In four seasons, coach Eve Rackham Watt has rebuilt UT volleyball into an NCAA Tournament team and occasionally top-25 squad. Contending for its first SEC title since 2011 will be tough but notfar-fetched.

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Another goal in the five-year plan is for each sport to achieve at least one national top-16 finish in the next four years. For some UT programs, thats more attainable than an SEC title.

It's certainly the case for Vols football, which has not won an SEC title since its 1998 national championship. And when Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC, surviving the conference gauntlet will become more daunting.

Winning an SEC title isnt impossible for UT under coach Josh Heupel, but an upward trajectory should be the initial goal.

New coach Sean Carlson takes over UT cross country. Arkansas has won 27 of the last 31 SEC mens titles and 12 of the last 16 womens titles.

Diana Cantu (womens golf) and Alison Ojeda (womens tennis) coach the UT programs in which they were once standout athletes. Neither program has ever won an SEC title.

Ojeda has made the Lady Vols a perennial NCAA Tournament team to earn a contract extension through 2026. Cantu, the 2021 Big Ten Coach of the Year at Maryland, enters her second season at UT.

UT rowing is a top-20 team under coach Lisa Glenn. But it competes in the Big 12, where Texas has won seven straight conference titles and back-to-back national championships.

Judging success in those sports requires context of the competition and the programs' history.

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

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Tennessee aims to win SEC title in every sport, but that's harder for some teams - Knoxville News Sentinel