Tennessee baseball promotes key assistant Josh Elander

The Tennessee Volunteers and head coach Tony Vitello have promoted assistant coach Josh Elander to associate head coach, the program announced on Thursday.

Josh Elander joined the Volunteers as an assistant coach in August of 2017. Prior to that, he spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach at Arkansas. He completed his fifth season on Rocky Top in 2022.

Elander has worked primarily with the team’s hitters and catchers. However, he is also Tennessee’s recruiting coordinator. The Vols brought in the fifth-ranked class in 2018, the seventh in 2019, 11th in 2020, sixth in 2021 and 14th in 2022.

“There are not many players that I have spent more hours in the batting cage with than Josh. His work ethic was a catalyst in making him a shining star as a player and in more recent years as a coach,” Vitello said of Elander on his Vols bio.

“His abilities as a high school All-American allowed for him to live out a recruiting experience of the utmost intensity. In the weeks that he has relentlessly worked on the road, it’s evident that his personal familiarity allows him to relate incredibly well to our prospects and their own personal process.”

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— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) August 11, 2022

Vitello promotes right-hand man

Elander played for TCU from 2010-12. He then spent four seasons in professional baseball after going to the Braves in the 2012 draft. He was part of TCU teams that Tony Vitello helped guide to the NCAA Regionals in 2011 and the Super Regionals in 2012.

Elander put together a solid three-year career for the Horned Frogs. He earned freshman All-America honors in 2010 and second-team all-conference honors as a junior.

Prior to joining Arkansas, he returned to TCU as a student assistant. He helped guide TCU to its third-straight College World Series as a member of Jim Schlossnagle’s staff.