Mark Byington considers how Vanderbilt got culture right in transfer portal

Vanderbilt has turned a team of ten transfers and a dozen new players in total into their best start in a decade in a half.

Mark Byington, in his first season coaching the Commodores, recalled on what it took to build this roster following their biggest win of his tenure thus far with a one-point victory over No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday. He remembered how much it was for them considering they had to take as many transfers as they did with nine names leaving following the coaching change.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a dizzy couple weeks there. I mean, it’s nonstop. Guys are in the office,” said Byington. “It’s a lot when you – it’s easier. I hope this is my future when you’re trying to replace three guys in the spring. We were in a situation where, whether we wanted to or they wanted to, we just had to replace the entire roster.”

In finding those portal pickups, though, Byington said Vandy was looking for winners and those who could embody it. To set what they’re wanting to do with the program in Music City, the Commodores needed players who were more interested in the totals in the team’s win column rather than in their own box score.

“You’re trying to find this. That was our main thing. We try to find character. We try to find competitive guys. They had to make winning number one, alright,” said Byington. “Now, in the NIL days and things like that where, you know, some guys want stats, feel like stats are more money? That wasn’t going to fit with our mission and our team. So the buy-in on that and us trying to figure out who fits that?”

With that, Vanderbilt now has a team that is 15-3 overall and 3-2 in the SEC. Each of their nine top scorers are new players with them posting one of the top offenses in the nation at 82.1 ppg..

Byington couldn’t be out to a much better start to his time in Nashville, especially after beating the Vols. That’s a credit to him and his team with a lot of season left to go to have a record in the Southeastern Conference that could potentially get them back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

“It’s not easy with that many but the guys have completely bought in to what we’re trying to do.”