Mark Byington sends emotional goodbye to Vanderbilt seniors

It was an emotional end to the 2024-25 season for the Vanderbilt Commodores, falling in the NCAA Tournament to Saint Mary’s. For the Vanderbilt seniors, it was a disappointing end to their college careers.

Head coach Mark Byington knows how difficult it is to walk away from a college career and he wanted to send the Vanderbilt seniors out on a higher note. That wasn’t in the cards, though, and after the loss, he was emotional while publicly saying goodbye to those seniors.

“That’s really my biggest reaction is I wanted it badly for them,” Mark Byington said. “I wanted them to experience a win. I wanted them to try to go on a run. They’ve done a lot of things, and we played good basketball today — not for 40 minutes or we would have won.”

Vanderbilt’s first round loss to Saint Mary’s came in a defensive game. Losing by three points and a final score of 59-56. The Commodores offense was particularly stymied in the second half, scoring just 27 points.

This came following a season where Vanderbilt went 20-13 overall and 8-10 in SEC play. That was good for a tie for ninth in the conference’s regular season standings. It was also a notable improvement from the 9-23 season the Commodores battled through in the previous season.

“But to have them ready to play, ready to compete and in this moment, I wanted it for them. It’s always the hardest locker room you ever have as a coach when you have players who finish their college eligibility. We have that with Chris [Manon] and Grant [Huffman] and A.J. [Hoggard]. Those are emotional. Those are hard,” Byington said. “Knowing that’s the last time that I get a chance to coach them and appreciative of them and everybody else. But that’s a really tough feeling for a coach.”

For Mark Byington, he’s only briefly been with Vanderbilt. Prior to this season, he was the head coach at James Madison where he was able to win a game in the NCAA Tournament before he moved on from the program himself. He leaned heavily on the Transfer Portal to flip the roster for his first season in Nashville, which included bringing in seniors like Alex Hemenway, A.J. Hoggard, Chris Manon, and Grant Huffman. While none of those seniors followed him from James Madison directly, they were recruited by him to play for Vanderbilt this season and they have a clear connection.

Now, Byington and Vanderbilt are turning their attention to the offseason. That means managing the Transfer Portal again and building a team that’s capable of making a deeper run in next season’s NCAA Tournament.