Saying they got their first choice, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton ushered in a new era in Tennessee baseball by formally introducing Todd Raleigh as the new head baseball coach at the University of Tennessee.

"When he first walked into the room, we almost had an immediate comfort level," Hamilton said. "He has a comfort level in who he is and I had a comfort level in who he is. He is confident in his abilities as a coach. He is confident in his beliefs. You could see an unbelievable passion in him with baseball and winning a National Championship. Todd's impression will not be made at a press conference. Todd's impression will be made behind the scenes with his players and what they will bring to the field."

Raleigh interviewed for the job on Monday. On Tuesday, Hamilton brought Raleigh and his wife to town to see campus and Wednesday afternoon, Hamilton offered Raleigh the job.

Tennessee is giving Raleigh a five-year deal with a 155-thousand dollar base, plus 120 in guaranteed compensation with apparel, bats, and a television contract. Making him with a guaranteed salary of 275-thousand plus camp money on top of that and incentives for academic achievement.

News of Raleigh's hire raised eyebrows in the college baseball world. Hamilton said he was not concerned whether or not Raleigh was considered a sexy or high profile name.

"I am not interested in the name," Hamilton said. "I am not interested in a sexy hire. I am interested in the person behind the uniform. Part of athletics is about talent evaluation and finding a guy or a young lady who can come to your program and make a difference in your program regardless of their name or where they are from. The challenge is for athletic directors to make evaluations based on that. Don't try to win the press conference. Do the things you need for your program and that is what I am supposed to do."

Raleigh leaves Western Carolina 20 games over five hundred for his career. Hamilton pointed out that Raleigh's first year was a major transition year and he was limited with is resources.

"The guy was working with five or six scholarships," Raleigh said. "He had a five thousand dollar recruiting budget. He had a limited travel budget. He raked is own field and drove his own van. The guy literally build his own locker room. What can a guy like that do with the right resources. You have to be smart enough to see behind names and see if a guy has what it takes to win and that is what I saw with Todd."

Raleigh said it has been a whirlwind week, but obviously is overjoyed with the outcome.

"It has been overwhelming," Raleigh said. "For me it is a dream come true. Tennessee doesn't lack in anything. I want to go to Omaha and win a National Championship and you can do that here."

Being an hour away, Raleigh is certainly aware of the Tennessee program and has his impression of things.

"They have been talented," Raleigh said. "They have had good teams over the years. I think maybe they have been good from time to time. I think that has been the impression maybe that they are not a program, but they have had good teams. A little bit of wine and cheese. Really talented but underachieving at times, but that is mean looking from the outside. I am not trying to take a shot at anyone, but we can play harder."

Raleigh immediately acknowledged that several things need to be corrected. One thing he announced is that he would recruit East Tennessee better and he will schedule better competition.

"We are going to upgrade the schedule," Raleigh said. "I want to play Clemson home and away. I want to play Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. That is going to be one of the first things we do. Our RPI at Western was 30-something. Their RPI here was 70 something. When you play in the SEC there is no reason not to have a good RPI. But that is what happens when you play who they played. They played non-division one schools here. That can't happen here."

"Being in North Carolina, I know what it is to recruit against UNC. I haven't been here yet, but it should be that way recruiting against Tennessee. I would not think it would be to hard to get kids in state to come here. We are going to work the state hard. There were a lot of guys from the East Tennessee area who played in the NCAA's for other teams this year. We are going to build this program from the inside out."

A six million dollar stadium renovation is set to get started for Raleigh and he is also looking to bridge the past by trying to get former players back involved with the program, most notably all-star first basemen Todd Helton

"I want to call him right away," Raleigh said. It is important to reach out to those guys and I will do it this week."

Hamilton said he has his man and he is looking for consistency with his baseball program as they were the only men's team not to qualify for NCAA post-season play this year.

"I just felt three years out of ten years in the NCAA lacked consistency," Hamilton said. "Our goal is to be at a consistent championship level of getting into the NCAA's. You have to get there to win a championship."

For now, Raleigh will spend the weekend looking for houses and trying to assemble his staff at Tennessee which he hopes to have done early next week.

Tennessee interviewed numerous candidates including the head coach at Michigan, Tampa and Troy State. All interviews were conducted in Atlanta and a search firm was used to help the process at a cost of around 40-thousand dollars.

"Search firms don't find candidates," Hamilton said. "What they do is they manage the process for you allowing you have more conversations than you would ever have without one. There were guys we probably interviewed that we would not have been able to interview without the confidentially of a search firm."