Josh Elander and the University of Tennessee have announced the end of a brief partnership with pitching coach Josh Reynolds, concluding a one‑year tenure that began after his promotion in November 2023.
Reynolds had been elevated from his previous role as Director of Pitching Performance, a position he held during the 2025 season, and arrived in Knoxville after a short stint as the Cincinnati Bearcats’ pitching coach, a role he assumed following a period of rapid advancement in the sport’s analytics community.
A Rapid Rise and a Sudden Exit
Before arriving in Knoxville, Reynolds built a reputation as a meticulous developer of talent, a journey that started at Northwestern where he coordinated recruiting and oversaw the pitching staff from 2016 to 2022, and earlier stints at Kansas State, Evansville, and Northeast Texas Community College.
His playing background includes a standout collegiate career at Central Missouri, where he set the school record for wins and helped the Mules reach the Division II College World Series in 1998 and 2000, before being drafted by the New York Mets in the third round of the 2000 MLB Draft.
After signing with the Mets, Reynolds spent time in the minor league systems of both the Boston Red Sox and the San Diego Padres, experiences that enriched his understanding of player development on and off the mound.
Tony Vitello, the head coach of the Volunteers, praised Reynolds’s contributions while confirming that the mutual parting was decided after a thorough evaluation of the program’s direction. The university also took the opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of Frank Anderson, who served as an interim head coach at Northwestern in 2021 and remains a respected figure in collegiate baseball circles.