A healthy amount of hate is good for the soul. Especially in sports. It wakes us up in the morning. It gives us an excuse to watch our rivals and least favorite players/coaches and hope they crash and burn like the Hindenberg. Some healthy hate is what makes sports the best reality television out there. Vanderbilt University is no exception. Whether it’s dumping on those toolbags in puke orange and white out East, hating on the bandwagon fans and bluenecks of Big Blue Nation, or the Fast and the Furious Dawgs, there’s a long list of hate for Vanderbilt fans. Here is a list of ten of the greatest villains in the history of Vanderbilt Athletics in no particular order.

To quote Harvey Dent in the Dark Knight, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” That played out exactly for James Franklin during his time in Nashville. After bringing Vanderbilt Football out of the cellar and leading the Commodores to three straight bowl games in the 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons, Slick Jimmy decided to use Vanderbilt as a stepping stone and did his best road-runner impression after the 2013 Birmingham Bowl, meep meeping all the way to Penn State after telling fans he was staying. And not only did Franklin leave Nashville, but he took over half his recruiting class with him, setting Vanderbilt Football back multiple years. It’s been a long road for the Commodores since then, which has only recently gotten better thanks to Clark Lea, Diego Pavia, Jerry Kill, Tim Beck, and an all-time transfer class.

Big Game James now has a shot at the CFP National Championship with the Nittany Lions. Had his exit gone more smoothly, Vanderbilt fans may be rooting for him. But now? Here’s to hoping you go 0-1 next week, James and that you have to run wind sprints and do an early morning lift with Coach Galt afterwards with the Notre Dame fight song playing in the background.

Jerry Stackhouse’s suits were outstanding, but his teams mostly stunk. While he was able to recruit Scottie Pippen Jr., Liam Robbins, and find Ezra Manjon, Stackhouse failed to reach the NCAA Tournament in all of his seasons in Nashville. Memorial Gymnasium became a block party for opposing fans. He tried to run an NBA level conditioning program, which constantly got players injured and his playbook was too deep. Sarah McLachlan almost had to release a commercial for all the unused timeouts. Instead of recruiting, Stackhouse was sharpening his golf swing. Worst of all, he received a massive buy-out from Vanderbilt not to do his job. Thankfully, Mark Byington is now in Nashville and there is hope for the Commodores.

During the 2005 season, Vanderbilt traveled down to Gainesville to play the 13th ranked Florida Gators. After trailing by 14 points, the Commodores rallied with a 61 yard touchdown drive and successful onside kick when Jay Cutler threw a touchdown pass to Earl Bennett to make the score 35-34. Bobby Johnson was contemplating a two-point conversion when the zebras decided to hand out an excessive celebration penalty to Earl Bennett following the score. The celebration? About as threatening as a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. But the referees had some hot dates in Gainesville and precious time to enjoy before Aaron Hernandez, Brandon Spikes, and the Pounceys got to campus. The Commodores would then lose in double overtime. Pain. Pain. Pain.

In the 1988-1989 basketball season, Dwayne Schintzius was a lightning rod for opposing fans. After an alleged scuffle by a nightclub, Schintzius was rumored to have whipped around a tennis racquet like Serena Williams (tennis racquet to ass?) and was handed a four game suspension from the powers that be. During non-conference play, Florida State fans peppered the court with tennis balls and the SEC Commissioner Harvey W. Schiller was rumored to have issued a notice to officials where a technical foul would be issued to any home team fans who threw tennis balls.

In January 1989, the Commodores returned most of their core from the previous year’s Sweet Sixteen team, which included Frank Kornet and Will Perdue. Florida was favored heading into the contest with an SEC regular season championship hanging in the balance. The rabid Memorial Gymnasium Crowd was addressed before the game and warned that any tennis ball shenanigans would result in a technical foul for the Commodores.

The result was a fitting Vanderbilt debacle. After Frank Kornet missed his second free-throw with the Commodores up 72-70, the ball rolled out of bounds. Thinking the game was over, Commodore fans threw at least one tennis ball onto the court inside Memorial Gymnasium. The exact number of tennis balls is not known but is believed to be at least four according to a first-hand account from the Tennessean. Upon official review, the game was not yet over, and a technical foul was then issued against Vanderbilt.

Schintzius, rat mullet and all, ended up knocking down both free throws and the Gators would win in overtime, 81-78. Florida finished the season 13-5 in conference play while Vanderbilt finished the season 12-6. The difference? A couple of f***ing tennis balls. To the idiots who couldn’t wait until time was officially called…thanks a lot, bozos.

Need I say more. Call it a curse, black magic, voodoo, hex, spell, plague. Call it what you will. Vanderbilt Football has not beaten South Carolina in 15 years. And worst of all, this magic has extended to resident toddler Shane Beamer who got all fussy in his high chair after an Illinois player went down with an injury. The blown pass interference call where Jordan Matthews got mugged in a New York subway in 2012? The (gulp) Zeb Noland miracle drive in 2021? LaNorris Sellers escaping a sack to throw a dagger deep ball in 2024? Whether it’s in Nashville or Columbia, disaster always seems to strike. Here’s to hoping that the Commodores can one day break this reign of terror. Until then, best to shudder and cover your eyes when the Gamecocks are on the schedule.

Few coaches have ever fit the personality of their fan base better than Bruce Pearl. Well fed. Loud. Obnoxious. Your hardo’s hardo. Bruce Pearl was a menace during his time in Knoxville, at one time leading the Volunteers to a number one ranking in 2008.

But for every great villain, there are heroes waiting in the wings. On February 27, 2008, Vanderbilt legend Shan Foster was the skunk at the Volunteers’ picnic and dropped 32 points inside Memorial Gymnasium and Vanderbilt took down No. 1 Tennessee 72-69. Two years later, the Commodores schooled old Brucey again with a 90-71 ass-whooping featuring a killer Jermaine Beal crossover that can still be heard all the way to Knoxville. Pearl has since taken his antics to Auburn University and has traded puke orange for burnt orange.

John Calipari is a rule breaker’s rule breaker. Not even Rick Pitino has had two Final Four Banners taken down from separate schools. Despite being constantly blessed with supremely talented rosters, signore hair gel has never quite mastered the x’s and o’s. However, he gave Vanderbilt one of its best basketball moments when the Jenkins-Taylor-and Ezeli three-headed monster knocked off the Wildcats to win the 2012 SEC Tournament. Vanderbilt was one of only two teams to defeat the eventual national champion Wildcats that season. After 2012, Calipari has been unable to get back to the mountain-top and his teams became progressively worse. If losing to a mid-major Oakland in last year’s NCAA Tournament wasn’t humiliating enough, Calipari was caught walking his designer dog in a stroller before he bolted to Fayetteville. Get ready to learn weird pig calls, John.

Speaking of known rule-followers, Tony Vitello runs a squeaky clean operation in Knoxville. The bats are extremely legal (wink wink, cough cough). Whether it’s taking cheap jabs at Tim Corbin, harassing umpires, or encouraging his players to prance around like a bunch of hyenas, Tony Vitello has rightfully drawn the ire of Commodore fans. He led the Volunteers to a national championship in 2024. Vitello’s antics have caused a Tennessee fan base who once believed baseball was an irrelevant sport to now argue that they were in Cooperstown when the game was invented, that General Neyland was present when Jackie Robinson stole home in the World Series, and that Big Orange inspired Hank Aaron to break the home run record. Vitello and the Vols must be destroyed.

In the 2007 Sweet Sixteen, Jeff Green ripped the hearts out of Commodore fans everywhere and did the Carlton on their graves when he CHANGED HIS PIVOT FOOT AND TRAVELED before hitting a bank shot with 2.5 seconds to go, sealing a 66-65 win for the Hoyas. Jay Bilas later had the audacity to defend the travel as a legitimate basketball move. Disgusting.

Since the 2007 Sweet Sixteen, Jeff Green was the third pick in the 2007 NBA draft. He then traveled to the Seattle Supersonics (now Oklahoma Thunder) for four seasons. He then picked up his pivot foot and traveled to the Boston Celtics from 2011-2015. He traveled again with the Memphis Grizzlies from 2015-2016 before picking up his pivot foot and traveling to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2016. In 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, Jeff had traveling stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards. Between 2019-2023, he traveled with the Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, and Denver Nuggets, weaseling his way into a championship with Jokic. Green currently changes his pivot foot and travels with the Houston Rockets.

As George Costanza always says, “End on a high note!” In June 2019, Louisville Baseball’s Luke Smith yelled “F*** You!” at the Vanderbilt dugout after striking out Julian Infante with a trip to the College World Series Finals on the line. In what has become one of the most misused GIFs of all time, Smith fumbled the bag. When Smith returned for the ninth, the Commodores got their revenge after Ethan Paul smoked an RBI double to tie the score at 2 and eventually went on to win 3-2. To quote Cary Elwes in Robin Hood Men in Tights, “Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

Do you think we missed anyone from this list? Let us know in the comments below!

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