Sept. 7, 2016
Nashville, Tenn. — Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin rounded out his staff with four new hires bringing on D.J. Svihlik, Aaron Gershenfeld, Brooks Webb and Alex Levitt.
Svihlik will serve as the Commodores new hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, replacing Travis Jewett, who was named the head coach at Tulane during the summer. Svihlik joins the Commodores after spending 14 years in the New York Yankees’ organization as a scout. He served 10 years as an area scout, signing former Commodore Caleb Cotham, right-handers David Robertson, T.J. Beam and Chase Whitley and Franklin High School’s Corban Joseph. He was promoted to national crosschecker in 2012 helping evaluate amateur talent from coast-to-coast for the Yankees. As a player, Svihlik played collegiately at Illinois before earning Big 10 Player of the Year honors as a sophomore in 1998.
Gershenfeld joins Vanderbilt as the team’s volunteer assistant coach. He previously was the hitting coach for East Tennessee State, handling the Bucs’ hitters, catchers, third base coaching duties and recruiting. His work paid immediate dividends as the Bucs’s offense in 2016 was ranked in the top 25 nationally in home runs (7th), home runs per game (6th), batting average (19th), runs scored (25th), runs per game (21st) and slugging percentage (8th). Four of Gershenfeld’s hitters in 2016 at ETSU were drafted in the MLB Draft and two of his student-athletes were named All-Americans with Trey York earning first team honors and Hagen Owenby earning second team honors. Prior to coaching at ETSU, Gershenfeld coached for the Laconia Muskrats in the NECBL, as well as coaching at The Citadel, where he worked with the hitters, catchers, base runners & on campus recruiting. Gershenfeld played at the University of Louisville, reaching the College World Series in 2013 and 2014 with the Cardinals.
Webb takes over the Commodores’ Director of Operations position after spending the last four years with USA Baseball. He was promoted to Senior Director, Baseball Operations in 2015 overseeing the Team USA 15U National Team Program along with the planning and direction of the 14U National Team Development Program. He also led the operational efforts for USA Baseball’s largest identification event, the 14U, 15U, 17U National Team Championships. Webb pitched at Birmingham-Southern College, where he helped the Panthers win three conference titles.
Levitt returns to Vanderbilt as the Director of Player Development after spending the last two years as an area scout with the Chicago Cubs, overseeing the Cubs’ scouting efforts in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Levitt previously worked with the program as a student assistant while enrolled at Vanderbilt, helping the Commodores reach the school’s first-ever College World Series in his final year on campus in 2011.
Vanderbilt will officially begin fall practice later this month.
