Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington watches his team face Auburn during the first half at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Column: Mark Byington, Vanderbilt Basketball Are on Fire

Originally posted on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI
By Joey Dwyer | Last updated Sep 24, 2025 3:45 PM ET

NASHVILLE—The tide appears to be turning for Mark Byington and Vanderbilt basketball’s recruiting efforts. Perhaps it already has.

A month ago, this program had yet to break through and land a top 100 recruit under Byington. Now it’s on fire. It’s gone into the prep schools. It’s used Vanderbilt assistant Xavier Joyner’s connections to land guys from the DMV. It’s marketed its former NBA players in recruiting like it should’ve been doing all along.

It’s taken guys out of their home states and built a class that could end up as one of the program’s most highly ranked since recruiting rankings became prevalent in college basketball. The kicker; it’s doing it ahead of schedule, in year two of Byington’s tenure.

Byington and company have landed three top 100 players within a month and have the nation’s No. 3 recruiting class, per 247Sports. That ranking isn’t the end all, be all–say what you will about whatever flaws exist within the system that ranks classes–but it indicates something about this program.

In a broad sense it’s become significantly more attractive to high schoolers than it was this time a year ago when it had the funding to become a factor for top 100 guys, but didn’t quite have enough to get over the hump. Nowadays, the funding has helped–it certainly did in the efforts to land Ant Brown, Ethan Mgbako and Jackson Sheffield–but it’s not the only thing that Byington and his staff members have to sell.

Byington and company can now realistically tell players that they can get them where they want to go.

“Making it to March Madness and winning,” Vanderbilt commit Ethan Mgbako told Vandy on SI in regard to his goals as a Vanderbilt player. “I plan on going to the NBA, how long that takes is however long God wants it to take.”

Perhaps there’s more traditional destinations than this program to pursue those dreams, but Vanderbilt is intent on changing the narrative surrounding its ability to lead players to their goals. It’s finally got something to stand on when it says that.

Byington and staff now have an NCAA Tournament berth, two NBA Summer League invites and wins over Tennessee and Kentucky under their belts. They’ve got proof of concept that committing to Vanderbilt can be a vehicle to success and lucrative. That indicates that this recruiting prowess may not be a flash in the pan.

“NIL is the great equalizer for us,” former Vanderbilt star Will Perdue told Vandy on SI. “I think some of these kids are finally starting to realize that your brand flourishes at Vanderbilt and one of the reasons they can flourish is because of the city of Nashville.”

The city of Nashville has always been a marketing tool for Vanderbilt’s program. The city on its own hasn’t gotten it all that far, though. The city doesn’t do all that much without a group of relentless recruiters selling players on their place in it and an administration that backs that group up.

Vanderbilt finally appears to have that in Byington, Joyner, Rick Ray, Jon Cremins, Kenneth Mangrum and Matt Bucklin. It’s a staff that’s dedicated themselves entirely to turning this thing around and upgrading the overall talent of Vanderbilt’s roster–which was barren when they took over.

“Vanderbilt is committed, and they want to be successful. And that matches my vision,” Byington said at his introductory press conference while also running from any excuses that could’ve bought him some time on the recruiting trail. “It’s a great league, and we’re going to find players who aren’t scared of a challenge.”

Turns out Byington has found those theoretical players he spoke of and that they’ve come with some pedigree. The only schools who have done it better in this class? Missouri and Florida State. That’s it.

Gone are the days of Vanderbilt squeezing out a class of three developmental guys that come in to wait their turn in a group of veterans. Byington’s 2026 group is a threesome of a different caliber than his 2025 class. It’s a group that’s at a different level than any Vanderbilt basketball recruiting class in recent memory.

Who knows how long the No. 3 ranking holds, but for now it’s time for this program to celebrate it. It’s time to acknowledge that Vanderbilt is consistently recruiting a different level of player than it’s recruited for so long.

This article first appeared on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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