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MPCC alum's amazing journey from N.P. to Texas to Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — From small town beginnings to a sold-out stadium at the NCAA Men’s College World Series, Frank Anderson’s career has surpassed his wildest dreams.
“Did I ever imagine I’d make it this far? No, not at all,” he said.
Anderson, considered one of the top pitching coaches in the nation, is the assistant baseball coach for the University of Tennessee. He’s also a Mid-Plains Community College alum.
During his 39-year career, he has been part of the coaching staff for Division I teams that advanced to 21 NCAA Regionals, seven NCAA Super Regionals and four College World Series tournaments.
Eighty-nine of the pitchers he coached have been selected in the MLB Draft - seven of them as first rounders.
Growing up
in rural Nebraska
The D1 stage is a far cry from the farm fields surrounding Grant, Neb., where Anderson spent his senior year of high school. Back then, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life.
“My dad managed grain elevators, and I knew I didn’t want to do that,” Anderson said. “Looking back, growing up around agriculture and farms is a good thing. It promotes a strong work ethic. At the time, I thought it sucked.”
Anderson’s father managed the elevator at Grainton, and Anderson was employed there part-time.
“I would play ball until 10 o’clock at night, then have to turn around and be at the grain elevator at 7 a.m. the next day – in another time zone,” Anderson said. “It helped shape me into who I am, but it also helped me realize that if I wanted to do something different, I needed to get a degree.”
After graduating from Perkins County Schools in 1977, Anderson followed his family to Missouri and enrolled in Northwest Missouri State University.
“I didn’t particularly like it,” Anderson said. “I didn’t do well academically, I was a physical therapy major and wasn’t prepared for all the chemistry, biology and physics classes I was signed up for my first semester.”
Still wanting to pursue a degree, however, Anderson turned his sights back to Nebraska.
“I liked the baseball program at Mid-Plains Community College,” Anderson said. “Baseball in North Platte was really good at the time, and a lot of it had to do with the American Legion program.”
Most of the baseball Anderson had played was American Legion Baseball because the sport wasn’t offered at the small schools he had attended.
“I did branch out and golf one year, then the next year, the coach said, ‘If you’re going to start as quarterback again, you’re going to run track’,” said Anderson. “So, in Grant, most of what I did was football, basketball and track. I had great coaches. I’ve been around crazy good coaches at the D1 level, and I look back at my coaches in Grant and realize those guys could have coached anywhere. I was very fortunate.”
Chuck Francis, a teacher at North Platte Senior High School, was coaching the MPCC baseball team in 1978. Anderson knew him from high school athletics and also had friends who played for Mid-Plains, both of which influenced his decision to attend the college. On top of that, he received a scholarship that covered the cost of his tuition.
“Going to Mid-Plains was good for me,” Anderson said. “I hadn’t done well my first semester of college, but I got back in there, and MPCC stabilized things. I made friends that I still have to this day.”
Anderson served as an infielder for the Knights for two seasons. The second season, in ’79, was coached by Bob Rabe. That was the year Anderson was named a junior college All-American. It was also the last year MPCC had a baseball program.
“I must be bad luck because both of the teams I played on in Nebraska shut down,” Anderson said.
Continuing on
Anderson transferred to what was then Kearney State College in the fall of 1980 on another baseball scholarship and switched to outfielder.
“I didn’t pitch, which is crazy,” Anderson said. “I’ve been a pitching coach for years, but I never pitched.”
He was named an All-District and All-Area outfielder before continuing on his educational journey to Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan.
“We had played Emporia when I was at Kearney, and I saw the most well-coached team I’d ever seen,” Anderson said. “So, I went there.”
Anderson went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Emporia State in 1983. He began his coaching career there, serving as an assistant coach from 1983-85, and helped the Hornets reach the 1984 NAIA World Series.
Anderson also attained a master’s degree in science with an emphasis in exercise physiology from Emporia in 1985.
“I went straight through and got my master’s because I knew if got a job, I would never go back to school. That was one of the best things I ever did,” Anderson said.
Launching a career
His break came with an opportunity to return to his roots – a two-year college in Big Springs, Texas.
“I was getting married and couldn’t find a job,” Anderson said. “I had gotten to know the baseball coach at Howard Junior College where the trainer had left to take a job with pro rodeo. He asked if I could be the trainer, pitching coach and teach classes. I was hired as a trainer, really, but I didn’t care. I was coaching college ball.”
Anderson accepted the assistant coaching position at Howard in 1987 where he became an integral part of constructing one of the nation’s top junior college programs.
Anderson spent the next nine seasons, from 1990-99, as an assistant coach for Texas Tech University.
During his tenure in Lubbock, the Red Raiders not only won 71.3 percent of their games, but also averaged 43 wins each season and earned five consecutive NCAA Regional berths from 1995-99.
In addition to helping lead Texas Tech to the Big 12 Championship in 1997 and the conference tournament title in 1998, Anderson also helped guide the Red Raiders to their first-ever Southwest Conference crown and the school’s first NCAA appearance in 1995 behind a school-record 51-14 mark.
From 2000-03, Anderson served as pitching coach for the Texas Longhorns in Austin. He helped lead them to three consecutive College World Series appearances as well as a national championship in 2002.
Moving up the ranks
By the end of 2003, Anderson had been named head baseball coach at Oklahoma State University. During his first season, he led the Pokes to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001. He also guided OSU to the Big 12 Tournament Championship in 2004 - its first in program history.
The 2006 season started an impressive run for the Cowboys as they posted three straight seasons of 41 or more victories. Anderson’s squad earned the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament that year, and in 2007 the program reached the NCAA Super Regionals.
Another successful season followed in 2008 with the Pokes climbing as high as No. 5 in the national rankings. Oklahoma State finished the season ranked all three years from 2006-08. In Anderson’s final four seasons, he had an overall record of 130–100 overall.
Anderson took over his current role as pitching coach for the Tennessee Volunteers in June of 2017. In his initial season, he helped lead the Vols to a five-win improvement in SEC play as the team won 12 conference games for the first time since 2014.
Tennessee’s pitching staff took a giant leap forward in 2019 and was one of the nation’s best throughout the year, returning the UT back to the NCAA Tournament for the
first time since 2005. Under Anderson’s guidance, the Vols tied a program record with 10 shutouts (including three in conference play), racked up 551 strikeouts (second most in program history) and set a new program record in strikeouts per nine innings (9.16).
In 2021, Anderson’s pitching staff once again ranked among the best in the country as the Vols won the SEC Eastern division title, a feat not accomplished since 1997, and advanced to their first College World Series since 2005.
The Vols also had three pitchers taken in the 2021 MLB Draft. Since joining Tennessee’s staff, Anderson has coached seven pitchers that have been selected in the draft.
Anderson’s pitching staff played a major part in Tennessee’s record-setting 2022 season as well – with the program reaching an unprecedented No. 1 in the polls and winning a school-record 57 games en route to SEC Regular Season and SEC Tournament titles.
The Big Orange had a program-best five pitchers earn All-America honors during the 2022 season, and Anderson was subsequently named Rawlings 2022 Pitching Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
He also didn’t find success all on his own. He had a strong support system – especially in his wife, Sandra, who had been an athlete in South Dakota.
“She understood the time and commitment coaching takes,” Anderson said. “By the time we had kids, she was the one who took them to every game. My son played in the major leagues for 13 years, and he would be the first to acknowledge that’s all because of her.”