Return to UT good for Todd Helton, Vols

Todd Helton came back to Tennessee with the intention of helping the Vols' baseball program in the newly created position of director of player development.

Perhaps the experience in turn will assist him with managing retirement, an ongoing adjustment the former Vols All-American described as "tough, really tough."

"I had it all set out in my mind of how easy it was going to be," he said Friday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. "It's a lot harder than I thought."

Helton said he was "mentally and physically" prepared to retire for three years in advance of stepping down in 2013 after 17 years with the Colorado Rockies. He retired as the organization's career leader in eight categories, including games played (2,247), hits (2,519), runs (1,401), homers (369) and RBIs (1,406).

In 2014, he became the first player in Rockies history to have his jersey (No. 17) retired.

"To be honest, it's hard not really having anything to do," he said. "It's not easy. You want to have a purpose in life. You want to be driven. Playing in the big leagues for 17 years, there's a lot of excitement there. I missed that part, the competition."

Although he has a ranch and other property in Colorado, Helton and his family have resettled in his hometown and live "probably five minutes from where I grew up," he said. Helton was a football/baseball star at Central High before playing both sports at Tennessee.

He was national collegiate player of the year in 1995, when he led Tennessee to the College World Series and led the SEC in nine statistical categories involving both hitting and pitching. He was the conference's male athlete of the year.

UT coach Dave Serrano was Helton's pitching coach and assistant Larry Simcox was on staff then as well. Their presence has helped with the transition.

Helton's role is voluntary. His responsibilities are described as assisting on-campus recruiting and collaborating with the coaching staff. He also will help current players with making decisions about pursuing professional baseball careers.

"There's definitely some restrictions on what I can do," he said. "I physically can't teach them what to do but I'm allowed to talk to them.

"And so much of the game is mental. I hope to help them out with that part of the game. You fail seven out of 10 (at bats) and you've had a good week, a good couple of days. It's hard dealing in the failings. I struck out a lot. I didn't get the guy in when I was supposed to. The game of baseball is learning how to deal with that and come back strong the next day."

Helton thinks the current Vols are grasping who he really is, not just what he's accomplished.

"I'm just a regular guy," he said. "Just another ball player is what I am."

A retired player who's finding his way through a new phase of his life.

"Selfishly," he said, "this is helping me as well, getting out here and being around these guys."