The San Fransisco Giants are closing in on hiring Tennessee baseball’s Tony Vitello as its newest manager, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported Saturday morning.
Vitello told KnoxNews’ Mike Wilson Saturday afternoon that “nothing is done” between him and San Fransisco and he does not yet hold an official offer from the Giants.
Vitello has been linked to the Giants’ manager job since it opened multiple weeks ago due in large part to his strong relationship with general manager Buster Posey. In San Fransisco, Vitello would join former players Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell.
Tennessee is amidst fall practice ahead of Vitello’s ninth season as head coach. The 47-year old head coach arrived in Knoxville in 2017 and completely rejuvenated a Volunteer program that had wandered in the wilderness for the previous 13 years.
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During Vitello’s eight years as head coach, Tennessee has won two SEC Regular-Season and SEC Tournament championships, made the super regionals five times, made the College World Series three times and won the 2024 National Championship— the first in program history. If Vitello leaves, he would end his stint at Tennessee with a 341-131 record.
The Vols have made it to the super regionals each of the last five years. No other program has made it to the super regionals more than three times in that stretch. LSU has won two of the last three national championships and is the only college program that’s been as good as Tennessee in recent years.
It’s an almost unprecedented occurrence for a MLB program to hire a college baseball head coach. And the only other time it has happened, the coach at MLB experience. Vitello neither played professional baseball or worked in professional baseball, spending his entire career in college baseball.
