Tennessee’s athletic department suffered perhaps its biggest blow of Danny White’s tenure Tuesday afternoon when baseball coach Tony Vitello agreed to a deal to become the San Fransisco Giants new manager. Vitello leaves Tennessee after a highly successful eight-year run where he built one of college baseball’s best programs.
After Vitello’s departure became public, White released a statement addressing the move and the next stages for Tennessee baseball.
“Congratulations to Tony on this incredible opportunity to lead the San Francisco Giants,” White said in a statement. “We wish him the best as he embarks on this new chapter in his career and thank him for everything he has done to transform Tennessee baseball into a championship program.
“The growth of baseball on Rocky Top has been remarkable, culminating in the 2024 National Championship. We are committed to continuously investing in the program at a championship level across all areas. Furthermore, the upcoming $109 million renovation of Lindsey Nelson Stadium will transform it into one of the premier baseball venues, providing an exceptional experience for the best fans in all of sports. Our focus is on our players and coaching staff while finalizing the next steps in this evolving process.
Tennessee is holding a press conference at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon where White will take questions from the media. Vitello will not be at the press conference and likely will not speak to the media until his introductory press conference in San Fransisco.
Vitello leaves Tennessee amidst fall practice and ahead of his 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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Tennessee returned to the NCAA Tournament in his second year as head coach and to the College World Series in his fourth year as head coach. But Vitello didn’t just turn Tennessee into a relevant program but one of the sport’s very best.
In Vitello’s eight seasons as head coach, Tennessee 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. Vitello ends 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 better in recent years.
Vitello leaves a talented roster in Knoxville ahead of the 2025 season though his departure begins a 30-day window where Tennessee players can enter the transfer portal and join other programs. However, only grad transfers will be eligible to play next season. Anyone who has not already graduated will not be eligible to play for anyone but Tennessee next season.
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 had MLB experience. Vitello neither played professional baseball or worked in professional baseball— spending his entire career in college baseball.
A college baseball lifer, Vitello takes over a Giants franchise that went 81-81 last season and 80-82 the year prior. But San Fransisco has showed a tendency to spend at a high level under general manager Buster Posey.
