The Tony Vitello era is officially over in Knoxville and with it the best run in Tennessee baseball history. Vitello agreed to a contract to become the newest manager of the San Fransisco Giants on Wednesday in what’s an unprecedented move from college baseball to the MLB.
Amidst the bad news, Tennessee does get a nice payday. Vitello, or a third party of Vitello’s behalf, owes Tennessee $3 million by leaving the program without cause. If Vitello had left before June 30 then he would owe Tennessee $4 million. The buyout cost drops $1 million each of the first two years of his contract, then from $2 million to $800,000 and from there to $400,000.
Tennessee Director of Athletics Danny White drastically increased the buyout for Vitello to leave when signing him to a massive contract extension following the 2024 national championship. Before the revised contract, Vitello owed Tennessee between $1 million and $250,000 for leaving without cause depending on when he made the move.
White has often talked about the increasing importance of financial situations in college sports and that will be extremely important in the aftermath of Vitello’s departure. If Tennessee sticks in-house and promotes associate head coach Josh Elander to head coach, supporting him financially will be extremely important in helping keep Tennessee’s program rolling.
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If White opts to make an outside hire either in the immediate or in the long term, Tennessee needs to be a big spend to lure the best possible candidates. Vitello made $3 million annually and the Vols would have no problem coaxing a top coaching candidate at that price point, but it seems unlikely that Tennessee will spend that much on its next head coach.
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.
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.
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.
