The construction crew continued their work at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Wednesday afternoon as Tennessee players filed into the locker room and back onto the field as head coach Tony Vitello informed his team that he was leaving Knoxville to become the new manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Watching the scene unfold from the left field porches, it was difficult not to widen my view and look at the construction. To take in a stadium that is radically different than it had 3,058 days prior when Vitello stood on Robert M. Lindsay Field making his initial remarks as the Tennessee baseball coach.
It’s hard to properly quantify how improbable it all was. Tennessee was a SEC laughing stock for years. The program was not only in a 12-year NCAA Tournament drought but hadn’t even won a SEC Tournament game in the 10 years prior to Vitello’s arrival. His predecessor Dave Serrano had taken two different programs to the College World Series but failed to even make the NCAA Tournament in his six years leading the Vols.
When Vitello arrived, most of the Tennessee fanbase would have been fine converting the stadium into another practice football field. By the late innings of midweek games in Vitello’s first seasons as head coach, you could count the number of fans in the stands.
In just a few short years, Vitello and his staff made Tennessee a destination program that was thrilling to cover and exhilarating to follow.
Tennessee played a midweek game against Tennessee Tech at the old Smokies Stadium in 2022. Traffic on Interstate-40 backed up for miles to get off at exit 407. Were the Beatles in town? Or the President? Nope. Just Tennessee baseball.
Vitello’s squads drew thousands to watch fall scrimmages across the state of Tennessee. Even when they were just intrasquad scrimmages.
The level of winning was unprecedented for Tennessee baseball. 317 wins in eight seasons. A pair of SEC Regular-Season and Tournament Championships. Five regional victories in six tries and three trips to the College World Series all culminating in the 2024 National Championship.
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However, the winning does not alone illustrate why Tennessee fans loved Vitello so much. He was brash and in your face. Vitello didn’t want his program to knock on the door to get into the SEC winners club. He wanted them to kick it down.
That “us against the world” mindset resonated with Tennessee fans. Vitello would change and tame his fire over the years which helped the Vols get over the hump and win the program’s first national championship. But he never apologized for that fire and intensity.
Tennessee Director of Athletics Danny White said that Wednesday was “not a sad day” but “a proud day.” White is correct that it’s a proud day. How could anyone surrounding Tennessee baseball not be proud of Vitello and what the program has become? The San Francisco Giants have won three World Series in the last 16 years and they’re making an unprecedented move to hire Tennessee’s coach.
But White is wrong about it not being a sad day. How could it not be? Vitello was the sport’s best coach and the best coach at Tennessee since Pat Summitt stalked the sidelines. Vol fans felt closer to Vitello than any other coach in my, albeit short, lifetime. Losing him his a massive blow.
Vitello leaves the Tennessee program infinitely better than he found it. Tennessee’s baseball budget has increased from $3.5 million to $14 million over the last nine years, according to White.
The $109 million Lindsey Nelson Stadium renovation is expected to finish before the start of the 2026 season. It’s a reverse Field of Dreams situation. Tennessee built it, but the man responsible for it won’t be there to see the finished product.
All of that makes Tennessee an attractive job. Whether with associate head coach Josh Elander or an outside hire, Tennessee could continue to win at a high level. But it will never be the same as it was with Vitello. And that is unquestionably sad.
