Tony Vitello is at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Tuesday afternoon as Tennessee baseball holds its regularly scheduled practice and intrasquad scrimmage. Vitello was at the baseball facility Tuesday morning before leaving and eventually returning for Tuesday’s practice.
We’re nearing the 72 hour mark of Vitello watch after numerous MLB insiders, including The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, reported Saturday that the San Fransisco Giants were closing in on hiring Vitello as the club’s new manager.
According to reporting from KnoxNews Mike Wilson, Vitello told his team following Saturday’s scrimmage that he had not accepted the Giants job and that they would hear it from him first if he decided to leave Tennessee for professional baseball.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Fall Scrimmage Notes And Stats From Oct. 20
Vitello has carried on with business as usual since the Saturday reports. He was at Tennessee baseball’s practices on Sunday and Monday as well as the Pat Summitt Foundation charity golf tournament on Monday morning. Of course, none of this means Vitello is not going to take the Giants job.
For now, Vitello is still Tennessee baseball’s head coach and he is performing the duties that come with that job. But Vitello not being at practice would be a bad sign about his future with the Tennessee program. While Vitello remains in Knoxville with no announcement about his future, the waiting game continues.
Vitello has completely rejuvenated a Tennessee program that had wandered in the wilderness for the 13 years prior to his arrival. 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. The Vols are 341-131 since Vitello took over as head coach.
Tennessee has 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.
