Former Tennessee baseball support staffer Luke Bonfield is reportedly returning to the SEC to coach for one of the Vols’ conference rivals. Wes Johnson is hiring Bonfield as an assistant coach at Georgia, UGASports.com’s Anthony Dasher first reported on Wednesday.
Bonfield spent six seasons with the Tennessee baseball program in multiple roles. He first joined Tony Vitello’s staff ahead of the 2020 season as a graduate student manager.
Vitello promoted Bonfield to Director of Player Development two years later. After two seasons in that role, Bonfield moved to Director of Recruiting Operations— a position he served in during his final two years on Tennessee’s staff.
Bonfield left Vitello’s staff following the 2025 season for a full-time assistant coach position with Pitt baseball. During Bonfield’s time in Knoxville, the Vols thrice made the College World Series, won a pair of SEC Regular-Season and Tournament championships and won the 2024 national championship.
Prior to his time at Tennessee, Bonfield was a standout outfielder at Arkansas where he played for Vitello and Josh Elander.
More From RTI: See The Signing Bonuses For Tennessee Baseball’s Four Commits Selected In The MLB Draft
After just one year at Pitt, Bonfield is moving back to the SEC with a trending Georgia program. Bonfield is replacing Nick Ammirati on Georgia’s staff after Ammirati left to be the hitting coach a rival Auburn.
Johnson has rejuvenated the Georgia program in his three seasons as head coach, leading the Bulldogs to a 139-48 record. Georgia won the SEC Regular-Season and Tournament championship this past season and made it back to the College World Series for the first time since 2008.
Georgia’s season came to an end with two losses to eventual national champion Oklahoma in the College World Series.
Back in Knoxville, Josh Elander also shook up his staff this offseason by firing pitching coach Josh Reynolds and hiring East Carolina pitching coach Austin Knight to replace him. Knight, Chuck Jeroloman and Ross Kivett are the three assistant coaches on Elander’s Tennessee staff.
