Tennessee baseball can’t replace Tony Vitello. Let’s make that clear right up front.
The Vols can hire another good baseball coach. They can maintain a presence in college baseball’s postseason, maybe even return to the College World Series.
But they can’t replace Vitello, who is leaving the Vols to become the manager of the San Francisco Giants, Tennessee announced on Oct. 22.
He wasn’t just the coach who took UT baseball from the bottom to the top of the SEC. He’s a first-time head coach who became the coach in all of college baseball.
Vitello didn’t rebuild a struggling program. Rebuilding implies a passage of time. He resurrected a moribund program in a flash.
His first team had a winning record. His second made the NCAA tournament. His third might have won a national championship if COVID hadn’t canceled the season.
He led the Vols to three College World Series from 2021-24. His 2022 team fell one game short of the CWS but was hailed as one of the best college baseball teams in history while winning 57 of 66 games. Two years later, Tennessee won 60 games and claimed its first baseball national championship.
How could you expect UT’s next coach to win that much? But even if he could, that doesn’t mean he could win over fans the way Vitello did. He promoted and marketed Tennessee baseball as well he coached it.
And he recruited relentlessly. When his best recruits moved on to the major leagues, he replaced them with more major league prospects. Even after they left, they didn’t lose their connection to Vitello, who bonded with players and fans alike.
Vitello made Tennessee baseball a hot ticket – so hot, in fact, that UT invested millions of dollars in the renovation and expansion of Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Suddenly, fans would pay big bucks for seats and bigger bucks for a season’s worth of accommodations on the outfield porches.
Those ticket sales were driven by more than winning. Even some non-baseball fans showed up for games, drawn by Vitello’s charismatic personality and − let’s face it − his looks.
My wife, Melinda, and I attended a fundraising gala last fall at which Vitello was the featured speaker. He also posed with attendees who wanted photos.
Melinda received two photos in the mail a couple of weeks later. She taped one on the cabinet behind my office desk.
“I want people to see me with Tony V when you’re recording your podcasts,” she explained.
She taped the other photo to the front of her locker at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, where she’s a nurse. Other nurses noticed right away.
“Boy, he’s good-looking,” one said. “Is that your husband?”
“Yes,” Melinda said with a straight face.
She also frequents a Facebook page called “Tony V is the only Tenn-I-See!” It’s covered in Vitello photos and has more than 20,000 members, most of them female.
The mood was somber on that page when it became apparent Vitello could be leaving the Vols.
Tracy wrote: “It won’t be the same without him at Tennessee baseball.”
Angie: “I’ve taken to the bed.”
Melissa: “I really pray he is not leaving the Vols.”
No. He’s leaving.
As much as Vitello loved being Tennessee’s baseball’s coach – and living in Knoxville − UT couldn’t pay or pray enough to keep him. It couldn’t compete with major league baseball.
Vitello’s love affair with the school and city wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t happy about how the ever-changing world of NIL was being reshaped at Tennessee.
UT no longer wants its coaches striking NIL deals with players. The coach can say, “I want this pitcher or that hitter,” but administrators will take it from there.
Tennessee still has a wealth of NIL money. However, the process of NIL transactions is different.
Surely, Vitello wouldn’t make a career change of this magnitude over NIL matters. He’s not only going to The Show. He’s making history by becoming the first major league manager hired without a minute’s worth of pro experience.
How can you compete with that?
You can’t. And you can’t replace a coach who was the “only Tenn” so many Vols fans might ever see.
But not everything will change.
Based on my wife’s track record, the photo of Tony V and her will remain on my office cabinet. We still have her beloved oil painting of Tim Tebow hanging on one of our walls, and he last played for the Florida Gators in 2009.
“I guess I’m a Giants fan now,” she said. “What are their team colors?”
But in the photo on her work locker, the team colors will remain the same. The balloons in the background will stay orange and white − and Vitello will forever be wearing an orange tie.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com.
