One important thing fans need to understand about Tony Vitello potentially leaving the Tennessee Vols for the San Francisco Giants
Multiple reports indicated on Saturday that the San Francisco Giants are on the verge of hiring Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello
Multiple reports on Saturday afternoon indicated that the San Francisco Giants are close to hiring Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello as the franchise’s next manager.
Vitello was first connected to the job last month, due in part to his relationship with Buster Posey, the President of Baseball Operations for the Giants.
Most folks (including myself) didn’t think Vitello would be a legitimate candidate for the job due to the fact that he has no MLB or minor league experience as a player or as a coach.
The Giants, however, seemingly want to make an outside-the-box hire.
One important thing fans need to understand about Tony Vitello potentially leaving the Tennessee Vols for the San Francisco Giants
Nothing is official yet between the Giants and Vitello.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan, in fact, reported that Vitello is expected to make a final decision sometime in the next 24 to 72 hours.
We will see what happens in the next couple of days.
If Vitello does leave Tennessee for the Giants, there’s something important fans need to realize.
There’s something special about the big leagues. It’s where every young baseball-loving little kid dreams of being when they’re older. I’m sure Vitello had that same dream while growing up in Missouri.
An MLB team hiring a college head coach with no pro baseball experience would be an unprecedented move. It’s just not something that happens.
That’s why I will completely understand if Vitello takes this job. If Vitello passed on this job, he may never receive another opportunity to manage in the big leagues. This could be his only shot. He could spend the rest of his life saying, ‘What if?” if he says no thanks to Posey and the Giants.
Vitello has one of the best jobs in college sports at Tennessee. Leaving wouldn’t be easy. But Vitello knows what he can accomplish at the college level. He doesn’t know, though, what he could accomplish in the big leagues.
If Vitello leaves Tennessee, I don’t think it’ll be primarily because of money, NIL deals, the current state of college athletics, or because he’s been looking for a way out of Knoxville.
Instead, I think it’ll simply be because the big leagues are a childhood dream, and Vitello just can’t pass on this opportunity.
That’s not what Vols fans want to hear, and I get it, but Vitello should be free to chase his dream. And if his dream is being in the big leagues, then I don’t see how anyone could be mad at him for leaving for San Francisco, especially since he’d be reunited with former Vols Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell.
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