ESPN confirms what was suspected about the timing of Tony Vitello’s decision to leave Tennessee for the San Francisco Giants
Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello was named as the new manager of the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday
The San Francisco Giants officially announced the hiring of Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello as the franchise’s new manager on Wednesday.
Vitello is the first college baseball coach to make the jump directly to a manager’s role without having previous MLB coaching or playing experience.
News first broke last Saturday that the Giants were working to hire Vitello.
It took Vitello nearly four days, however, to make a decision (he continued with his duties as UT’s head coach during this time). Some speculated Vitello was struggling with the decision to leave Tennessee, while others thought it had more to do with the Giants wanting to wait until the ALCS between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays was over. MLB prefers to announce managerial news on off days during the latter part of the playoffs.
ESPN confirms that Tony Vitello considered staying at Tennessee
A report from ESPN on Wednesday confirmed that Vitello “considered staying” at Tennessee while negotiating with the Giants over the last several days, which is a big part of why it took a few days to make the move official.
Ultimately, though, the allure of managing in the big leagues was too good an opportunity for Vitello to pass on.
“I’m incredibly honored and grateful for this opportunity”, said Vitello in a statement. “I’m excited to lead this group of players and represent the San Francisco Giants. I can’t wait to get started and work to establish a culture that makes Giants faithful proud.”
The fact that it took Vitello three or four days to make a decision shows just how hard it was for him to leave Tennessee. Most baseball lifers would leave nearly any job in the sport in a quick minute for the chance to manage in the big leagues.
Tennessee Volunteers News
Tony Vitello was reportedly ‘courted’ by another SEC program the last couple of years before leaving Tennessee for the Giants
Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello reportedly agreed on Wednesday to become the San Francisco Giants’ new manager. Vitello, who had been the head coach at Tennessee since 2017, led the Vols to incredible success. During his time on Rocky Top, Tennessee won a national championship and went to the College World Series in Omaha […]
