‘I don’t know who told them, but I wish I did’ – Tony Vitello strongly addresses his controversial departure from Tennessee
Former Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello cleared a few things up on Monday.
Former Tennessee Vols head coach Tony Vitello felt compelled on Monday to clear some things up regarding his departure from Rocky Top.
Vitello left Tennessee in October to take over as the new manager of the San Francisco Giants.
The Athletic reported on October 18 that San Francisco was closing in on Vitello as their next manager.
It wasn’t until October 22, however, that Vitello officially accepted the job with the Giants.
Tony Vitello addresses the timeline of leaving Tennessee
Vitello met with reporters on Monday at the Giants’ spring training complex in Arizona and he asked reporters when they first thought he was leaving Tennessee for San Francisco.
One reporter said that it was four or five days before Vitello officially accepted the job (which was when the report from The Athletic surfaced).
Vitello quickly made it clear that he hadn’t agreed to anything at that point.
“That was not reality at all,” said Vitello. “I don’t know if Buster (Posey) would feel the same way, but that wasn’t the case. Somebody decides they think they’ve got the information (on October 18), but the final blow was about four days later. I’m just kind of having a conversation (with reporters), therapy, if you will, from walking out of there. But I needed confirmation from the coaches that I worked with, that helped boost my status (as a coach), that they were okay with what was going to go on, and that they were going to be okay with their jobs. That staff had always been built as the next man up, and all of a sudden that was being threatened.
“So it’s kind of hard to do something for yourself and then your teammates get left behind. But it was not four days (before it was officially reported), for what it’s worth. That was not the case at all. If you would have seen me in my condo, you would have agreed.”
“Because somebody tweeted it out,” continued Vitello when asked why he was bringing up the timeline. “I don’t know who told them. I wish I did — it might have changed the course of history if I would have known who did it, to be honest with you. But it just bothers me. Because, I don’t know, I hate to get philosophical, but you see people angry on the streets, a lot of times, for stuff that’s not even true. People arguing and they don’t know what reality is. But I did a really damn good job of keeping that away from our team and recruiting, and it was not a distraction. And then all of a sudden, in the middle of a practice, I see our first and third base coaches freaking out. And they freaked out on me, too. And for no reason, because at that point, nothing was going to happen, but somebody decided that it was going to happen. And then the whole world starts spinning real, real quick. I had to address the team, and people said either that or me leaving was a distraction. Those guys are SEC athletes. They ain’t distracted by me.
“We dealt with years where they thought we might take another job, or we were offered a job, or there were jobs open. I’d meet with guys in the office, and they’d be like, ‘Coach, we don’t care.’ The guys care about the guys when the season’s going on. And hopefully they love their coaches, but that thing was never a distraction. They (Tennessee) got talent and they got good kids, so they’re going to be just fine. But yeah, that was not a fun Saturday, and then it kind of affected how the next few days went. But ultimately, sorry to rain on your parade, great organization, great people to work with, and a great challenge. I didn’t say no (to San Francisco).”
Vitello clearly doesn’t like how the timeline has been portrayed, and I can’t say I blame him. He was clearly emotional in the four days between the report from The Athletic and his decision to take the job with the Giants. It obviously wasn’t an easy decision for him.
One thing we do know about the timeline, though, is that according to the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Mike Wilson (Wilson is now with VolQuest), Vitello had been in the mix for the job for about two months. He had his first interview with the Giants on October 1.
The Giants are set to open the 2026 season against the New York Yankees on March 25.
Tennessee Volunteers News
‘I don’t think he was super happy with what was going on’ – Arkansas HC Dave Van Horn reveals what he told Tony Vitello about leaving UT
Tony Vitello left the Tennessee Vols this offseason to become the new manager of the San Francisco Giants.
