Angels second baseman, former Tennessee star Christian Moore reacts to Tony Vitello taking Giants job

On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Tennessee coach Tony Vitello will accept an offer from the San Francisco Giants to become their next manager. He’ll move to the professional level to replace Bob Melvin, who was let go this offseason.

Many around the Volunteers program have come out in support of their now-former coach, like former Tennessee star Christian Moore. He helped Vitello lead the team to a 2024 Men’s College World Series victory, and he’s since gone on to play for the Los Angeles Angels after being drafted eighth overall.

“Thank you Coach V for everything you’ve done,” Moore posted on X. “You’ve brought this program, players and fans nothing but joy and we are all grateful for it! I look forward to seeing Coach Elander take this role! There isn’t anyone that deserves it more than he does. He is the glue to it all! GBO!”

As you can tell, there’s immense respect for Vitello from Moore. The 47-year-old took over as coach of the Vols in 2018, quickly turning them into a perennial contender during his eight seasons at the helm. Now, he gets his shot in the major leagues, where he’ll attempt to turn around a San Francisco team that has missed the playoffs for four straight seasons.

Moreover, Vitello leaves Tennessee with an overall record of 341-131, including a 125-85 mark in conference play. He also won two regular season SEC titles, one SEC Tournament title and led them to three appearances in the College World Series.

The highlight of those trips to Omaha came in 2024, when the Vols won their first CWS title in program history. Tennessee earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament that season and cruised through the Regional and Super Regional rounds before running into Texas A&M in the final series. They won two of those contests, including the decisive Game 3 by a score of 6-5.

Tennessee was the first head coaching job for Vitello, who spent several seasons as an assistant for multiple programs before getting the opportunity. His previous stops were at his alma mater of Missouri (2003-10), TCU (2011-13) and Arkansas (2014-17).

Vitello is not the first college baseball coach to make it to the major leagues. Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy previously coached at Notre Dame and Arizona State before working for the San Diego Padres. Murphy also served as Craig Counsell’s bench coach before taking over as manager when Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs.

However, Vitello makes a near-unprecedented move, from a sitting college baseball coach job straight into a major-league manager role. While Dick Howser went straight from Florida State in 1979 to the New York Yankees as manager in 1980, he was previously the Yankees’ bench coach and served as interim manager in 1978.

The Giants went 81-81 this season before moving on from Melvin as manager. Now they’ll look to an up-and-coming manager in Vitello, 47, to help get them back on the winning track. San Francisco won three World Series from 2010-14, but has only been back to the postseason twice in more than a decade since.

— On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.