Tony Vitello accepts job as San Francisco Giants manager

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello has accepted an offer from the San Francisco Giants to become their next manager, On3’s Chris Low has confirmed. The news confirms previous reports Saturday that said the Giants were closing in on Vitello to replace Bob Melvin, who was let go this offseason.

Vitello 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 as he’ll attempt to turn around a San Francisco team that has missed the playoffs for four straight seasons.

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, Tony 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.