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Tony Vitello spotted at Tennessee fall baseball scrimmage amid San Francisco Giants talks

Danby: Daniel Hager5 hours agoDanielHagerOn3
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© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | © Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Although rumors of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello‘s departure for the San Francisco Giants have been floating around for the past couple of days, Vitello was present at Tennessee‘s Fall scrimmage on Tuesday.

The Athletic reported Saturday afternoon that the Giants were closing in on Vitello as their next manager. Vitello’s name has come up in connection with multiple managerial searches this cycle, including the Giants and the Atlanta Braves. As of Tuesday however, no official deal has been reached between the two sides.

Volquest asked Vitello about whether he agreed to become the Giants’ manager and said he had not. In a text to The Athletic, Vitello said, “There is nothing to confirm.”

Vitello would not be 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 would make 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.

Vitello, who made stops as an assistant coach at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas from 2003-2017, has completely flipped the stigma around Tennessee baseball during his eight-year tenure in Knoxville. After posting a 29-27 record in his first season (2018), the ‘Vols are 312-104 with one National Championship and three trips to Omaha over the past seven seasons.

Prior to Vitello’s arrival, had made just four trips to the College World Series in program history. Along with the title in 2024, Coach V has led them to five consecutive NCAA Regional titles, six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and two SEC regular season/Tournament titles. The Missouri native has brought unprecedented success to the program and his departure would indeed be devastating, especially this close to the regular season, which kicks off in February.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.