World Series winning manager Joe Maddon calls Giants' hiring of Tony Vitello 'insulting'

The San Francisco Giants made an eyebrow-raising hire this offseason, bringing in Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello to be their next manager. In other sports, that type of jump from college to professional is relatively common, but it was unique to baseball. No MLB manager had ever been hired before without working at some point in the professional ranks.

For many, it’s an interesting and unique story to follow. For others, he jumped the line. Certainly, World Series winning manager Joe Maddon was among those who aren’t happy with the hire. He made that point quite clear while speaking on local radio in San Francisco.

“Quite frankly, I’m using the word insulting only from the perspective that it appears as though you don’t have to have any kind of experience on a professional level to do this job anymore,” Maddon said on KNBR. “When I was coming up, you had to have all that. You had to, like, go through the minor leagues. You had to ride buses. I was a scout. I started in 1981. I finally get a managerial job in 2006. I mean, there was a rite of passage, a method to get to that point. So to think that somebody could just jump in there and do it, you took 20-some years to be considered qualified to do, it is kind of insulting.”

Joe Maddon has a resume that’s hard to argue. Now 71 years old, Maddon has been the manager of the Angels, Rays, and Cubs. That included winning the World Series with the Cubs, snapping a more than 100-year drought for that team. Amid all of that, he’d be named Manager of the Year three times. Prior to all of that, he had been coaching since 1979.

In other words, Maddon came up in a very traditional way in the sport. It’s a path he found success on and would likely continue to see others have that same success.

At the same time, it’s not as though Tony Vitello has never been around baseball. He just hasn’t been around professional baseball. After a year coaching in a collegiate summer league, Vitello has been a college assistant and by 2018, he became the head coach at Tennessee, turning that program into a national championship winning powerhouse. Undoubtedly, MLB is a completely different leadership role from coaching in college, but that’s a challenge he’s excited to take on.

“Having said that, I wish [Vitello] nothing but the best,” Maddon said. “Because I watch videos of the guy, and I could actually understand why it’s perceived that he’s ready to do something like this.”

The San Francisco Giants finished a disappointing 81-81 in 2025, moving on from Bob Melvin as their previous manager. Looking to keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Arizona Diamondbacks in a competitive NFC West, the Giants made a bold move. Only time will tell if it works out.