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Rick Barnes on Tony Vitello leaving Tennessee: 'I'm going to really miss him'

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey5 hours agoGrantRamey
Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK | Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello during an NCAA college basketball game between the Missouri Tigers and the Tennessee Volunteers in Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Saturday Feb. 11, 2023. Missouri defeated Tennessee in the final second of the game, 86-85.
Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK | Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello during an NCAA college basketball game between the Missouri Tigers and the Tennessee Volunteers in Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Saturday Feb. 11, 2023. Missouri defeated Tennessee in the final second of the game, 86-85.

Rick Barnes still had the picture in his mind Friday afternoon. Former Tennessee Baseball coach Tony Vitello showing up at Food City Center for a big game, wearing an orange shirt with Zakai Zeigler’s No. 5 on both the front and back. 

“I loved his enthusiasm,” Barnes said before Tennessee’s preseason practice at Pratt Pavilion. “I love him.”

From his courtside seat Vitello was known to exchange a high five with the former Tennessee Basketball point guard or hug him on the court after a big win, even before Zeigler knew who he was.

“After the game, I hugged him and I did not know that was him,” Zeigler said after helping Tennessee upset No. 3 Auburn in 2022. “Everybody was telling me you know that was the baseball coach, right? I was like, oh man I just gave him a hug. I didn’t know who he was.”

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Zeigler returned the favor, too, showing up to a postgame press conference during his freshman season in an orange Tennessee baseball shirt, with Vitello’s name and No. 22 on the back.

“Everyone fell in love with him,” Barnes said, “because everyone loves a guy that comes in and goes about his business the way he did to build a championship team and program.”

The Tony Vitello era in Knoxville ended Wednesday, when he was hired away to be the next manager of the San Francisco Giants. 

In eight seasons, Vitello brought the Tennessee baseball program back to life, taking the Vols from the bottom of the SEC to two league championships, three College World Series appearances and the 2024 College World Series national championship. 

“I’m going to really miss him,” Barnes said. “And he did one of the great building jobs. I mean, what he did here in a short time to turn this program around and take it to a national championship.”

‘I think we all look at what Tony did and you applaud him. It’s incredible.’

Vitello’s hiring with the Giants made him the first college baseball coach to become an MLB manager without any previous coaching experience in professional baseball. 

“I hope he wins a World Series, I do,” Barnes said. “I’d love to see him do that. Obviously, he’ll be missed because he came in here and did what he was hired to do and put himself in position — a professional franchise thought it was worth taking him as a first collegiate coach to ever do that.”

Where Vitello is, Barnes added, is where he was always meant to be. 

“You guys know how I always feel like God has a plan for all of us and His plan that this is where Tony is right now,” Barnes said. “But I think we all look at what Tony did and you applaud him. It’s incredible.”