Giants name Tennessee’s Tony Vitello as manager in MLB first

After days of negotiations, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello has been named the new manager of the San Francisco Giants, the team announced Wednesday. This is the first time a major league team has hired a manager directly from a college program with no professional coaching experience.

Vitello — who planned to stay at Tennessee, where he won the Men’s College World Series in 2024 — replaces Bob Melvin, who was fired Sept. 29 after an 81-81 season, the Giants’ fourth straight year without a playoff berth.

“I am incredibly honored and grateful for this opportunity,” Vitello said in a statement. “I’m excited to lead this group of players and represent the San Francisco Giants. I can’t wait to get started and work to establish a culture that makes the Giants faithful proud.”

Vitello, 47, was considered one of the best coaches in college baseball, a high-energy recruiting wizard who built talented teams and turned around a program that had struggled in mediocrity for decades. He became the Giants’ top target after former San Francisco wide receiver Nick Hundley opted out.

In making Vitello his first managerial hire, San Francisco president of baseball operations Buster Posey is banking on Vitello’s success in Tennessee to translate to the major leagues. Chosen over former Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and two other former major league catchers interviewed by the Giants – Kurt Suzuki and Vance Wilson – Vitello distinguished himself as one of the nation’s most distinguished coaches during a two-decade career as a college assistant and head coach, enough that the Giants were willing to pay the $3 million buyout of his contract, sources said.

“We are thrilled to welcome Tony to the Giants family,” Posey said in a statement. “Tony is one of the brightest, most innovative and most respected coaches in college baseball today. Throughout our search, Tony’s leadership, competitiveness and commitment to player development stood out. His ability to build strong, cohesive teams and his passion for the game align perfectly with the values ​​of our organization. We look forward to the energy and direction he will bring, as well as the memories to be made, as we focus on the future of Giants baseball. “

The closest facsimile of Vitello would be Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who spent 25 years as a college coach before joining the San Diego Padres as a minor league manager. Murphy then spent eight years as the Brewers’ bench coach before taking over as manager in 2024, when he won National League Manager of the Year.

Vitello’s move to the major leagues will happen at a much faster pace. Outside of a first-place finish in the NL West in 2021, the Giants have finished third or worse in the division every year since 2017. Beyond the dominance of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Giants are also considered by evaluators to be a less talented team than San Diego and Arizona. San Francisco’s core of first baseman Rafael Devers, shortstop Willy Adames and third baseman Matt Chapman is strong — and could be bolstered this winter via free agent spending, sources say.

After more than 10 years as an assistant coach at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas, Vitello took over a moribund Tennessee program before the 2018 season and posted a 341-131 record, qualifying for the Men’s College World Series in 2021, 2023 and 2024. With two possible first-round picks and four second-round picks, the Tennessee defeated Texas A&M to win the school’s first national baseball championship last. year.

Vitello, whose boisterous personality endeared him to Tennessee and irritated other SEC schools, is entering an entirely different realm in MLB. While college jobs are often defined by success in recruiting classes, major league teams are built by baseball operations departments, with the manager responsible for club cohesion, in-game decision-making, bullpen utilization and daily interactions with the media.

Tennessee athletic director Danny White released a statement Wednesday thanking Vitello for elevating the Vols to a “championship program.”

“Congratulations to Tony on this incredible opportunity to lead the San Francisco Giants,” White wrote. “We wish him the best as he begins this new chapter of his career and thank him for everything he has done to transform Tennessee baseball into a championship program.”

The reluctance of MLB teams to tap into the college ranks to recruit managers has long been established and runs counter to the hiring practices of other professional sports leagues. NFL teams routinely recruit head coaches from the college ranks, and in the NBA, there is no stigma associated with college coaches. Major league organizations have been more open to hiring college coaches than managers. Pitching coach Wes Johnson left Arkansas to take the same role with the Minnesota Twins in 2019; he left the Twins three years later to accept the pitching coach job at LSU before joining Georgia as head coach ahead of the 2024 season.

In an interview with ESPN in June, Vitello said his reputation as an agitator didn’t bother him and that he had no plans to change his approach to coaching, which called for pushing the limits.

“I think you don’t know where the line is until you cross it. And then you make an adjustment,” Vitello said. “I don’t want our guys, if they give them a coloring book, I don’t want them to just color inside the lines. You know, come up with something different.”