Giants hire Tennessee's Vitello as manager, gambling on a college coach with no pro experience

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The San Francisco Giants have hired Tennessee Volunteers coach Tony Vitello as manager for his first pro coaching job.

San Francisco announced the move Wednesday, an unprecedented gamble by president of baseball operations Buster Posey on a coach with no pro experience. The 47-year-old Vitello is making the jump after spending his entire career at the college level.

“Tony is one of the brightest, most innovative and most respected coaches in college baseball today,” Posey said. “Throughout our search, Tony's leadership, competitiveness and commitment to developing players stood out.”

Posey said the Giants look forward to the energy and direction Vitello brings with his passion for baseball aligning with the club's values.

“I'm incredibly honored and grateful for this opportunity,” Vitello said in the Giants' announcement. “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 Giants' faithful proud.”

Vitello has guided the Volunteers to regular success in the Southeastern Conference since being hired in June 2017. That included leading the program to its first NCAA title last year to go with six regional appearances, five NCAA super regional berths and three College World Series trips.

He has had 10 players from Tennessee selected in the first round and 52 Vols overall in MLB's amateur draft. That includes Giants outfielder Drew Gilbert.

Seeking a new voice and direction after the Giants missed the playoffs for a fourth straight year, Posey said he wouldn't rule out anyone in his search for someone with what he called an “obsessive” work ethic and attention to detail.

Posey had also considered his former backup catcher Nick Hundley, who has been working as a special assistant to Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young.

Instead, Posey is taking a route once tapped by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys with Miami Hurricanes coach Jimmy Johnson in 1989. That worked out with Johnson winning two Super Bowl trophies in 1992 and 1993 in a Hall of Fame career.

Posey is striving for stability at manager after so much turnover for the franchise in recent years, including Posey taking over as President of Baseball Operations last fall when Farhan Zaidi was fired.

The Giants dismissed manager Bob Melvin after two years, and Posey quickly ruled out beloved longtime Giants skipper Bruce Bochy as an option to replace him once Bochy parted ways with Texas following a three-year managerial stint.

The Giants finished 81-81 for one more victory than in Melvin’s first year. They haven’t reached the postseason since winning the NL West with a franchise-record 107 victories to edge the rival Dodgers by one game in 2021 under then-skipper Gabe Kapler.

San Francisco is getting a colorful and brash manager in Vitello.

The NCAA suspended Vitello twice during his Tennessee tenure, first for spending too much time arguing a call in 2018. During that two-game suspension, he raised money for charity with a pizza and lemonade stand while the Vols played.

Chest-bumping an umpire in 2022 led to a four-game suspension, and Vitello spent that time working with a Tennessee fraternity offering a chest bump to anyone donating $2 to the Wounded Warriors Project.

Vitello isn’t a stranger to Northern California. In 2002, he was associate head coach of the Salinas Packers in the California Collegiate League. The team went 50-14 and reached the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas.

He played three seasons at Missouri as an infielder and began his coaching career there before stints at TCU and Arkansas, the last where he was hitting coach.

A native of St. Louis, Vitello went 341–131 at Tennessee. In his second season in 2019, he led the Vols to their first NCAA berth since 2005. Vitello then led the Vols to their first national title in baseball, winning the 2024 College World Series.

Tennessee has reached the College World Series three times with Vitello. He has two Southeastern Conference regular-season titles and a pair of SEC Tournament titles, the last in 2024. Tennessee is finishing up an expansion and renovation of the baseball stadium to meet interest in the program.

Vitello was earning $3 million a year and signed a five-year extension in 2024 that includes a $3 million buyout.

The Tennessee athletic director Danny White congratulated Vitello on the job and said university officials are focused on players and the coaching staff in an “evolving process” while they finalize the next steps.

“We are committed to continuously investing in the program at a championship level across all areas,” White said. “Furthermore, the upcoming $109 million renovation of Lindsey Nelson Stadium will transform it into one of the premier baseball venues.”

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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb