Tennessee coach Tony Vitello is finalizing a deal to become the next manager of the San Francisco Giants, sources tell ESPN, marking the first time a big league team has plucked a manager directly from a college program without any experience as a professional coach, sources told ESPN.
Following days of negotiations in which Vitello considered staying at Tennessee, where he won the Men’s College World Series in 2024, a deal is on the verge of being finalized between the two sides. He will replace Bob Melvin, who was fired Sept. 29 following an 81-81 season, the Giants’ fourth consecutive year without a playoff berth.
While the Giants have yet to officially announce the deal, Tennessee athletic director Danny White issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging Vitello’s historic move.
“Congratulations to Tony on this incredible opportunity to lead the San Francisco Giants,” White wrote. “We wish him the best as he embarks on this new chapter in his career and thank him for everything he has done to transform Tennessee baseball into a championship program.”
Vitello, 47, was regarded as one of the best coaches in college baseball, a high-energy recruiting wizard who built talent-laden teams and turned around a program that had toiled in mediocrity for decades. He emerged as the Giants’ main target after former San Francisco catcher Nick Hundley withdrew from consideration.
By making Vitello his first managerial hire, San Francisco president of baseball operations Buster Posey is banking on the success at Tennessee translating to the major leagues. Chosen over former Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and two other former big league catchers interviewed by the Giants — Kurt Suzuki and Vance Wilson — Vitello distinguished himself as one of the preeminent coaches in the country during a two-decade career as an assistant and head coach in college, enough so that the Giants were willing to pay the $3 million buyout on his contract, sources said.
The closest facsimile to Vitello would be Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who spent 25 years coaching in college before joining the San Diego Padres as a minor league manager. Murphy then spent eight years as 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 come at a far more rapid pace. Outside of a first-place NL West finish 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 seen by evaluators as a less-talented team than San Diego and Arizona as well. San Francisco’s core of first baseman Rafael Devers, shortstop Willy Adames and third baseman Matt Chapman is solid — and could be strengthened this winter via free agent spending, according to sources.
Following 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, advancing to the Men’s College World Series in 2021, 2023 and 2024. With a pair of eventual first-round draft picks and four second-rounders, Tennessee beat Texas A&M to win the school’s first baseball national championship last year.
Vitello, whose boisterous personality endeared him at Tennessee and chafed other SEC schools, would enter an entirely different realm in MLB. Whereas college jobs are often defined by the success of recruiting classes, major league teams are constructed by baseball-operations departments with the manager relied upon for clubhouse cohesion, in-game decision-making, bullpen usage and daily media interactions.
The reticence of MLB teams to dip into the college ranks for managers is long established and has run counter to the hiring practices of other professional sports leagues. NFL teams have regularly plucked 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 coaches from college 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 its head coach prior to the 2024 season.
Vitello’s philosophies on the game and personality, sources said, intrigued Posey and aligned with what the future Hall of Famer hopes to build in San Francisco. In an interview with ESPN in June, Vitello said his reputation as a rabble-rouser did not bother him and that he had no plans to change his approach to coaching, which called for pushing boundaries.
“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 just coloring inside the lines. You know, come up with something different.”
