Tony Vitello: 'This is the perfect team to have won'

Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska was painted orange and white the night of June 24th after the Tennessee Volunteers won their first-ever college baseball National Championship.

In an all-SEC College World Series Championship, the Volunteers, after losing game one, rallied to win games two and three over the Texas A&M Aggies to capture their first title in program history.

"This is the perfect team to have won," head coach Tony Vitello said in a post-game press conference. "They were so close in the definition of unity and my wish came true."

After taking over the program in 2018, Vitello made sure he wasn't building his coaching staff with just the best names in the sports, but with the self-made guys. With a clean slate, Vitello wanted to build the Tennessee program as one with unity and a team that played together and for each other.

Clearly, Vitello has made an impact on the program at Tennessee and in his player's lives as even in the post-game press conference, his players were advocating to athletic director Danny White for a monster contract.

"I couldn't be happier for this program and the way it's been built," Zander Sechrist said. "I see Danny White back there, so I'm gonna put it out there, I hope there is a lifetime contract coming soon for coach Vitello."

Success is rarely ever immediate, it takes time to build a program. Tennessee had made it to the Men's College World Series and went 0-2 getting eliminated early in 2021. Then in 2022 they were the No. 1 national seed and lost in the Super Regional. They took steps forward in 2023 winning one game in the MCWS, but this year was their time.

Being at Tennessee where so many of their athletic programs are and have been very successful, it only seemed fitting that baseball was next.

"Coach Heupal and Coach Barnes, their sports are the same, it was so good to see them, you have to lean on other people to survive this thing because it is a monster and the traditions are so deep," Vitello said. "We were in a place where we had to build a foundation to catch up with some of these other storied programs."

So it seems as though Vitello is going to enjoy this moment with his team, but he isn't done and wants to continue to build this program.