For a moment, it felt like there was a chance, although a small one, that Tennessee baseball fans weren't going to have to say goodbye to Tony Vitello. He was obviously dealing with a tough decision to chase a move to the bigs or stay put in Knoxville.
Rumors are flying Danny White will be to blame if Tony Vitello leaves Tennessee
However, according to Pete Thamel and Jeff Passan, the dream of keeping Tony V on campus is dead. On Wednesday, news has broken that Vitello is making history, becoming the first coach to make the leap from college to take over as manager for an MLB side without any pro experience. That's right, Vitello is accepting the job with the San Francisco Giants:
Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello is finalizing a deal to become the next manager of the San Francisco Giants, sources tell me and @jeffpassan. Vitello, 47, will be the first ever to jump from college coach to MLB manager without any professional experience. pic.twitter.com/A43z7x8ScP
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 22, 2025
Tennessee fans are not happy with Danny White with Tony Vitello leaving for the Giants
Vitello is always going to be a Tennessee legend thanks to him leading the program to the 2024 College Baseball World Series title, the first ever for the program. He was beloved all over town and he was no question an incredible part of the community.
No one can blame him for making the jump to the bigs, as this was probably something he's dreamed about for quite some time. With that said, plenty of people are not happy with athletic director Danny White, with a lot of fans pointing the finger at him.
Throughout the week, reports and rumors have flown stating there have been issues between the two, with Vitello not happy with NIL and revenue sharing opportunities for his team. Vitello was reportedly pushing for more money to be allocated to his program, but White didn't budge.
Instead, the fear is the rift between the two played a big role in Vitello deciding now is the time for him to make the jump from the college game to Major League Baseball. It's not going to be easy for him to help get back the Giants to an elite level, but it's a challenge he's going to want to tackle head on.
As for Tennessee, the hunt for a new head coach will start immediately and the pressure is going to be on White to make a home-run hire (no pun intended). There are some interesting candidates being floated around, but losing Vitello is catastrophic for the Vols. White is surely going to release a statement soon, but he'll do so probably knowing that countless Tennessee supporters could not be more disappointed with him.