Tony Vitello’s Stunning MLB Jump Comes With $3M Tennessee Buyout

The San Francisco Giants have tapped Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello to become their next manager, the team announced Wednesday, marking an unprecedented hire for a college coach with zero major league experience.

While more common in some sports like men’s and women’s basketball, hiring a coach straight from college to the pros is nearly unheard of in baseball.

It only happened once before for Dick Howser in 1979 and 1980 moving from Florida State to manager of the New York Yankees, but Howser had spent a decade as the Yankees third base coach before he got the job in Tallahassee. Vitello hasn’t spent any time on the major league level as a player or coach.

Vitello, 47, certainly has coaching chops. Since taking over at Tennessee in 2019, he’s brought the team to five NCAA super regionals and three the College World Series, and won the NCAA championship in 2024. Several of his former players at Tennessee are already in the Giants organization, most notably the team’s first-round pick in this year’s draft, Gavin Kilen, as well as Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, and Maui Ahuna.

Vitello is going to receive a raise from his $3.3 million annual salary with Tennessee, On3 reported. He will receive the highest contract ever for a first-year manager in MLB, earning more than $3 million annually, according to USA Today. In addition to Vitello’s salary, the major league club is both paying out his $3 million buyout to Tennessee and the $4 million it owes in 2026 to its previous manager, Bob Melvin.

Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey acquired a coach with plenty of personality. Vitello has twice been suspended by the NCAA—for arguing over a call too long and for chest-bumping an umpire—and spent his time away running a lemonade stand and offering chest bumps for charity.

Vitello recently joined a podcast with Youth.inc hosted by Greg Olsen, and in an episode published Tuesday, spoke of the issues in the baseball pipeline. He recounted a conversation he had with an unnamed GM when he went to see Gilbert play for the Giants.

“We both talked, I think everyone’s suffering the consequences all the way up to the big leagues where guys are super skilled, but there’s less development, less coaching, less accountability, and therefore less understanding of how to actually play the game to win,” Vitello said. “And it starts all the way, trickle-down effect.”

Former Tennessee baseball players quickly began posting on social media in support of hitting coach Josh Elander to become the next head coach in Knoxville. 

Tennessee athletic director Danny White released a statement Wednesday congratulating Vitello and thanking him “for everything he has done to transform Tennessee baseball into a championship program.” The program is in the middle of a $109 million stadium renovation.