The Tony Vitello era of Tennessee baseball is seven years old now. And it’s aging better than anyone could have imagined when Vitello assembled his first team in 2018.
Look at all he has crammed into his first seven seasons: three College World Series appearances, including the 2024 national championship; three 50-or-more win seasons; four NCAA Super Regionals; 42 wins per year that have left him only five victories short of 300.
Vitello is only 46 years old and on schedule to hit the 300-win mark in the first month of his eighth season as a head coach. Those five wins should come quickly after the Vols open their 2025 season Feb. 14 with a three-game series against Hofstra. A game against UNC Asheville will follow, and then a weekend series against Samford.
That should get Vitello to 300, possibly with a couple of wins to spare. But if Vitello had authored his success story, it might have unfolded at a slower pace.
“If you had wanted to write the perfect storybook season, (the championship) would have come when we were in a new facility (and renovation was complete), when we had more fans and everything was peaking,” he said. “I’m still relatively young at my job.”
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But even the most prepared coaches can’t always pinpoint the timing of storybook seasons. So, Vitello enters his eighth season as the coach in college baseball. Never mind all his success. You shouldn’t assume his program has peaked.
His vantage point is different, though. A Tennessee baseball program once buried near the bottom of the talent-laden SEC now looms above the field.
The obvious question: How long can the Vols maintain that lofty view in an ultra-competitive conference in which most schools rise and fall dramatically from one season to the next?
Don’t ignore the obvious: Vitello’s program has so much going for it.
Relentless recruiting – whether at the high school level or in the transfer portal – is one factor. I can’t imagine Vitello becoming complacent no matter how crowded UT’s trophy case might become. He’s just not wired that way.
Staff continuity is another plus. Vitello’s staff doesn’t just know what it takes to win. It knows what is required to win championships.
While the staff remains intact, that doesn’t mean it’s stagnant.
“We’re trying to evolve with the rules,” Vitello said. “We want to make sure we’re attacking things as aggressively as possible.’’
His attack plan segued into an NIL discussion. No one can doubt Tennessee has good NIL support. But a program always can use more.
“I think we could be in the top three,” Vitello said when questioned about Tennessee’s potential in the NIL market.
However, the Vols aren’t there yet, perhaps just shy of the top five now, according to Vitello.
Don’t get the wrong idea. He’s not complaining. He cherishes the support his program has received. But just as a coach seeks to bolster his every-day lineup or deepen the quality of his pitching staff, he must pursue every other edge as well.
“You’ve got some oil-money schools, and some schools were more aggressive right out of the chute (with their NIL deals),” he said.
Tennessee has other factors in its favor, though. Its fans love winning. And those same fans love their baseball coach.
If you were going to invest NIL money in any UT program, baseball would be the best choice. Other programs are winning now. But they’re not winning national championships.
Something else about Vols fans: They’re as competitive as any in the country. Their stunning turnout at Ohio Stadium for UT’s first-round College Football Playoff game against the Buckeyes in December was a great example of that.
So, my best guess is Tennessee fans will do whatever it takes to keep their program competing at the highest level. Vitello and his staff will do the rest.
And one storybook season could lead to others.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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