KNOXVILLE – Tennessee tried its hand with a mid-major success, Todd Raleigh, and a proven national winner, Dave Serrano.
Now the task of making the Volunteers competitive in baseball again belongs to a third category of coach: the young recruiting guru with Southeastern Conference experience.
The university announced Wednesday that Arkansas assistant Tony Vitello has been hired to lead the Vols. Vitello, 38, will be formally introduced by athletic director John Currie at a news conference Friday.
“We are thrilled to bring Coach Vitello’s passion for baseball, relationship building and student-athlete development into the Tennessee athletics family,” Currie said in a news release. “Proven experience evaluating and recruiting at the highest level and in the grind of the SEC was an absolute prerequisite, and Coach Vitello checks all the boxes.”
Vitello will take over a program that has not been to an NCAA regional since 2005. In that time, Vitello has coached in nine NCAA tournaments and the 2015 College World Series while gaining a reputation for attracting and developing talent with three schools. Before going to Arkansas, Vitello was at TCU (2010-13) and Missouri (2002-10).
D1baseball.com ranked Vitello the best recruiting coordinator in the country last year. The St. Louis native and former Missouri player has signed and coached six first-round draft picks during his 14 years as a college assistant. The list includes four-time MLB all-stars Ian Kinsler and Max Scherzer. Recently, he worked with rising Boston Red Sox star Andrew Benintendi at Arkansas.
Vitello was in Knoxville last month when Arkansas and Tennessee split two games in a rain-shortened series. The Razorbacks’ season ended this week with a loss to Missouri State in an NCAA regional.
“This is as good of an opportunity as there is in the country,” Vitello said in the Tennessee release. “I consider myself incredibly blessed to be a part of the athletic department at the University of Tennessee. It’s the ultimate combination of an elite conference, a state school with great in-state players, a phenomenal city and outstanding tradition that exists not just with baseball, but across all sports.
“It’s no coincidence that it’s been a place where so many great coaches have been leaders in their sport. I want to work like crazy to uphold that standard.”
Tennessee struggled to a 7-21 conference record and did not make the SEC tournament this year under Serrano, who resigned after posting a 157-163 record (55-119 SEC) in six seasons. Serrano led UC-Irvine and Cal State Fullerton to College World Series appearances before succeeding Raleigh at Tennessee.
Raleigh posted a 108-113 record (42-78 SEC) while coaching Tennessee from 2008 to ’11 after an eight-year stint as head coach at Western Carolina. Rod Delmonico, who led the Vols from 1990 to 2007, was the last coach to reach an NCAA regional with Tennessee.
Five of the past six SEC baseball coaches hired were previously recruiting coordinators at others schools in the conference, Baseball America reported Wednesday. Vitello interviewed for the head coach’s job at Missouri last year, according to the St. Louis Dispatch, but the Tigers hired Southeast Missouri State coach Steve Bieser instead.
Now, Vitello will get a chance to coach league games against his alma mater, Missouri, and his former boss, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn.
In a statement, Van Horn praised Vitello for his recruiting and his work with Razorbacks hitters and outfielders.
“I’m excited for him, personally and professionally, because I know he has aspired to be a head coach at this type of program,” Van Horn said. “This is great for his career, and I couldn’t be more happy for Tony and his future.”
Currie’s second coaching search as Tennessee’s athletic director – his first ended when he hired men’s tennis coach Chris Woodruff last month – reportedly led him to South Alabama’s Mark Calvi before Vitello was offered the job. On Wednesday, Calvi, a former South Carolina assistant, told AL.com he turned down Tennessee’s offer.
Then on Wednesday morning, Currie tweeted a photo of Vitello wearing an orange golf shirt and signing a contract. The coach received a five-year deal with an average base salary of $493,000, which is $43,000 more than Serrano made. Vitello made $183,412 Arkansas, according to an online database maintained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“Throughout this process it has been inspiring to talk to many of the people who are passionate about Volunteer baseball,” Currie said in the release. “I believe that Coach Vitello is the right person to build our program into a perennial contender and bring championship baseball back to Knoxville.”
Two Chattanooga-area players are signed to play for the Volunteers in 2018.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com