Memo to University of Tennessee athletic director Danny White: Better get that Brinks truck ready if you expect to keep baseball coach Tony Vitello around for long.
Time to quit paying football coaches not to coach. Time to start paying a baseball coach who can win you a national championship what he's worth, which is assuredly a good deal more than his current annual paycheck of $600,000.
Beyond that, he just might pay for himself in ticket sales, given the crowds of more than 4,000 that jammed Lindsey Nelson Stadium on both Saturday and Sunday to see the Vols sweep LSU in their Super Regional to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2005. And if the stadium had been bigger, there could have been a lot more tickets sold, judging from the hundreds, if not thousands gathered outside LNS watching the games on big screens.
As for that $600,000 being among the lowest salaries in the Southeastern Conference, it's actually worse than that. According to USA Today, a total of six SEC coaches - led by Vanderbilt skipper Tim Corbin's $1.239 million a year - make a cool $1 million or more annually. Heck, LSU's retiring Paul Mainieri was making over $1.2 mil, and look how his final games turned out against Vitello's Vols.
Now, I'd like to have to struggle to get by on $600,000 a year, and you probably would too, but as White hopefully knows, Vitello doesn't have to settle for that kind of pay and won't.
Instead, as soon as the College World Series ends in Omaha in a couple of weeks, Vitello will either have a much more lucrative contract on his desk to remain with the Vols, or he'll be headed elsewhere and the Big Orange will again look like a big bust when it comes to evaluating coaching talent and being willing to pay what it takes to keep it.
As one Texas A&M fan emailed me a few weeks ago: "Vitello to Aggieland? Would look much better in maroon and white than that gawd awful orange."
Alas, A&M has since hired former TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle. But while the idea that UT can be outbid for coaching talent might be fighting words on Rocky Top, the point remains that if you aren't willing to pay to keep excellence, someone else will be more than happy to pay whatever's necessary to lure that excellence away from you.
In fact, as impressive as the Vols' performances were against LSU, they were at least a wee bit muted by Tiger loyalists taking to social media to proclaim they'd soon be hiring the 42-year-old Vitello to replace Mainieri.
Will they? Would some other program?
They will if they can. Money talks. Everything else walks.
Which is why White should call a press conference before Vitello's Vols board the plane to Omaha later this week and announce UT will not only make its baseball coach the SEC's highest paid, but will also guarantee him that he'll forever make at least $1 more per year than any other head coach in the league.
Beyond that, White should also announce that Tennessee will be committing at least $50 million to upgrade Lindsey Nelson Stadium - Mississippi State recently improved its baseball facility to the tune of $55 million - in order to make it a national gem.
Those two commitments will not only give media folks something to talk about each time the Big Orange takes the field at TD Ameritrade Park during the CWS, they will send an overwhelming message to every top recruit in the country that when it comes to its baseball program, Tennessee is determined to provide the very best experience in all areas for its student-athletes.
It's all been enough to cause one UT fan to Tweet during the Super Regional win over LSU: "Can Tony V coach football, too? The seasons wouldn't overlap."
It's a thought. But here's a better one, first brought up by UT Chancellor Donde Plowman in an exclusive interview with Knox News a few weeks ago. Said Plowman: "We are prepared to invest in what it takes to be the top baseball program in the country."
The time for that is now. Today, if possible, before Vitello's Vols leave for Omaha, and certainly before they play their first game there.
To wait much longer than that might be to watch Tony V wind up in LSU purple and gold or some other color scheme far different than UT's - at least in the eyes of the Big Orange Nation - gawd awesome orange.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com