The San Francisco Giants appear to have settled on a new manager, and it is a choice no one saw coming.
The Giants plan to hire University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as their new manager, according to Andrew Baggarly, Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The two sides have not yet finalized a deal, but are said to be “closing in” on the hire.
The decision is a shocker for a number of reasons, including that Vitello had not been linked to this or any other MLB job. The 47-year-old has no experience coaching at the MLB level, and has only managed at the college level since 2018.
Vitello has undoubtedly been successful at Tennessee. He is 341-131 in eight seasons and led the program to a College World Series title in 2024. The jump from college to the pros is a huge one, and there is limited precedent for a college coach moving straight to MLB. However, we have recently seen Brewers manager Pat Murphy have success at the MLB level after spending most of his career previously in college. Maybe that had a role in inspiring the Giants.
The Giants reportedly were drawn to Vitello because of his charisma and magnetism. Giants president Buster Posey was looking for a “big personality” to improve the atmosphere of the clubhouse, and we have seen plenty of evidence of that sort of personality during Vitello’s time at Tennessee. Fans can also expect some memorable ejections from him based on what we have seen at the college level.
Regardless of Vitello’s merits, the Giants are taking a huge risk on a manager who is fundamentally unproven at this level. The fact that he was already quite well-compensated at Tennessee suggests that they’ll be paying him a pretty good sum of money to make the jump, too.
