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Tony Vitello
Anthony Gregory "Tony" Vitello (born October 9, 1978) is an American college baseball head coach and former infielder.[1] Vitello has been the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers baseball team since June 7, 2017.[2] Since taking over as head coach, Vitello has led Tennessee back to national prominence and has helped establish Tennessee baseball as an SEC and national power.[1] Vitello's teams have made five NCAA regionals (2019, 2021–2024), four NCAA super regionals (2021–2024), and three College World Series appearances (2021, 2023, 2024), winning the College World Series National Championship in 2024 over Texas A&M for the Volunteers’ first-ever national title.[3][4][5] Early life and educationA native of St. Louis, Missouri, Vitello attended De Smet High School, where his father Greg was a hall-of-fame soccer and baseball coach for 46 years and won soccer titles in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2011, in addition to a baseball state championship in 2000.[6][7] Tony played both sports for his father and was on the state-champion soccer team in 1997.[8] After high school, Vitello attended Spring Hill College, a Division II school in Mobile, Alabama, for a year before transferring to the University of Missouri.[9] He was a three-year letter-winner for the Missouri Tigers baseball team (2000–02) under head coach Tim Jamieson,[9] where he earned Academic All-Big 12 Conference honors as a senior and was named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll twice. Coaching careerAssistant coach (2002–2017)Following his playing career and the completion of his management degree at Mizzou, Vitello served as the associate head coach for the Salinas Packers of the California Collegiate League in 2002.[10] The Packers finished 50–14 and earned their first trip to the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kansas.[1] Then, Vitello joined the Missouri coaching staff as a volunteer assistant in 2003 and completed his coursework for his master's degree in business. In 2004, he was elevated to full-time assistant coach.[1] During his eight years at Mizzou, the Tigers were a member of the Big 12 Conference and made the postseason seven times. He served as the pitching coach, worked with the team's hitters, and served as the first base coach. Vitello's 2008 Missouri recruiting class was ranked No. 11 nationally by Baseball America, and he had top-25 recruiting classes in three of his final four years in Columbia.[1][2] In 2011, he joined Jim Schlossnagle's staff for the TCU Horned Frogs, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at TCU (which was a member of the Mountain West in his first season [2011] before joining the Big 12).[1] In his three years at TCU, Vitello lured some of the top players in the country to Fort Worth and helped the Horned Frogs to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances, including a super regional berth in 2012.[2] In 2014, he left TCU for Arkansas, where he became one of the premier assistant coaches in the country and contributed to the Razorbacks becoming one of the most competitive programs in the nation during his four-year tenure. He helped the Razorbacks average nearly 38 wins per year, winning 40 or more games three times, appearing in three NCAA Tournaments, and advancing to the 2015 College World Series.[11][12][13][14][15] In his four years at Arkansas, he coached 22 Razorbacks who were selected in four MLB Drafts.[1] Tennessee (2018–present)On June 7, 2017, Vitello accepted the head coach position for the Tennessee Volunteers baseball program.[16] In his first season at Tennessee, he led the Volunteers to a five-win improvement in conference play. The next season, Tennessee had its first 40-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005.[1] His third season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, Tennessee's 13–0 start to the season had been the second-best in program history, trailing just the 15–0 start from the previous season.[1] In Vitello's fourth season, the Vols made their fifth appearance in the College World Series (the team's first since 2005) and went 20–10 in conference play to win the SEC Eastern division for the first time since 1997.[17] For his efforts, Vitello was named 2021 National Coach of the Year by NCBWA and Perfect Game.[18][19] The Vols also boasted a program-record five All-Americans and had seven players taken in the 2021 MLB Draft, which was tied for the sixth most of any college team and tied for third-most among SEC programs.[17] During his fifth season in charge of the Tennessee baseball program, Vitello orchestrated one of the best seasons in college baseball history, leading the Volunteers to their first-ever No. 1 national seed and a program-record 57 victories.[17] UT was one win away from making its second consecutive College World Series appearance but fell to Notre Dame in the Knoxville Super Regional.[20] However, the Big Orange won both the SEC Regular Season and SEC Tournament championships for the first time since 1995. Vitello was named the National Coach of the Year by Perfect Game for the second consecutive season.[19] Tennessee set a program record and led all SEC teams with 10 players selected in the 2022 MLB Draft and also set another program record with eight players earning postseason All-America honors.[17] In his sixth season, a strong second-half surge propelled Tennessee to another successful season in 2023, as the Volunteers reached the College World Series for the second time in three years.[21] The Vols were eliminated in the second round, with both losses coming to LSU.[22][23] Tennessee had eight players, including a program-record six pitchers, selected in the 2023 MLB Draft and also had two players earn All-America honors in pitchers Andrew Lindsey and AJ Russell.[17] Vitello's seventh season continued the momentum from the previous season, as the Vols again won the SEC Regular Season and SEC Tournament championships and earned the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons.[24] Unlike 2022, however, the 2024 team defeated Evansville in the Knoxville Super Regional to reach their third College World Series appearance in four seasons.[25] After a walk-off 12–11 victory against Florida State in the first round,[26] the Volunteers defeated North Carolina 6–1 to start 2–0 in Omaha for the first time in school history.[27] This success continued in a 7–2 second win against Florida State to secure a berth in the championship series.[28] Vitello led the Volunteers to a National Championship, winning in three games over Texas A&M.[29] Following the season, Vitello was named the ABCA National Coach of the Year.[30] Head coaching record
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