University of Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello has emerged as the favorite for the San Francisco Giants' managerial job, and a resolution on a potential deal is expected in the next 24 to 72 hours, sources told ESPN on Saturday, confirming multiple reports.
If the sides reach an agreement on a contract, Vitello would become the first manager in Major League history to jump directly from a college program to the Major Leagues without experience in a professional organization.
Vitello, 47, led Tennessee to a College World Series title in 2024 and is considered one of the best coaches in college baseball. He would replace Bob Melvin, who was fired on September 29 after an 81-81 season, the Giants' fourth consecutive season without a playoff berth.
San Francisco president of baseball operations Buster Posey has considered several managerial candidates, including former Giants catcher Nick Hundley and a pair of other former major league catchers, Kurt Suzuki and Vance Wilson. Instead, the Giants have focused their interest on Vitello, who has distinguished himself as one of the country's top recruiters and talent developers during a two-decade career as a college assistant and head coach.
His contract buyout in Tennessee is $3 million, the same as his annual salary, sources said.
The move from college baseball to professional baseball is rare, although unprecedented. Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy spent 25 years coaching in college before joining the San Diego Padres, with whom he managed in the minor leagues. Murphy then spent eight years as the Brewers' bench coach before taking over as manager in 2024, when he was named National League Manager of the Year.
Vitello's transition to the major leagues would occur at a much faster pace. He would inherit a Giants team competing in a crowded National League West, with the division-winning Los Angeles Dodgers clinching a berth in the World Series on Friday night. San Francisco returns a core of first baseman Rafael Devers, shortstop Willy Adames and third baseman Matt Chapman, and is expected to be active in free agency this winter, sources said.
After more than 10 years as an assistant coach at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas, Vitello took over a moribund Tennessee program before the 2018 season and posted a 341-131 record, advancing to the College World Series in 2021, 2023 and 2024. With a pair of eventual first-round picks and four second-round picks, Tennessee beat Texas A&M to win the school's first national baseball championship in 2024.
Vitello, whose boisterous personality endeared him to Tennessee and upset other SEC schools, would enter a different realm in the MLB. While college jobs are often defined by the success of recruiting classes, Major League Baseball teams are built by baseball operations departments, and the manager is depended on for clubhouse cohesion, in-game decision making, use of the bullpen and daily interactions with the media.
MLB teams' reluctance to look to the college ranks for managers is long established and runs counter to the hiring practices of other professional sports leagues. NFL teams have regularly selected head coaches from the college ranks, and in the NBA, there is no stigma associated with college coaches. The closest facsimile to Vitello's hiring was in 2019, when pitching coach Wes Johnson left the University of Arkansas to take on the same role with the Minnesota Twins. Johnson left the Twins in 2022 to accept the pitching coach position at LSU before joining Georgia as its head coach a year later.
Vitello's philosophies on the game and personality intrigued Posey and aligned with what the future Hall of Famer hopes to build in San Francisco, sources said. In an interview with ESPN in June, Vitello said his reputation as a troublemaker didn't bother him and he had no plans to change his coaching approach, which required pushing boundaries.
“I think you don't know where the line is until you cross it. And then you make an adjustment,” Vitello said. “I don't want our guys, if you give them a coloring book, I don't want them to just color within the lines. You know, come up with something different.”
