5:15 p.m.: Vitello’s contract is for three years and will pay him $3.5 million per season, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Standard. The pact also includes a vesting option for a fourth year.
2:11 p.m.: The Giants announced the hiring of Vitello via a press release, and the introductory press conference will take place on October 30.
1:06 p.m.: The Giants have not yet officially announced the hiring, but Tennessee athletic director Danny White released a statement praising Vitello for his work and thanking him for his contributions to the Volunteer program.
12:01 p.m.: The Giants and University of Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello have reached a deal that will see Vitello become San Francisco’s new manager, according to Jacob Rudner of Baseball America. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal reported Saturday that Vitello and the Giants were close to reaching an agreement, with ESPN’s Jeff Passan adding that a decision either way would come within 24 to 72 hours.
As it turned out, it took about an extra day to completely finalize the deal, but the bottom line is that the Giants have now made one of the most exciting managerial hires in baseball history. In recent years, several MLB teams have sought to hire coaches from the college ranks or other backgrounds with little or no professional experience, and some past or current managers have gotten their jobs with little or no coaching or management experience. However, Vitello is a unique case of a longtime collegiate coach turning to professional baseball with no history as a player, coach or manager in the major or minor leagues.
That’s not to say Vitello doesn’t have a decorated resume, as the 47-year-old is one of the most successful NCAA coaches of the last decade. Since Vitello was hired by Tennessee in June 2017, the program won its first national baseball title in 2024 and made two more trips to the College World Series in 2021 and 2023. The Volunteers also won SEC regular season and tournament crowns in the 2022 and 2024 seasons. Before coming to Tennessee, Vitello was an assistant coach for baseball at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas from 2003 to 2017.
Several former players of Vitello (including that of Missouri Max Scherzer) have reached the major leagues, and 10 Tennessee players have been taken in the first round since Vitello took over the program. The Giants have four former Tennessee players – Dr.Gilbert, Tidwell Blade, Maui Ahunaand first round of 2025 Gavin Kilen — in their organization, which undoubtedly helped forge a bond between Vitello and the Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey.
Vitello is the first manager Posey hired since he took the PBO job a year ago, as Bob Melvin was a holdover from the days when Farhan Zaidi was in charge of San Francisco’s front office. Melvin had only been in the position for one season, and after following that 80-82 campaign with an 81-81 mark in 2025, the Giants opted to fire Melvin once the 2025 campaign was over. This decision was made despite the Giants having exercised their 2026 club option on Melvin on July 1, but the team’s inconsistent play over the past three months convinced Posey that a change needed to be made.
Although Melvin’s time in San Francisco was uneventful, it will be fascinating to see how the team and organization as a whole adjust from a lifetime Major League player (and three-time Manager of the Year winner) like Melvin to Vitello in his first foray into professional baseball. That said, Vitello has a somewhat old-school approach himself, with an emphasis on fundamentals and competitiveness.
During a recent appearance on a Youth.inc podcast (hats off to Baggarly for the partial transcription), Vitello said: “I think everyone suffers the consequences all the way to the major leagues where guys are super talented, but there’s less development, less training, less responsibility and therefore less understanding of how to play the game to win. And it starts until the end, trickle down effect.”
As Baggarly notes, Posey shared similar criticisms of players, which may explain why Vitello has become a more attractive managerial candidate in the eyes of the PBO. It’s also worth noting that Vitello may not have been Posey’s initial first choice, as early reports referenced the former Giants receiver. Nick Hundley as favorite for the manager position. Hundley withdrew his name, apparently due to concerns about the day-to-day impact of major league management on his family.
Of all the names publicly linked to the Giants’ search, former Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde was the only one with big league management experience. Other known candidates included the Royals’ third base coach. Vance Wilson and two former players from Hundley and Kurt Suzuki (who was just hired yesterday as the new manager of the Angels) who had no coaching/management experience in the majors or minors. Clearly, a traditional manager’s resume wasn’t a key priority for Posey in evaluating his choices, even if Vitello is a step beyond.
Managing a major league team and coaching a college team are very different animals, not to mention the gap between coaching students and overseeing a club of well-paid veteran professionals. That said, Vitello is recognized as a leader and motivator. As detailed in Baggarly’s article, players as important as Scherzer and Angels reliever Ben Joyce (a Tennessee product) spoke highly of Vitello and believes he will be successful running the Show.
With Vitello now in San Francisco, the Giants join the Angels (Suzuki) and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) as clubs who have now removed themselves from a very busy managerial carousel. The Twins, Orioles, Padres, Nationals, Rockies and Braves all remain teams still looking for a new dugout boss.
Inset photo, courtesy of Brianna Paciorka — Imagn Images
