OMAHA, Neb. — Tony Vitello sprinted onto the field looking for anyone to hug. He cussed in his postgame interview on ESPN. He ran and jumped into the crowd to celebrate the first National Championship in Tennessee baseball history.
Vitello showed the emotion and brashness that have made so many hate him. But that mindset helped him turn a laughing stock into a power that stands alone atop college baseball. He doesn’t care what others think about it and nor do his players.
“He is so fiery and other teams may not like it but it fires us up and it gets us passionate,” Tennessee junior pitcher Drew Beam said postgame. “He has so much passion for us and it makes us want to play hard. Other teams, other fans can say what they want but when you have a coach that puts everything on the line for you and willing to fight a war for you it just makes you play that much harder and want it that much more.”
Tennessee’s seventh year head coach’s fire helped him resurrect the Vols program, but it wasn’t the only way he did it.
Vitello jumped into a hug with his assistant coaches when Aaron Combs struck out Ted Burton for the final out of the season.
It’s a coaching staff that has stayed mostly intact during Vitello’s tenure. Pitching coach Frank Anderson and associate head coach Josh Elander were on Vitello’s original staff. Strength coach Quentin Eberhardt was too before leaving for a job in Major League Baseball for just six months before returning to Knoxville. Assistant coach Richard Jackson played on Vitello’s first two teams at Tennessee.
