Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello updated his definition of success Saturday morning, after winning the national championship on June 24 over Texas A&M at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Vitello had dismissed Omaha somewhat when a fair question ticked him off following an upset loss by his No. 1 seeded Vols to Evansville in the Super Regional to force a decisive third game to reach Omaha. He also discussed the meaning of success.
“Omaha’s real fun to go to,” Vitello said at the time. “If you don’t play that well, it ain’t that fun. But I don’t really give a damn to be honest with you. So, at the end of the day, success for me in Omaha will be where Father’s Day is for me. If it’s not in Omaha, I would recommend Cabo, Ibiza or Talan. I’ll be there at some point.”
On Saturday, ESPN Radio’s Marty Smith asked Vitello, “How deeply did you need this championship personally for any sort of validation of your life’s work?,” on the Marty & McGee show.
“Yeah, it’s an interesting question, because I have reflected on it a bunch. You know I went on some rant,” Vitello said, referencing his comments after the Evansville loss. “I tend to black out during those interviews. I went on a rant.”
Vitello sounded bitter in that rant as the question referenced No. 1 seed Tennessee losing the Super Regional to Notre Dame in 2022 after spending virtually all season at No. 1, winning the Southeastern Conference easily at 25-5, and finishing 57-9. He also went 1-4 in his two previous trips to Omaha with Tennessee in 2021 and ’23.
Tony Vitello Puts Success In Perspective
He put it all in perspective on Saturday as a national champion.
“The one thing I have reflected on is you hate to be at the end of your career and chasing a ghost,” Vitello said. “So, there’s some levity kind of knowing it’s in your back pocket.”
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And at only 45, who knows how many more Vitello, whom Texas A&M just tried to hire, and the Vols could win?
Vitello, though, still believes there are many coaches who will not win a national championship who will still remain “successful” in every sense of the word.
“There are coaches out there who have worked just as hard, and they’re definitely smarter than me,” he said. “But they’re not at a school (like Tennessee) where they have the resources to put themselves in a position to do that stuff. So, I think you’ve got to be careful when you say, ‘Hey Charles Barkley never won a title, or the Jazz didn’t.’ There are certain circumstances. Well, Michael Jordan was in Karl Malone’s and John Stockton’s way.”
It is nearly two weeks after the title for Vitello, and he still hasn’t digested it completely.
“I’ve got to be honest,” he said. “The whole thing hasn’t even sunk in. I just keep having little flashbacks. It’s amazing how many good people and things were in place. And there’s a weird balance of, ‘Well, we should’ve won.’ But Florida State or Evansville could’ve beat us.”
And national title or not, the chase continues.
“If you’ve got a portal guy out there and you like,” Vitello told Smith and Ryan McGee as he signed off, “you can just text me.”
