In an unprecedented move, the San Francisco Giants have turned to outside-the-box thinking and will hire Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello as their next manager, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Passan.
Vitello’s hire will make history, breaking a barrier to become the first-ever college coach to catapult directly into leading an MLB club without any prior professional baseball experience. There was some deliberation — Vitello had been sitting on the Giants’ offer for a few days, and was still present at Tennessee practices during that span.
Vitello, 47, may be new to professional baseball, but he’s a revered figure in the NCAA ranks, credited with transforming the Tennessee Volunteers into a powerhouse that captured the 2024 College World Series title. Widely viewed as a premier motivator, he’s known for his relentless energy and sharp eye for talent — qualities that have earned him a reputation as one of the game’s elite evaluators.
Though Vitello has spent nearly 25 years coaching at the college level, he’s now poised to face a steep learning curve as he enters a major league dugout for the first time. He’ll be managing a clubhouse full of established veterans with All-Star resumés, and the pace of his work will ramp up dramatically — shifting from a few games per week in college to the relentless grind of a 162-game MLB season.
There’s undeniable risk in the move, but Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey has already built a reputation that eclipses any boldness San Francisco has shown in recent years since his 2025 hiring. Simply put, the organization is making a clear, unapologetic effort to redefine its identity.
The Giants finished in third place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers — attempting to win their second straight World Series title this week — and San Diego Padres.
Unlike the previous staff under Bob Melvin, Posey is expected to have more input on the selection process of Vitello’s coaches. As a first-year manager, it’s important for the staff to have some credibility, and also some relentless obsession in being committed to helping fix some of the Giants’ mistakes they repeatedly made last season.
There’s one existing connection between Vitello and the Giants organization: Drew Gilbert, San Francisco’s energetic young outfielder whom they acquired in a trade for reliever Tyler Rogers at the trade deadline. Before Gilbert was making waves with his borderline-psychotic antics in the dugout, he was playing for Vitello with the Volunteers in college. To this day, Vitello calls him one of his favorite players he’s ever coached.
Former Giants catcher and Posey’s friend Nick Hundley was the front-runner for the position entering the search, but he recently withdrew his consideration due to family reasons.
The Giants have yet to officially announce the hire.
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