During the middle of last football season, a shocking story in college baseball happened. Tony Vitello, who made Tennessee a powerhouse in baseball, winning a national championship in 2024, left Knoxville to become the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
It’s the first time a Major League team has hired a college coach with no prior MLB experience.
Vitello called it a dream come true to coach in the majors and signed a three-year deal with the Giants.
LSU is getting ready to play Tennessee this weekend, so the question was asked when Johnson met with reporters on Wednesday. Would he like to coach in the Major Leagues? Johnson didn’t completely shut the door on that idea.
“Right now, I have zero interest in that at this time, now that’s at time, I haven’t been offered an MLB job, is what I’ll say,” Johnson said. “I’m fully into this. There’s a lot that we need to do to be the best we can be, and I want to be the best program in the country forever.”
Johnson also added that the big leagues are a whole different ball game than college baseball. In the majors, a lot of front offices use analytics to come up with the starting lineup.
Johnson, who is a tactician as a college baseball coach, would be limited in how he can impact the game in the Major Leagues. MLB has banned the shift, no three infielders on one side of the field, and there’s also the three-batter rule, so no pitching changes after just one or two batters in the same inning.
Johnson has said LSU is the best job in college baseball.
So why would he want to leave LSU?
Johnson will turn 49-years-old on April 20th, and since he doesn’t have any other hobbies, he’ll most likely be a coaching lifer. There could be a time down the road when he might want to try something new.
But Johnson wants to win, and he’s already indicated that LSU needs to make more of a financial investment in the LSU program.
In an exclusive interview with Tiger Rag Magazine earlier this year, Johnson made his thoughts known on this topic.
“There are some schools that are all in on baseball. And we need to be one of those schools. We’re not there yet.”
Johnson is likely referring to the revenue-sharing component.
LSU is dispersing $20.5 million to its student-athletes. Seventy-five percent is going to football, 15 percent to men’s basketball, five percent to women’s basketball, and all the other sports share the remaining five percent.
But other schools in the SEC have decided they can’t win in football, so they are spending more revenue share dollars on baseball in the hopes of winning a College World Series.
We keep saying there’s only so much money to go around, but LSU seemingly keeps finding it, so there’s a good chance that Johnson will get what he’s seeking.
But this is a storyline that’s certainly worth watching, especially if Vitello has success in San Francisco and Johnson feels other schools in the SEC have more of a financial advantage in stacking a great roster.
Johnson wants to be the best program in the country, and he won’t settle for anything less.
