Why a lot of people want a former TCU assistant to thrive with the SF Giants
Tony Vitello had no choice but to take the job, but in doing so the former TCU assistant baseball coach created a daily headline that affects far more than just the San Francisco Giants.
Everything Vitello does — from the lineup to pitching changes to the way he wears his Giants hat — is scrutinized and criticized unlike any other manager in Major League Baseball. Expect it to be this way until it works, or it doesn’t.
The Giants are irrelevant, but Vitello makes them interesting, which currently is not ideal.
Vitello was an assistant under head coach Jim Schlossnagle at TCU from 2011 to 2013.
After 2013, Vitello was an assistant at Arkansas through 2017, and then he became the head coach at Tennessee through 2025 where he built a national-title winning team that was an annual top program. Vitello was a former college baseball player with no pro experience on any level; he was a great recruiter, and successful college baseball coach on the Skip Bertman path of lifelong security coaching in the SEC.
Now Vitello is the “idiot” manager of the Giants trying something unheard of in major league baseball; making the jump straight from the NCAAs to the bigs as a manager.
Giants president of baseball operations Buster Pose wanted something off-the-grid different after the team fired manager Bob Melvin. So far, “Not great, Bob! The Giants are 17-24, second-to-last in the National League West.
Vitello has already lost more games this season than he has since his first year at Tennessee, when the team finished 29-27.
Why the University of Texas is following Tony Vitello
Vitello was at Tennessee when the Vols came back to defeat Texas A&M to win the final two games of the 2024 College World Series, which kept Vitello’s old boss from winning his first national title.
Schlossnagle went to the University Texas the next day.
Schloss’ has many former assistants who have gone on to do well in other jobs, but Vitello in San Francisco is a situation he is closely monitoring for this reason:
“I am keeping a close eye on him because I think it’s great for college baseball,” Schlossnagle told the Star-Telegram. “I am rooting for Tony, and I think what he’s doing should be the type of opportunity that should be more available in our sport.
“It is for football, and it is for basketball, but it’s never been for baseball.”
If Vitello’s tenure works in San Francisco, it will create opportunities for coaches at high profile jobs in college to be considered for a big-league job.
For the record, Schloss is not looking to go to the big leagues.
“For me personally there was a time in my life going to the Major League level as a coach was interesting, but I do like very much being on campus. I enjoy recruiting, and at that this point in my life and career I don’t think a job in the Major Leagues fits,” Schlossnagle said. “You never want to say ‘never’ necessarily to anything, but I just think that’s not something I would consider any more.”
History is not with the Giants and Tony Vitello
Football is loaded with examples of coaches who went straight from the NCAA to the NFL: Jimmy Johnson, Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, Matt Rhule, Nick Saban and on and on. Jimmy is the best example of the coach whose success in college translated to the NFL.
The NBA and NHL have their own sets of case studies, with varying success.
The Dallas Stars hired Jim Montgomery straight out of the University of Denver in 2018, and he was doing fine until off-ice issues led to his firing less than two years into the job.
Rick Pitino, Billy Donovan, Brad Stevens, Fred Hoiberg, John Calipari, Tim Floyd, Lon Kruger, Mike Montgomery, Leonard Hamilton all left college to try the NBA, and most flopped.
Brad Stevens is the outlier. The norm is Tim Floyd. The Spurs famously hired former UNLV and Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian in 1992, and that lasted 20 games.
MLB’s closest example is when the Yankees hired Dick Howser in 1980, after he spent the previous season at Florida State. But Howser had been a long-time Yankees assistant, and also enjoyed a pro playing career.
Most of these guys bomb because the team they go to is desperate, the roster is bad, and they aren’t given enough time.
Most of these guys bomb because they can’t get used to the losing.
Most of these guys bomb because they aren’t coaching a 20-year-old but rather a 28-year-old who has the power in the relationship, who is dealing with an array of responsibilities that have nothing to do with school and who often knows more about the pro game than the head coach.
It’s too early to determine exactly where Tony Vitello fits on this spectrum, but it helps that the Giants paid his $3 million buyout at Tennessee on top of a $3.5 million salary. That kind of money will buy him time.
All of college baseball is watching.
