Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello is finalizing a deal to become the next head coach of the San Francisco Giants, according to ESPN Major League Baseball reporter Jeff Passan.
Vitello will become the first college baseball head coach to be hired as an MLB manager with no professional managing experience. The head coach had been at the helm of the Tennessee Volunteers for the past eight seasons. He led them to the 2024 national championship.
In 2025, Tennessee finished the season 46-19 overall. They were also 16-14 in Southeastern Conference play.
According to USA Today Major League Baseball writer Bob Nightengale, Vitello will make in excess of his $3 million annual contract at Tennessee. Nightengale also stated that Vitello will receive the highest contract in MLB history for a first-year manager.
In 2025, the San Francisco Giants finished the season 81-81. They were 161-163 in two seasons under Melvin and missed the postseason for the fourth-straight year.
With Vitello heading to San Francisco, the Volunteers need a head coach to fill the vacant spot. An immediate fit for the head coach spot would be associate head coach Josh Elander.
He is also the recruiting coordinator for Tennessee. This means he has helped put together multiple elite recruiting classes that elevated the Tennessee program. The Volunteers could maintain their recruiting prowess with Elander at the helm. Elander has been on the Tennessee coaching staff since 2017, the entirety of Vitello’s tenure in Knoxville.
With baseball culture the Volunteers have built over the past eight years, it would make sense to initially look internally for the next coach. This would likely make Elander the top potential candidate to replace Vitello.
University of Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White has named Volunteers’ pitching coach Frank Anderson as the interim head coach.
This announcement came during a press conference following the news of head coach Tony Vitello leaving the Tennessee Volunteers for the San Francisco Giants.
White talked about the decision to go with Anderson as the interim head coach.
“There is a combination of factors,” White stated. “Frank [Anderson] has been a head coach.”
“I need him to be a shepherd and a day-to-day leader for our team.”
Anderson has been on the Tennessee baseball staff since 2017. That is the same amount of time as Vitello’s tenure in Knoxville.
He has been in the college coaching business since 1984, when he was at Emporia State in Kansas also as an assistant coach.
During his career, Anderson has also made assistant coaching stops at Texas Tech, Texas, and Houston.
The previous head coaching experience White referred to with Anderson came from 2004 through 2012. During this time, the new Tennessee Interim coach was the head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Anderson led the Cowboys to 329 wins, six NCAA Tournament appearances, and a super regional appearance in 2007. He also led Oklahoma State to the Big 12 Tournament title in 2004.
Anderson’s pitching development at Tennessee has been great. He has helped 25 pitchers get drafted to Major League Baseball in eight seasons in Knoxville. The Volunteers have also finished in the top 20 nationally in ERA, WHIP, and strikeout-to-walk ratio in each of the past seven seasons.
NCAA News: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
PHOTO: Tennessee coach Tony Vitello, left, cheers on his players in the fifth inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Southern Mississippi, Sunday, June 11, 2023, in Hattiesburg, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
