Tennessee is in search of a head baseball coach following Tony Vitello’s historic departure for the San Francisco Giants.
Vols athletics director Danny White named pitching coach Frank Anderson the interim head coach Wednesday following Vitello’s decision. White maintained, however, that he would “conduct a national search” to find the Vols’ next head coach.
“Expect a ton of interest because of what Tony and his staff and our fan base and everyone has built here,” White said during a press conference. “I think it’s an extremely attractive position. Obviously a little bit unique time of year. I’m going to work as fast as I can to get through this process and eliminate the uncertainty that our players are feeling right now as quickly as possible. We have a lot of talent here and I expect to have an extremely competitive baseball team this spring.”
White shared that he is using Parker Executive Search to assist in the coaching search. It’s the same search firm that White has used to conduct previous coaching searches. They had already begun working on the logistics of the search as White knew this was a possibility for a while.
The Vols’ fourth-year athletic director was asked if he intends to have a permanent head coach in place by opening day in February. It would prevent Anderson from having to operate as the interim throughout the season. White didn’t want to set an expectation of what’s to come.
“I’m not putting myself in a box with anything right now,” White said. “This is kind of unprecedented to have a coaching transition this time of year. So I don’t know how this plays out.”
GoVols247 is here to help White with his search. Here are 10 potential fits we believe are strong options to replace Vitello.