Frank Anderson has been named the Tennessee baseball interim coach, athletics director Danny White said Oct. 22.

Anderson takes over the post held for eight seasons by Tony Vitello, who was hired as the San Francisco Giants manager on Oct. 22 after putting the Vols among the power programs in the sport.

“I’ve asked Frank Anderson to serve as our interim head coach,” White said. “The terminology I used with Frank was, ‘I need a shepherd right now, I need a day-to-day leader.’ “

Anderson boasts more than 40 years in college baseball, including the past eight years on Vitello’s staff. He has coach 25 MLB Draft picks at UT, including four first-rounders. He had two first-round pickers in 2025 in Liam Doyle and Marcus Phillips. Chase Dollander (2023) and Garrett Crochet (2020) were also first-rounders.

A program-record six pitchers were picked in the 2023 MLB Draft.

White said he met with the Tennessee staff on Oct. 22. He said he was not sure if Vitello would take any staff members to join him with the Giants.

“I told them that we have every intention of making sure that they’re in a good place and that they need to do what’s best for their career,” White said. “I get that. Whether that’s in San Francisco or here or somewhere else. But we’re not going to leave anybody out in the cold. This is a staff that’s done a lot for this university and we’ll make sure that they’re in a good place.”

Anderson was one of Vitello’s first hires. Vitello plucked Anderson from Houston, where he was an assistant coach from 2013-17. He was the head coach at Oklahoma State from 2004-12. He won the College World Series in 2002 as the pitching coach at Texas, where he worked from 2000-03.

The Grant, Nebraska, native also coached at Texas Tech from 1990-99.

He got his start in coaching in 1984 at Emporia State, his alma mater. He coached at Emporia State until 1987 then was at Howard College in Texas from 1988-89.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.