San Francisco Giants hire new manager
The San Francisco Giants have hired University of Tennessee head coach, Tony Vitello, to become the Giants next manager, following last month’s firing of Bob Melvin.
SANF RANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants have hired University of Tennessee head coach, Tony Vitello, to become the Giants next manager, following last month’s firing of Bob Melvin.
Tony Vitello will be the first manager in Major League Baseball without any professional baseball experience.
Vitello led Tennessee to a national championship in 2024, defeating Texas A&M in the Men’s College World Series. The college team finished the season with a 60-13 record – the first Southeastern Conference team to achieve 60 wins in a single season.Â
Under Vitello’s leadership, the team had three Men’s College World Series appearances, five NCAA super regional appearances, and six NCAA regional appearances.
The university’s baseball team congratulated Vitello in a social media post Wednesday morning.
“Congratulations to Tony Vitello, making history as the first collegiate head coach to move directly to MLB manager,” the post read.
Prior to serving as head coach at Tennessee, Vitello coached at the University of Missouri, Texas Christian University and the University of Arkansas.Â
The 47-year-old attended the University of Missouri, playing as an infielder for the Missouri Tigers.
Vitello has an overall head coaching record of 341-131.
Melvin’s firing
The backstory:
The Giants fired Melvin in September after the club missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season.Â
The team’s President of Baseball Operations, Buster Posey, said last month that he admired Melvin, but the team had to move into a different direction.Â
The Giants finished the 2025 season 81-81, with just one more victory than in Melvin’s first year. The team hasn’t reached the postseason since winning the NL West with a franchise-record 107 victories over the rival Dodgers by one game in 2021 under then-manager Gabe Kapler.
“After meeting with ownership, I met with Bob today to inform him of my decision,” Posey said, in part, in a statement. “On behalf of the organization, I want to express my appreciation to Bob for his dedication, professionalism and class. I wish him all the best. After careful evaluation, we determined that making a change in leadership was in the best interest of the team.”