Rick Barnes was in Omaha, Nebraska, when Tony Vitello won the first College World Series in Tennessee baseball history.
The Vols basketball coach hopes that another championship is in Vitello’s future beyond Tennessee.
“I hope he wins a World Series,” Barnes said. “I do. I’d love to see him do that.”
Vitello will have the chance to do that after leaving the Vols to manage the San Francisco Giants on Oct. 22. He won 341 games, went to the College World Series three times and endeared himself to the fan base — and his fellow coaches like Barnes — in his eight seasons in Knoxville.
“I am going to really miss him,” Barnes said. “He did one of the great building jobs − what he did here in a short time to turn this program around and take it to a national championship.”
Vitello made himself a common presence at Food City Center for Tennessee basketball games. He famously wore a Zakai Zeigler jersey in February 2022, which prompted Zeigler to wear a Vitello shirt later in the season.
Vitello often sat courtside at games.
“I loved his enthusiasm,” Barnes said. “I love him. He was around and I loved he’d come over here and wear a Zakai Zeigler jersey. The fan base, everyone fell in love with him because everyone loves someone who comes in and goes about his business in the right away to build a championship team and program.”
Barnes, whose No. 17 Vols host No. 5 Duke on Oct. 26 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in an exhibition, empathized with Vitello’s decision after it played out over four days.
Barnes, 71, thought back to when he was in a position similar to the 47-year-old Vitello in having opportunities to take other jobs. He did not, however, have the chance to make the leap from college basketball to the NBA.
Barnes believed that led to “wide” emotions that continued into when Vitello told the Vols he was leaving, which he did on Oct. 21 before news emerged that he had accepted the job.
Barnes was hired in April 2015. Vitello joined the ranks of Tennessee coaches in June 2017, leaving Barnes with the opportunity to see the rise of the baseball program from its early days to a breakthrough in 2019 to becoming a power in the past five years.
“I know that he loved what he built here and what he had going,” Barnes said before noting Vitello had “a chance to go do something that has never been done with one of the great franchises ever.”
Vitello doesn’t plan to disappear from Knoxville, he said on Oct. 23 in a meeting with a handful of media members. He told real estate agents to stop texting him and that he plays to be back for football games or basketball games or to support the baseball program he molded.“He will be missed because he came in here and did what he was hired to do and put himself in position to where a professional franchise thought it was worth taking him to be the first collegiate coach to ever do that,” Barnes said.
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.