Tony Vitello becomes the first-ever college baseball coach to make the jump to the Major Leagues as a manager.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Thursday, Tony Vitello was officially introduced as the San Francisco Giants’ baseball manager. 

Vitello previously served as the head baseball coach for Tennessee. While there are still many mixed feelings about him leaving, one proud person is Vitello’s dad, Greg.

“I coached by myself, coming home from games and from practice, he (Tony) was kind of my assistant coach,” said Greg Vitello.

For Vitello, his journey went from volunteer assistant coach to the actual head coach of Tennessee.

“The first crowd for his (Tony’s) first game, it was about 38 degrees and it was misting, and I counted there were 28 people in the stands. And he simply thought, Hey, you know what, let’s build,” said Greg.

Building up Rocky Top is exactly what Tony Vitello did. Winning multiple SEC titles, producing a handful of MLB players, making it to the College World Series in Omaha, to winning it all in 2024.

“He’s kind of a rock star or Rocky Top,” Greg said.

Which is why Greg couldn’t believe when Tony told him he had been offered the Giants job.

“Is this something that you really wanna do?” Greg asked Tony. “But I think he just felt in his own mind. It’s time to see if I can accept a greater challenge.”

A coaching challenge that Greg knows his son is up for.

“He says, ‘God’s really been good to us.’ And I said, ‘You’re sure right.’ But this is gonna be a challenge. You got a lot on your plate, a lot of things to do and he just simply smiled and said, hey, you know what? Next, next challenge up,” said Greg.

“Because of being around my dad, and being blessed around winning players similar to Buster [Posey] those standards are very high,” Tony said.