Tony Vitello awarded ABCA National Coach of the Year
Tony Vitello has been awarded the ABCA National Coach of the Year honor.
Tony Vitello, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, was awarded the American Baseball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year after guiding the Vols to a historic season. Tennessee secured its inaugural national championship in program history.
Since assuming the role of head coach for the Volunteers in 2017, Vitello has set a new standard of excellence for Tennessee baseball.
During his seven-year tenure, Vitello has led the Vols to three College World Series appearances in the last four years, a significant achievement considering Tennessee had only made four prior trips to Omaha in its program history before Vitello’s arrival.
The Vols’ recent victory in the College World Series Championship marks the first time a No. 1 overall seed has won the national title since the Miami Hurricanes in 1999.
Under Vitello’s leadership, Tennessee reached a milestone of 60 wins in the past season, the highest number of wins by any SEC team in a single season. Furthermore, the Vols became only the fourth team in SEC history to clinch the SEC regular season title, SEC Tournament title, and College World Series title in the same season, a feat last achieved by Vanderbilt in 2019.
Vitello’s coaching prowess has been recognized multiple times by the ABCA, where he was named Coach of the Year this year following previous acknowledgments as one of the top coaches in the country. He also received Perfect Game’s National Coach of the Year award in 2022. After Tennessee’s 6-5 victory over Texas A&M in the College World Series Championship game, Vitello remarked:
“It’s incredibly surreal. It’s difficult to gather your thoughts, but that’s a good thing—being caught up in the moment, I suppose. I don’t have anything particularly insightful to add, except to say that I hope the fans, who have turned this into an incredible celebration, got the series they wanted and deserved,” Vitello commented.
