New San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello will manage the 2026 Giants. Vitello is the first manager in MLB history to go straight from the college level to manage in the big leagues. (file photo Chattanooga Times Free Press)

by Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–San Francisco Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey has made the unorthodox move of bringing in University of Tennessee Head Coach Tony Vitello to be the Giants’ next manager in an historic move.

When the Giants dismissed Bob Melvin as their manager on Sept. 28, there were numerous names floated around for who would be the team’s next skipper. From former Giants Nick Hundley, who was Posey’s teammate in 2017 and 2028; to even the legend himself, and Posey’s longtime manager, Bruce Bochy.

After two lackluster seasons under Melvin, Posey wanted to move the Giants in a different direction. Indeed he did, as he chose a college head coach in Tony Vitello to be the Giants’ new manager in an unprecedented move in Baseball History.

Vitello has been immensely successful as the head coach at the University of Tennessee for the last eight years, and he coached them to the College World Series title in 2024. However, Vitello has never been in organized baseball.

Vitello, 47, was born and grew up in St. Louis Missouri, where he went to De Smet High School. He then spent three years as an infielder at the University of Missouri from 2000 to 2002. 

Vitello transitioned into a coaching role as an assistant coach at Missouri in 2003, and spent eight seasons in that capacity. He went on to be an assistant coach at Texas Christian University from 2010 to 2014, and then the University of Arkansas from 2014 to 2017, before being hired as Tennessee’s head coach for the 2018 season.

There have been former college coaches who have managed big league teams. Brewers Manager Pat Murphy is the most notable. Murphy was the head coach at Notre Dame from 1988 to 1994, and then at Arizona State from 1995 to 2009.

Murphy started his career in organized baseball in the San Diego Padres’ front office in 2010 as a special assistant to baseball operations. He then managed in the Padres’ minor league system from 2011 until he was named the Padres’ interim manager in June 2015.

Murphy then spent the next eight seasons as the Brewers’ bench coach under his old pupil at Notre Dame, Craig Counsell. Murphy then took over as the Brewers’ manager in 2024, and got them to the playoffs in both of his first two seasons at the helm.

However, no one, at least in recent memory, has gone straight from being a college head coach one year to being a big league manager the next. Vitello may be the first in Baseball History to do so.

This is actually not uncommon in the NFL. Jim Harbaugh was the head coach at Stanford, and then was the head coach for the 49ers from 2011 to 2014.

There is always room for innovation in Baseball. Perhaps Vitello’s hire will start a new trend and custom in baseball of people going straight from being head coaches at colleges to being big league managers. How Vitello fares as the manager for the Giants will determine if that indeed happens or not.