The San Francisco Giants stunned professional baseball after officially hiring former Tennessee Volunteers manager Tony Vitello as their new manager. It's a move that brings someone with no MLB experience to a team aiming to make big strides in the coming years. On Thursday, Vitello revealed his extremely honest admission about joining San Francisco.
Vitello, who is 47 years old, admitted that signing with the Giants is a very recent dream of his, according to Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle. It may not have been his dream until the San Francisco front office began talking with him and interviewing him for the manager job. Regardless, he's here now, and Vitello simply just wants to do a good job.
“It's a dream come true, but it's a very recent dream,” said Tony Vitello. “And as much as I'd love to sit up here and promise things and pound my fist on the desk and all that, and really, all I want to do is a good job.”
After working as an assistant for 15 years, Vitello earned his first manager job at Tennessee in 2018. During his time with the Volunteers, the baseball program was wildly successful. Not only did the team win the National Championship in 2024, but they also won the SEC Championship in 2022 and 2024. Tony Vitello ended his tenure in Tennessee with plenty of accolades, as he was named the ABCA Coach of the Year in 2024, NCBWA Coach of the Year in 2021, Perfect Game Coach of the Year in 2021 and 2022, and was the SEC Coach of the Year in 2022.
He takes over a Giants team that finished the 2025 campaign with an 81-81 record. The club missed out on the playoffs this season despite being in the mix for several months before the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres ran away with it in the NL West.
We'll see how everything plays out in due time. Until then, Tony Vitello must navigate the offseason while the Giants attempt to improve the roster through free agency and/or trades.
