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Vols announce contract extension for baseball coach Tony Vitello
First-year Tennessee athletic director Danny White announced Tuesday that the Vols have agreed to a contract extension with baseball coach Tony Vitello coming off the team’s recent run to the College World Series. Vitello will be paid $1.5 million annually, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in college baseball, and his contract will run through the 2026 season.
Vitello emerged as a possible candidate for the coaching vacancies at Texas A&M and LSU near the end of Tennessee’s postseason run this year before both schools ultimately hired other coaches. Vitello made it clear that he was seeking upgrades to the Vols’ baseball facilities in his discussions with White regarding an expected contract extension and raise, and Tuesday’s announcement finalized Vitello’s decision to stay at Tennessee.
In addition to his $1.5 million annual salary, Vitello will receive 75 percent of bat/equipment manufacturer endorsements in excess of $100,000 as part of his revised contract.
The contract extension for Vitello was one of nine contract extensions for Tennessee head coaches that were announced Tuesday in a joint release from White, who was hired in January. Men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes, women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper and a half-dozen other UT coaches also had their extended contracts announced Tuesday.
“First, I’d like to acknowledge the fact that I inherited a very impressive roster of head coaches when I arrived at Tennessee back in January,” White said in the press release. “That’s a credit to those who came before me. Extending contracts for successful coaches is one indicator of a healthy athletics program, and we plan on continuing to be aggressive with extensions and rewarding success moving forward.
“I am excited to work with these talented leaders to ensure that our programs continue building toward our bold, ambitious future. We want to support and maintain high graduation rates and championship aspirations—conference and national—across all of our sports. Great days are ahead of us, Vol Nation.”
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Vitello has a 134-68 record in four seasons at Tennessee, including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. In 2019, just his second season, he led the Vols to 40 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth, their first since 2005.
This year, he led the Vols to their most successful season since the turn of the century. Tennessee earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and won the SEC Eastern Division title this season before advancing to the SEC tournament championship game. The Vols later swept an NCAA Regional and Super Regional, hosting an NCAA Super Regional for the first time on their way to their first College World Series appearance since 2005 and their fifth in program history.
Vitello, who was hired at Tennessee in 2017, also received an extension and raise following the 2019 season. That deal was worth $3.105 million before incentives and was slated to run through the 2024 season.
He was set to earn $600,000 this year before incentives, not counting the voluntary reduction in pay he took because of financial pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic that affected Tennessee’s athletic department.
