Tony Vitello reacts to fans’ chants at Tennessee practice amid Giants rumors
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Tony Vitello is beloved in Knoxville, and there was no better example of that than on Tuesday afternoon during a Tennessee fall ball scrimmage, when some Volunteers faithful began to chant, “We want Tony” to the guy who led the program to its only national title in 2024.
Vitello has been Tennessee’s manager since 2018, also taking the Volunteers to the College World Series in 2021 and 2023, but his future in Knoxville is now in question amid reports of a courtship from the San Francisco Giants. Vitello doesn’t have any experience managing at any level of Major League Baseball, but reports surfaced over the weekend that the Giants are ready to hire him as their next manager to replace Bob Melvin.
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According to those reports, the Giants were “closing in” on hiring the 47-year-old, and other reports over the weekend suggested that a decision on Vitello going to San Francisco would come in the next 24 to 72 hours. That timeframe was reported on Saturday, which means Tuesday was the deadline on that, with it being 72 hours later.
But on Tuesday, there was Vitello, still the Tennessee coach, and when the “We want Tony” chants started during the scrimmage, Vitello turned to acknowledge the love.
Here is the charming video of that:
Vitello didn’t just acknowledge the cheers though. He bothered to walk down toward the fans who were chanting his name and toss a ball to 1 of them.
He didn’t want to leave 1 of those fans empty-handed on Tuesday:
The final verdict on Vitello will come soon enough, but on Tuesday the Tennessee baseball legend wanted to show that he was well aware of how Volunteers fans feel about him.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
