What is TRULY next for Tennessee Baseball

By Andrew Riedell

On the evening of October 21st, Noah Darling and I were doing our podcast “Ban The Wave,” and we both ended that show not knowing that the next morning, College Baseball and the University of Tennessee would not be the same. I was only a child, just learning and starting to love the game of football, when Lane Kiffin was the Tennessee head football coach, when he unexpectedly left for the USC head coaching job and held one of the most infamous press conferences ever. It also caused students to burn a mattress. (It just means more, right?)

On October 22nd, I did not hear of any mattresses being burned, but more in the form of solemn tributes pouring in on social media of Tennessee fans supporting their Head Coach, Tony Vitello, as he was officially named the manager of the San Francisco Giants two weeks after his 47th birthday. The big question now for Athletic Director Danny White and boosters is what is next for this baseball program. AD Danny White did not really go into detail on the timetable for when the next coach will be hired, but I doubt that we will get a head coaching announcement before the season, as it is hard to pry away some coaches from their programs towards the end of their fall, but money speaks. 

Some of the coaching names you are going to hear over this process will most likely be sitting head coaches or top assistants, and maybe even Curt Schilling? In all seriousness the way that Tony Vitello is leaving the program I do not see this program going back to mediocrity in the years before Tony V but Danny White cannot mess up this hiring in my opinion as to keep the momentum going in this program it feels like no matter who interviews for the job the fans and the former players are gonna be calling for Josh Elander to be named the Head Coach. I agree that he should be the man to take over for Tony V.

We have seen overwhelming support for Coach Elander coming in, once the news broke that Vitello was leaving, as several former Volunteer players took to social media to show their support, arguing that Elander should be the next guy up.

Could we see AD Danny White go hire a coach away from their program this year? Yes, anything is possible in this scenario. As I said, this has to be a home run hire to keep the momentum going, as it is impossible to replace Tony Vitello, but at the end of the day, someone has to lead that Tennessee program. We could see Rob Vaughn from Alabama get an interview, Coach Fitzgerald from Kansas get an interview, and many more.

So what is next for this Tennessee program, as they do still have a season to prepare for? The promotion of Frank Anderson is the right thing to do right now, as he does have experience as a college head coach, and it also allows Elander to still focus on recruiting for now, as Danny White stated that he would like Elander to be a candidate for the head coaching job.

I am very intrigued to see what Danny White will end up doing. Per sources as of Friday, October 24th, AD Danny White and his committee have already begun vetting candidates, with interviews already beginning. The transfer portal rule is interesting, so I do not think anyone will transfer out, but this is a Tennessee team that is replacing a big chunk of their roster from last year. I think that the culture will be the same and that Tony V's presence will be felt through the program the whole season, and that this team is still going to be one of the top teams in college baseball. 

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