The University of Tennessee has made head baseball coach Tony Vitello the highest paid baseball coach in the NCAA with a new contract following the Vols' 2024 national championship season.
"Now, we literally have facts that we can show recruits and everybody else that we're as committed to baseball as you can possibly imagine," Vitello told ESPN on Friday. "As a coaching staff, our administration and [athletic director] Danny White have given us peace of mind that there's not anything better out there as far as support or investment. You throw in the combination that we live in one of the best college towns in the country, we're the flagship school of the state and the passion of our fans, and it doesn't get any better."
Vitello's new contract will pay him $3 million annually through the 2029 season. ESPN noted that his contract would see him placed among the top 10 highest-paid managers in the MLB.
The contract includes an expanded salary pool for his assistants and support staff.
Under Vitello, Tennessee has made it to the Men's College World Series in three of the past four seasons, and to the super regionals all four seasons. During that span, Tennessee is first nationally in wins with 211 and a .773 winning percentage.
"It's a never-ending process, especially when you include facilities and you include recruiting, but it's also just trying to survive in the SEC, which everybody that's been a part of it or even just watches it from the outside knows how challenging that is," Vitello said. "So I don't feel like we're anywhere near done climbing in a bunch of different categories, even though we were able to have a successful postseason run this year.
"The cool thing about what people are talking about today is I feel like our staff has been rewarded for our loyalty. You'd be hard-pressed to find a member of our coaching staff that couldn't have gone somewhere else for more money at some point. I think college baseball, and I say this humbly, but college baseball has gotten more attention and more of everything over the past few years."
Per the terms of Vitello's deal, which were reported by ESPN, he will owe the university $4 million if he leaves for another job before June 30, 2025. That buyout drops to $3 million in 2026, $2 million in 2027 and all the way down to $400,000 the last year of the contract in 2029. If Tennessee fires Vitello without cause during the term of the deal, he will be owed the full remainder of his contract.
