'I am not for everyone': Love or loathe him, Tony Vitello has Tennessee rocking

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Baseball is simply a crippled that is built astir and dominated by lines. Baselines. Foul lines. The batter's box. The on-deck circle. Even the walls are edged with agleam yellowish borderlines. Constant linear reminders of wherever 1 is allowed to be, lest idiosyncratic virtually tally afoul of those boundaries and the seemingly endless rules that govern them.

There are galore radical successful shot -- it would beryllium an casual statement to accidental astir -- who run safely wrong those lines. Then, determination are those who presumption their occupation to propulsion backmost connected those restrictions. To measurement over, oregon astatine slightest to spot each 10 toes atop oregon up against the borderline of each of those lines.

And that brings america to Tony Vitello.

He is the manager of the Tennessee Volunteers, the defending Men's College World Series champion. He has led the Vols to their 5th consecutive ace determination this weekend, arsenic No. 14 Tennessee travels to No. 3 Arkansas for an SEC showdown against Hogs manager Dave Van Horn, 1 of the galore legendary assemblage shot minds nether whom Vitello worked from 2014 to 2017. He's 46, azygous and, successful his ain words, "married to the game," but besides isn't allergic to traveling to Nashville oregon the islands for a bully time.

All of the supra should marque a antheral nationally beloved. Instead, Vitello is simply a Tennessee Orange axe, splitting the assemblage shot community's feeling astir him arsenic a precise clean, yes, enactment betwixt emotion and loathe. Those who bash not attraction for him constituent to what they judge is simply a disregard for those ineffable shot guardrails. Those who applaud him don't spot a antheral bent connected shot disregard. They spot a border-bending maverick.

"I deliberation you don't cognize wherever the enactment is until you transverse it. And past you marque an adjustment," said Vitello, who is nearing the extremity of his eighth play successful Knoxville. "I don't privation our guys, if they springiness them a coloring book, I don't privation them conscionable coloring wrong the lines. You know, travel up with thing different."

At this point, we should explicate that the 46-year-old is besides obsessed with Matt Damon movies, possibly adjacent much than baseball.

"In 'Good Will Hunting,' the 1 happening helium says to a feline is, 'At slightest I'm not unoriginal.' What a unspeakable thing, to beryllium forgotten successful the locker room. If there's a squad reunion, and nary 1 instantly says, 'There's the weird guy,' oregon 'There's the feline that was a psycho,' oregon 'There's the feline that made everybody laugh.' If you locomotion successful and nary one's got anything, that, that ain't good. So, for me, I'd alternatively our guys and our coaching unit propulsion the limits for what competing is, nether the realm of what we think. Not what idiosyncratic other thinks."

What assemblage shot statisticians and historians deliberation is that the Vitello epoch connected Rocky Top has been a tally of unexpected success. From 1947 done 2016, the Vols were 1 of the game's snooziest of sleeping giants, making lone 4 trips to Omaha implicit the archetypal 7 decades of the Men's College World Series. Now, they are seeking their 4th sojourn successful 5 years. The archetypal 3 of those berths ended successful disappointment, sandwiched astir a 2022 play that critics pointed to arsenic impervious of Vitello's misguided managerial ways, erstwhile the undisputed No. 1 team, packed with 10 MLB draught picks, failed to marque it retired of the Knoxville Super Regional.

The occupation astir pointed to, just oregon unfair, was the recurring stepping implicit of those lines. Vitello's Irish-Italian humor overheating itself past a steadfast motivational simmer and into a boil that blew his apical and gave his players support to bash the same. See: chest-bumped umpires, upside-down dugout chairs, 3 suspensions and 5 ejections successful 8 years.

But large emotion has besides go the trademark of the Big Orange, heart-on-the-sleeve hardball that, finally, past June, paid disconnected with Tennessee's archetypal nationalist rubric of immoderate benignant successful a decennary and a half.

"This occupation is astir evolution," Vitello said. "I deliberation beingness is astir evolution. What works? What doesn't? I'm not the smartest feline you'll ever meet, but I americium astute capable to larn from my actions and the results that travel from it, oregon the results that don't. At least, I deliberation I americium astute enough. I conjecture immoderate radical would accidental that's not true. But honestly, the lone radical I attraction astir erstwhile it comes to that are the ones successful this gathering and the radical who enactment what we are doing successful this building."

Plus, let's beryllium honest. He's a movie guy, and each histrion from Denzel Washington to his beloved Damon says being the atrocious feline is much fun.

"OK. Yeah, we tin play the villain a small bit. But we're trying to win," Vitello said.

Vitello likes to framework his foray into coaching arsenic a blessed bid of accidents and coincidences. Raised successful the St. Louis area, the youngest of 4 kids and the lone boy, helium was the precocious schoolhouse infielder who wasn't a large hitter, but had a coagulated mitt and a rubber arm. He landed a roster spot astatine Division II Spring Hill College successful Alabama earlier transferring into his location authorities program, the perennially lackluster Missouri Tigers. Then, helium utilized that limb to commencement throwing batting signifier to his teammates. That led to a full-time adjunct coaching presumption astatine his alma mater, which led to a bid of adjunct stops, learning from Van Horn and Jim Schlossnagle, the manager of the Texas A&M squad the Vols bushed to triumph past year's title.

He became known arsenic a roadworthy warrior recruiter, racking up all-star rosters astatine schools that expect to person them, but besides astatine Mizzou.

"You tin thatch a young manager the finer points of the job," Schlossnagle said of Vitello 1 twelvemonth ago, connected the eve of their MCWS showdown. They worked unneurotic astatine TCU from 2011 to 2013. "What you can't thatch them is drive. Work ethic. That happening successful your DNA that has you moving from the infinitesimal you aftermath up until it's bedtime. No 1 ever had to thatch Tony that. He'd already been taught that agelong earlier helium got to us."

Those lessons came from his father, Greg Vitello, a Missouri Sports Hall of Famer, a shot and shot coaching fable who worked for 46 years astatine De Smet High School, wherever helium coached his son. Prior to that, helium took the lad to wherever helium was connected the sidelines. Young Tony tucked his mode beneath the scorer's table. He watched his dada overgarment lines connected playing fields. He watched his dada tally practices. And by the clip teenage Tony became a Spartan, each helium knew was arriving early, leaving precocious and doing immoderate it took to win. But much than that, the regular expressed ngo of turning young athletes into young adults.

"That was his focus," Tony Vitello said. "Trust me, he's ace competitive, but if you triumph games, that's a byproduct of that. It was ne'er speech of we request to get to the last four, oregon we request to get to this title oregon that. So, erstwhile a last 4 did get oregon a title did arrive, it was axenic emotion. My dada was a maniac worker. And I deliberation I learned that, and watched that, and respected that. The clip I got to beryllium astir him was invaluable."

"I had to backmost disconnected connected him because, you know, he's your son," Greg Vitello said. "You privation him to beryllium the best. And past again, there's ever that speech astir you. 'Hey, the lone crushed he's playing is his aged man's the coach!' But you cognize what? He proved himself."

The infinitesimal that Tony Vitello inactive can't speech astir without catching a lump successful his pharynx was successful 1997, erstwhile helium was portion of the 4th of Greg's 5 Missouri authorities title shot teams. The infinitesimal the lucifer was over, Tony retreated to the locker country and fell apart.

"I couldn't halt crying," Tony said. "It was a alleviation due to the fact that I wanted to assistance him triumph 1 of those authorities championships. I had this unusual fearfulness of, 'What if I spell to precocious schoolhouse for 4 years, play 3 sports and never, ne'er person it happen?' It was a thrilling moment, but it was a weird consciousness of relief."

The satellite didn't spot that infinitesimal successful '97 oregon perceive erstwhile Tony called his father, sobbing, to accidental that helium had been offered his archetypal caput coaching job, and it was from Tennessee. ("In the SEC!" Greg present shouts.)

But we each saw it past June. That's erstwhile the son, earlier helium dove into the Charles Schwab Field assemblage oregon earlier helium posed for postgame photos with Tennessee large Peyton Manning, stood connected the apical measurement of the dugout successful Omaha and threw his arms astir his father.

"I felt similar I was the dada and helium was the kid," Tony said of the infinitesimal helium embraced his begetter arsenic confetti fell to the turf each astir them. "Because helium wouldn't halt crying."

"It was an unthinkable experience," Greg recalled, choking up. "We didn't accidental anything. Hey, this is heaven, man. This is what it's expected to be. Heaven successful Omaha."

So, it's OK if you don't similar Tony Vitello. It's OK if you deliberation he's excessively raw. That helium could basal to walk a small much clip wrong the lines alternatively of redrawing them. It's OK if you deliberation his players amusement retired excessively often and you privation to blasted that connected what you mightiness spot arsenic a mediocre illustration acceptable by their caput manager arsenic helium storms astir the tract against Auburn, arsenic helium did successful May. Or if he's jawing with Mississippi State during a regular pitching change, arsenic helium did successful the SEC tournament. Or adjacent erstwhile helium is calling retired a newsman aft escaping different imaginable ace determination upset bid, arsenic helium did 1 twelvemonth agone aft Tennessee clinched its MCWS berth by surviving the upstart Evansville Aces.

But what you can't bash is impeach the antheral of being unoriginal.

"I americium not for everyone. Maybe this squad isn't for everyone. But we are for each other. And we are for the radical who deterioration orangish and that Power T and unrecorded and dice by it each azygous day," Tony said. "We mightiness not ever win. But we triumph rather often. And we are decidedly us."