Tony Vitello Earns ABCA National Coach of the Year

Tony Vitello has been named the ABCA National Coach of the Year.

Vols head coach Tony Vitello waves to fans during the Knoxville homecoming parade in the team's honor after winning the baseball World Series, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. / Hannah Mattix/News Sentinel / USA TODAY

Tony Vitello has been named the ABCA National Coach of the Year.

Tennessee Volunteers Head Coach Tony Vitello was named the American Baseball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year following a historic season for the Vols, where Tennessee claimed its first-ever national championship in program history.

Since taking the reins as the Volunteers' head coach in 2017, Vitello has established a new standard of excellence within Vols baseball. In his seven-year tenure, Vitello has guided the Vols to three College World Series appearances in the last four years, Tennessee had made just four trips to Omaha in program history prior to Vitello's hiring. The Vols' recent victory in the College World Series Championship marks the first time a No. 1 overall seed has claimed the national title since the Miami Hurricanes in 1999.

Vitello led the Vols to a 60-win milestone this past season, the most wins by any SEC team in a single season. Additionally, Tennessee became just the fourth team in SEC history to win the SEC regular season title, the SEC Tournament title and the College World Series title in the same season, the first to accomplish this feat since Vanderbilt in 2019.

Vitello has been recognized as one of the top coaches in the country by the ABCA three times before being named this year's Coach of the Year. He was also named Perfect Game's National Coach of the Year in 2022. Following Tennessee's 6-5 win over Texas A&M in the College World Series Championship game, Vitello said:

“Very surreal. Hard to center yourself, which is a good thing, being lost in the moment, I guess. Nothing too intelligent to say other than the first thing to say is I hope the fans that have turned this into an insane party, insane event, got the series that they wanted and that they deserved." Vitello said.

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