Baseball America named Tennessee’s Tony Vitello as its College Baseball National Coach of the Year on Thursday after Vitello led the Vols to their first National Championship in program history.
Tennessee turned in one of the best seasons in college baseball history. Posting a 60-13 record, the Vols won every trophy they could during a magical season. Vitello’s Vols won the SEC Regular-Season Championship and the SEC Tournament on their way to the National Championship.
The Vols were the first team in SEC history and the first team nationally in 22 years to win 60 games in a single season and the first No. 1 overall seed since Miami in 1999 to win the National Championship.
“At the heart of it all was Vitello, the program’s architect and the man responsible for bringing Tennessee from the cellar of the SEC to the pinnacle of college baseball,” Baseball America’s Teddy Cahlil wrote.
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It was a marvelous coaching job by Vitello and his staff to put together such a dominant team because the 2024 Vols didn’t always look destined for dominance. Tennessee lost Chase Burns, one of the top two pitchers in the country, to the transfer portal before the season and lost its ace AJ Russell to an arm injury early in the season.
But with veterans like Zander Sechrist and Kirby Connell taking steps forward and transfer pitchers Chris Stamos, AJ Causey and Nate Snead all rising to the occasion, Tennessee found enough pitching to reach the mountaintop.
Tennessee boasted one of the best offenses in college baseball history boasting five different players that hit 20-plus home runs. Christian Moore and Blake Burke made major improvements after solid sophomore seasons, Clemson transfer Billy Amick lived up to the hype and Dylan Dreiling and Kavares Tears exceeded high expectations in their first season as full-time starters.
The result was a National Championship and National Coach of the Year honors for Tony Vitello. It is Vitello’s first National Coach of the Year honor from Baseball America though he also earned Coach of the Year honors in 2021 (National College Baseball Writer’s Association and Perfect Game) and in 2022 (National College Baseball Writer’s Association).
