A busy week of coaching change on Tony Vitello’s Tennessee baseball staff continued on Wednesday with Vitello hiring Cincinnati pitching coach Josh Reynolds to the Vols’ support staff, Volquest’s Eric Cain first reported and a source confirmed to RTI.
Tennessee adding Reynolds to its staff comes a day after Ross Kivett rejoined Vitello’s staff as the Vols’ third assistant coach. Kivett replaced Richard Jackson on Tennessee’s coaching staff after Jackson left for a job in the private sector.
While Kivett officially replaced Jackson on Vitello’s staff, Reynolds will replace Jackson more in practicality. Jackson, a former Tennessee pitcher, assisted with the Vols’ pitching staff in his three seasons as a full-time assistant coach and in his two seasons as a graduate assistant. Jackson was also Tennessee’s bullpen coach in recent seasons.
Kivett is an infield and base running coach who will assist with coaching the Vols’ hitters which left a role open on Vitello’s staff to assist with pitchers.
Reynolds comes to Tennessee after spending last season as the pitching coach at Cincinnati. In his lone season at Cincinnati, the Bearcats team-ERA (5.89) improved almost a full run from the season before and ranked 135th nationally.
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The improvement was impressive on its own but is even more so considering the Bearcats were in their first season in the Big 12 where they posted a solid 32-25 (17-13 Big 12) record. Reynolds coached freshman right-hander Nathan Taylor to the Freshman All-Big 12 Team and All-Big 12 honorable mention honors.
Prior to his time at Cincinnati, Reynolds coached at Northwestern and Kansas State. Reynolds was an assistant coach at Kansas State while Kivett was a standout for the Wildcats.
Reynolds is a rare out of house hire for Tony Vitello. The seventh-year Tennessee head coach has constantly prioritized hiring coaches that have played for, or coached under him.
With Kivett returning to Tennessee, Vitello’s first staff at Tennessee is completely intact. Director of Baseball Performance Quentin Eberhardt was on Vitello’s original staff and left for the 2022 season before rejoining the program ahead of the 2023 season. Jackson was an in house hire who played for Vitello.
Other support staff members include Director of Player Development Luke Bonfield, Student Assistant Coach Parker Serrano and Assistant Director of Sports Nutrition Beth Schwartz. Bonfield played for Vitello at Arkansas, Serrano is the son of former Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano and Schwartz left Tennessee for the 2023 season before returning in 2024.
Tennessee isn’t done adding to its support staff this offseason as Vitello still has to replace Director of Operations Chad Zurcher who is leaving for another job at the university. Look for Vitello to replace Zurcher with someone, or multiple people, who already have ties to the program.
