Italian-American Tony Vitello clearly has a favorite word: loyalty. He’s used it frequently during his Tennessee tenure talking about how he treats veterans who have done things the right way, his assistant coaches and also how he approaches things with the university that gave him a chance to be a head coach.
Vitello’s loyalty was on display this week as he made three hires to his assistant coaching and support staff. After assistant coach Richard Jackson— who played for and rose up the coaching ranks for Vitello at Tennessee— left baseball for a job in the business world, Vitello tabbed Ross Kivett as the Vols’ third full-time assistant coach.
Kivett spent four seasons on Vitello’s staff at Tennessee before leaving for a full-time assistant coach job at Houston. The former Kansas State standout rose up to associate head coach at Houston before leaving to return to Tennessee earlier this week.
With Kivett back in the fold, Tennessee’s assistant coaching staff is now the exact same as it was for Vitello’s first season as head coach.
Jackson worked with Tennessee’s pitchers while Kivett is an infield and hitting coach so Vitello went out and hired Cincinnati pitching coach Josh Reynolds to a support staff role to help fill the void that Jackson left on Tennessee’s staff. Hiring Reynolds was a rare Vitello hire of someone that has no connections to the program. However, Reynolds did coach Kivett while he was a player at Kansas State.
The final move to Vitello’s staff this week was re-hiring Ricky Martinez to a support staff role. Martinez was Tennessee’s starting shortstop in 2019 and was on Vitello’s staff from 2021-23 (the first two years as a student assistant coach) before leaving to be a full-time assistant at New Mexico State last season. But after one year away, Martinez is back in Tennessee’s program.
He’s one of a few staff members that have left the Vols’ program before eventually returning. Let’s take a look at Vitello’s full coaching and support staff and the insane amounts of loyalty and continuity there has been during his seven years as head coach. Loyalty both from Vitello towards his assistant and from the assistants to Vitello
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Josh Elander — Associate Head Coach
- Played for Vitello at TCU.
- Been on Vitello’s staff all seven seasons at Tennessee.
Frank Anderson — Pitching Coach
- Been on Vitello’s staff all seven seasons at Tennessee.
Ross Kivett — Assistant Coach
- Was on Vitello’s staff at Tennessee from 2018-2021.
- Left for full-time assistant coach job before NCAA approved three-paid full-time assistant coaches.
- Returns after three years away.
Quentin Eberhardt — Director of Baseball Performance
- Was on Vitello’s staff from 2018-21.
- Left to be the head strength and conditioning coach for the Chicago Cubs.
- Returned to Tennessee after just one year away. Been on staff from 2023-24.
Luke Bonfield — Director of Player Development
- Played for Vitello at Arkansas.
- Vitello gave him his first coaching opportunity.
- Been on Vitello’s staff since 2020.
Ricky Martinez — Support Staff
- Played for Vitello at Tennessee
- Vitello gave him his first coaching opportunity.
- Was on Vitello’s staff from 2021-23.
- Returned to Tennessee after one year away.
Sean McCann — Video Coordinator
- Been on Vitello’s staff all seven seasons at Tennessee.
Parker Serrano — Student Assistant Coach
- Son of Vitello’s predecessor Dave Serrano.
- Vitello gave him his first coaching opportunity in 2024.
Zach Stovall — Director of Analytics
- Video manager at Tennessee as a student from 2018-20.
- Returned to Tennessee’s program in 2024 after three seasons with the Texas Rangers.
Jeff Wood — Assistant Director of Sports Medicine
- Been Tennessee baseball’s trainer since 2001.
Adam Low — Assistant Director of Baseball Operations
- Was a student manager under Vitello.
- Served in current role since 2024.
*Kirby Connell
- Reportedly will be a graduate assistant coach.
- No official announcement at time of publication.
