SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Tony Vitello had a feeling something was brewing.<\/p>\n
Following the Giants\u2019 firing of Bob Melvin<\/a>, Vitello boarded a flight to the East Coast on a recruiting trip. The plane had no Wi-Fi, leaving Vitello briefly disconnected to the world. Upon landing, a text message from Buster Posey awaited.<\/p>\n \u201cThe season had ended, they had made some moves, and I kind of just said, \u2018Oh hell\u2019 to myself. \u2018Here we go, this could be something,\u2019\u201d Vitello recalled.<\/p>\n Vitello\u2019s prognosis proved to be correct.<\/p>\n Several weeks after Posey sent that text, the Giants officially introduced Vitello<\/a> as the 40th manager in franchise history on Thursday afternoon. Vitello\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 features no professional experience as a player, coach or manager, but Posey, Zack Minasian and the Giants\u2019 brass are betting on the man who transformed Tennessee from a bottom dweller of the SEC to one of college baseball\u2019s best programs.<\/p>\n \u201cI never dreamed of being a Major League Baseball player. I don\u2019t know why,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cI think it was just so far above the clouds that I never even saw it. And for me as a coach, I was just kind of trying to make my way. I got thrust into a position at a young age that I probably didn\u2019t even deserve<\/a>. So I was just trying to do a good job. And fortunately, it helped get me to the next spot, the next spot and the next spot. And eventually, this did become a dream.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided if I was blessed enough to receive an opportunity, this is something I wanted to do before I was done coaching in general. Now,\u00a0 I\u2019m incredibly humbled and blessed to do so. So it is a dream come true, but it\u2019s a very recent dream. It wasn\u2019t one I\u2019ve had for a while. And as much as I\u2019d love to sit up here and promise things and pound my fist on the desk and all that, really, all I want to do is a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n It would not be hyperbolic to describe this venture as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Vitello. But as Vitello, Posey and Minasian shared on Thursday, getting to this point was a slow burn.<\/p>\n \u201cThey took their time, they gave me space, they gave me a bunch of information,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cAnd then the people that I was able to lean on were incredible to me.\u201d<\/p>\n As Posey and Minasian compiled a list of potential candidates, Minasian floated the idea of Vitello as a possibility for their managerial vacancy.<\/p>\n Minasian served as the Giants\u2019 vice president of professional scouting before becoming the team\u2019s general manager, and in that role, he became familiar with Vitello\u2019s Tennessee teams. He watched as the Vols stacked wins and Vitello stacked accolades, churning out draft pick after draft pick in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cAs much as this feels out of the box, Tony\u2019s name has been bouncing around Major League Baseball for a while,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cTennessee\u2019s program has been top-notch, which means there\u2019s a lot of good players that we\u2019re talking about year in and year out. I\u2019ve been fortunate to watch them, and the nature of this job is you\u2019re always evaluating everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Posey got to know Vitello before this recent recruiting process. This past summer, Posey and Minasian chatted with Vitello prior to selecting infielder Gavin Kilen<\/a> with the 13th overall pick in the 2025 MLB draft. Posey also ran into Vitello during the Giants\u2019 trip to Coors Field in September; Vitello was in town to catch up with several former Vols, outfielder Drew Gilbert<\/a> being one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cI started to joke with Zack as we were getting into this more that we need to find somebody that doesn\u2019t like him because everybody was just raving about this guy,\u201d Posey said.<\/p>\n Among those who liked Vitello as a candidate were former Giants managers Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy. Posey spoke with both Baker and Bochy during the process, sharing that they \u201ccame away feeling very positive about the person.\u201d<\/p>\n The Giants\u2019 intrigue only continued to grow when Posey struggled to get in contact with Vitello.<\/p>\n Despite the Giants\u2019 interest, Vitello remained committed to running Tennessee\u2019s baseball program \u2014 a program he built into a national champion and a national brand. For Posey, Vitello\u2019s commitment to the Vols \u201cmade me feel even more confident in this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis guy was hard to get a hold of because he was on the field all the time, or he was bouncing from city-to-city recruiting,\u201d Posey said. \u201cJust because this was on his plate, he was still full-go with what his job was at Tennessee. I have a tremendous amount of respect for that.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point in the process, Vitello flew to San Francisco to discuss the position with Posey and other members of the front office. When Nick Hundley removed his name from consideration \u2014 the Giants never formally offered Hundley the position \u2014 Vitello emerged as a top candidate.<\/p>\n Vitello said he didn\u2019t think there was ever really an \u2018a-ha\u2019 moment when making the decision, but pointed to a conversation with Posey after Game 7 of the ALCS between the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners on Oct. 20.<\/p>\n \u201cIt kind of bled into the next day,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cNothing was honestly done until probably later than you people realize, with all due respect.\u201d<\/p>\n On Oct. 22, hundreds of fans chanted Vitello\u2019s name during a scrimmage at Tennessee\u2019s Lindsey Nelson Stadium to sway him to stay. The next day, Vitello made his decision.<\/p>\n Vitello acknowledged that leaving Knoxville wasn\u2019t easy, noting that there had to be \u201ca certain set of circumstances\u201d to even consider leaving. This opportunity, then, fulfills that certain set of circumstances.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo words that I diagnosed are risk and challenge, and they\u2019re both kind of the same thing,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cIf you talk about risk, it kind of sounds like you can lose it all if it doesn\u2019t go well. But, to me, this was more about a challenge. No matter how each day goes \u2026 regardless of how it goes, are you willing to meet the challenge? And what a challenge is is something that you find out what you can and can\u2019t do. That\u2019s something that we\u2019ve preached to our players all the time at Tennessee. So, who am I to preach that but to not do it?\u201d<\/p>\n The Giants also had to work out the hefty financial side of the equation.<\/p>\n