Tony Vitello to SF Giants (Confirmed)

[UTwild82]

There's a semi unspoken thing here I think is somewhat plausible. Its next to impossible to source and prove, so most likely don't care and I get that. Its only me trying to fill in gaps in the story based on the few I talk to and what I know.

If the baseball RevShare was cut, redirected, or otherwise less than desired or planned... there are two options.

Option 1- exist within the new structure the NCAA/House Settlement has laid out and live with it. The numbers are on paper, and those are what you've got. Anything outside of it goes to the NCAA and their Clearinghouse. Any deals made prior to the allocations will just come up short.

Option 2... we keep those numbers on paper and make the missing money up outside of the institutional structure. That is to say NIL deals as they were pre-House, knowing the NCAA is laughably inept and the courts can't wait to whack them with mallet every chance they get.

If the money was cut and the program was going to make it up via Option 2 (as LSU, Texas, etc) are doing but the Admin side wouldn't play ball...that's where the lack of support comes in.

(They had already faced that lack of support when asking for various changes and not getting them. Small stuff like not moving the students or at least leaving a few rows closer to the dugout were ignored. Thats where the frustration really began to grow roots) .

Those are reasonable and you've laid it out very well. Thank you. That makes sense.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Those are reasonable and you've laid it out very well. Thank you. That makes sense.

I can assure you there was friction around this topic, and it could've been solved. I can also assure you that when TV finally comments, he'll take the high road and focus on how much he loves the team, fans, town, university etc. He'll say that he got his dream chance to coach in the MLB, and do it with a good friend. Don't look for him to get in the mud. Not his style. All the hints you needed were in DW's press conference and his comment about how often (not often) they talk. TV was absolutely demanding, but he also delivered. You just don't let that guy go.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I can assure you there was friction around this topic, and it could've been solved. I can also assure you that when TV finally comments, he'll take the high road and focus on how much he loves the team, fans, town, university etc. He'll say that he got his dream chance to coach in the MLB, and do it with a good friend. Don't look for him to get in the mud. Not his style. All the hints you needed were in DW's press conference and his comment about how often (not often) they talk. TV was absolutely demanding, but he also delivered. You just don't let that guy go.

Immensely disappointing, and frankly unforgivable. I am not of the opinion that football is all that matters to this school, so how DW handled this entire situation from the relationship to the press conference has significantly impacted my trust in him.

Personally, I believe this is a watershed moment for the university and the “Golden Age” of Tennessee Athletics is over. It’s just very revealing how DW treated the situation and how he manages his department.

 

[txbo]

Immensely disappointing, and frankly unforgivable. I am not of the opinion that football is all that matters to this school, so how DW handled this entire situation from the relationship to the press conference has significantly impacted my trust in him.

Personally, I believe this is a watershed moment for the university and the “Golden Age” of Tennessee Athletics is over. It’s just very revealing how DW treated the situation and how he manages his department.

I bet ya Danny talks directly to Heupel at least weekly.

 

[MemphisVol3]

I bet ya Danny talks directly to Heupel at least weekly.

I think he talks to Heupel the most of any of the HCs. Followed by the basketball programs. I know we as alum and fans want all of our sports to be the best they can be but Danny probably prioritizes his relationships based on the revenue they drive. I think/hope he wants all sports to succeed but that's just from my purview.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I bet ya Danny talks directly to Heupel at least weekly.

Absolutely. No question. It’s football and that’s what matters to Danny’s bottom line.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Absolutely. No question. It’s football and that’s what matters to Danny’s bottom line.

Well we have so many great coaches that have needs I guess he should just conference call them all. Assumption on your part or fact. Check the money allocation chart to baseball. 15M vs all the other colleges in the land. I guess they got it wrong as well.

 

[Volfanatic_20]

I can assure you there was friction around this topic, and it could've been solved. I can also assure you that when TV finally comments, he'll take the high road and focus on how much he loves the team, fans, town, university etc. He'll say that he got his dream chance to coach in the MLB, and do it with a good friend. Don't look for him to get in the mud. Not his style. All the hints you needed were in DW's press conference and his comment about how often (not often) they talk. TV was absolutely demanding, but he also delivered. You just don't let that guy go.

Appreciate all the info you bring to the board. Reading this just makes me sick.

 

[rockytop25]

I can assure you there was friction around this topic, and it could've been solved. I can also assure you that when TV finally comments, he'll take the high road and focus on how much he loves the team, fans, town, university etc. He'll say that he got his dream chance to coach in the MLB, and do it with a good friend. Don't look for him to get in the mud. Not his style. All the hints you needed were in DW's press conference and his comment about how often (not often) they talk. TV was absolutely demanding, but he also delivered. You just don't let that guy go.

Do you think there will be enough pressure for DW to go with Elander, or will he make an outside hire?

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Well we have so many great coaches that have needs I guess he should just conference call them all. Assumption on your part or fact. Check the money allocation chart to baseball. 15M vs all the other colleges in the land. I guess they got it wrong as well.

You all have such a fundamental misunderstanding of which aspects of the baseball program management actually frustrated Tony.

The $14 million number Danny tossed around is obviously impressive, but those are operational expense. They are coaches salaries, travel budget, meals, etc. Reporting has not suggested that Tony felt the operational expenses for the day to day was not good enough. He wasn’t frustrated with his salary, his staff salary, or how the university supported administrative tasks.

On the financial side, this was about RevShare and NIL which are separate from the $13.4 million Danny has thrown around.

And to your point about Danny having to manage a ton of coaches and it not being realistic to expect him to “conference with all the coaches”, no one is asking him to set up hour long calls with every coach on campus weekly. We’re suggesting talking to your national championship coach once in 5 days when you’re about to lose him is stupid and that it’s not hard to make an effort and check in with your baseball head coach and ask how he’s doing every now and then, which Sgt. Danny himself admitted he pawns off to his “lieutenants”.

 

[Proud Army Wife]

I bet ya Danny talks directly to Heupel at least weekly.

You know it. I assume he does the same with Kim as well.

 

[sambronkowitz]

I am very sad to see Coach Vitello go. However, this is a huge opportunity for him and his family to go to MLB and be the Manager of a team with culture and history of the Giants of San Francisco. Can you really blame him for going for and taking this opportunity? I don't. And I also thank him for getting us a couple of SEC Championships and a National Championship. I wish him well and am grateful for his service for our Base Vols. And I have confidence that Danny White will find a good Coach to replace Vitello as the new Baseball Coach. Sure, he won't be Tony, but I think that he will find someone who will be capable of keeping the ship intact and continuing on with winning baseball in Knoxville.

 

[volfan411]

I feel like there is a lot of broad-stroke painting on both sides of the argument.

Danny White is not the sole reason Tony Vitello left, and he isn’t the primary villain in this story. He's also not an innocent lamb, either. I think there is enough evidence out there to suggest that he and Vitello didn't see eye to eye on several things. That's not all on Danny, and it's not all on Tony. It's just two giant egos that both think they're right. And in the interest of fairness, Tony doesn't always color inside the lines enough for a buttoned up boss like Danny White.

The thing I take away from all of this is that Danny White didn't do well under pressure in his press conference, yesterday. The defensive posture, the admittance that he doesn't communicate directly with his coaches very often, and never with assistants. I couldn't believe some of the things I heard him say in front of a microphone. If that really is his approach to personnel, that's an issue, especially for a person who values relationships like Tony Vitello. I just heard it stated perfectly..."When Tony walks into a room, he sees people. When Danny walks into a room, he sees $$$." They just have different approaches and perhaps different goals.

This is the perfect analogy of how we got to where we are today.

 

[Jravol78]

Tifwiw, someone I know who lives in Knoxville and has connections in real estate told me that when TV purchased his last home in Knoxville, it was with a dude.

 

[Weezer]

Does our baseball program really generate less revenue than our women's basketball program?

 

[Weezer]

So the big disagreement/rift between Tony and DW was over the proposed revenue sharing split, right? Or was there something else?

 

[EezyE]

It may be stated in here, but since we made him the highest paid coach in college baseball, spent over 100 million on improving the stadium, and clearly have solid NIL funds for baseball (or we aren't signing top classes every year) what exactly weren't we doing for baseball?

I guess this makes me "team Danny", even though I wanted Tony to stay, but I would just like something concrete showing what we supposedly weren't doing to keep TV. I just assume Tony left because it's the major leagues and San Francisco is probably a top 10 MLB job.

In my opinion, anything that was done by Danny White was all about the money. He paid Tony to try to make sure he stayed. The stadium is to enhance ticket revenue by selling more tickets and having higher dollar tickets.

What wasn’t done was to build a relationship with Tony. I understand that’s a two way street, but being the boss means you take the bull by the horns and figure out what you need to do to have a proper working relationship. I don’t know if it would have made any difference or not, but it’s complete malpractice to have not spoken with Tony more than 1 time in 5 days. That tells you how little White thought of him or cared if he stayed.

 

[GVF]

In my opinion, anything that was done by Danny White was all about the money. He paid Tony to try to make sure he stayed. The stadium is to enhance ticket revenue by selling more tickets and having higher dollar tickets.

What wasn’t done was to build a relationship with Tony. I understand that’s a two way street, but being the boss means you take the bull by the horns and figure out what you need to do to have a proper working relationship. I don’t know if it would have made any difference or not, but it’s complete malpractice to have not spoken with Tony more than 1 time in 5 days. That tells you how little White thought of him or cared if he stayed.

I'm more in that camp of thinking. Not really any different than the bosses/plant managers I had starting out in textiles management and automotive. Wasn't their job to coddle me every day. I had my job. And I was never going to be best friends to any of them and may not have had anything in common with a few of them. But, the two or 3 I respected the most and would do anything required were the one's that made regular appearances, spoke, and spoke with my people. Especially, when they knew my peoples names and lives as good or better than I did. The first was just a department manager that set me on that pathway of managing people like that. Be firm. Be fair. Be consistent. But, let 3 or 4 be absent in one shift and you'll find out who runs the place. That man saw and spoke to, or waved at, every single person on every single shift every single day. The plant manger was weekly as he ran two plants and his office was in the other. There two others later on at different companies were cut from the same cloth with more inegrity woven in.

DW may be one of the best at his job, but if these claims in here are accurate and he only values you based on your departments revenue, he don't hold the sh*t bag of the 3 former managers i'm thinking of.

 

[UTSuave’]

Trey Wallace of Outkick said on the radio this week that his sources in the AD had basically told him the program will be fine without Tony and that the relationship was not great. Several posters in this forum that have been around for years and have relationships with people in the baseball program have said as much, too.

F*** Danny.

 

[VFL10]

I can assure you there was friction around this topic, and it could've been solved. I can also assure you that when TV finally comments, he'll take the high road and focus on how much he loves the team, fans, town, university etc. He'll say that he got his dream chance to coach in the MLB, and do it with a good friend. Don't look for him to get in the mud. Not his style. All the hints you needed were in DW's press conference and his comment about how often (not often) they talk. TV was absolutely demanding, but he also delivered. You just don't let that guy go.

I am by no means saying you are incorrect, but at what point does Plowman/Boyd not step in and make the situation and environment better to keep him? I mean this can't all be on Danny White if his bosses were allowing this to happen as well right? I find it hard for Plowman and Boyd being ok letting him walk. They knew what he meant to the University and community.

 

[GVF]

Trey Wallace of Outkick said on the radio this week that his sources in the AD had basically told him the program will be fine without Tony and that the relationship was not great. Several posters in this forum that have been around for years and have relationships with people in the baseball program have said as much, too.

At the end of hte day that's how it should be regardless of what all we kick around here in fantasy land. If the ultimte succes of any one program succeeds or fails soley on the presence of one person, that's where you failed.

As for TV, as skipper, one of his primary jobs was to develop someone that could step in and take his place if something happened to him on the way to work. So, if it fails now without him, he didn't do his job off the field. Nor DW.

Every time I moved positions, one of my own reports moved up and took my place. And more often than not performed as good or better than I did. I was taught that if I could not identify someone in my ranks capable of moving up, and did not mentor them to be able to then I was a failed manager. So, in theory, and hopefully reality, the program should and will carry on.

 

[Weezer]

Did you guys see this?





Not just no, but hell no.

 

[Christian Lowe]

Did you guys see this?





Not just no, but hell no.

I’d let him be an assistant but I wouldn’t want him to run the show lol

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Hard pass.

 

[mr.checkerboards]

Hard pass.

EZ Pass