Tony Vitello explains his diehard fandom, loyalty for other Tennessee sports

Always the interesting interview, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello had an in-game chat with the SEC Network crew, breaking down some baseball and professing his love for the Volunteer state.

Tom Hart first asked Vitello about his rabid fandom for not just Tennessee baseball but every other sport under the Volunteer umbrella, as he’s seen the head baseball coach at a number of different Tennessee athletics events.

“Yeah, I mean, when I was younger, my dad coached at a high school where there was that vibe and he was at the same high school for 46 years. There’s a lot of loyalty there,” he said, pointing to Nebraska as a classic example of that at the college level.

“I was always jealous of places like Nebraska. The whole state seemed to stop when they had a football or basketball game or women’s volleyball or anything. I’m fortunate enough to be apart of a state and program where it’s kind of like that and everybody lives and breathes with the Vols regardless of what they’re doing.”

Sure, he’s a coach at Tennessee, but Tony Vitello has also embraced the athletics community in the state as a whole outside of just baseball.

“I’m in it. It’s nice they write the paycheck but I truly love where I live. It’s the vibe of the state, it’s why there’s a ton of people moving in to the big cities in our state.”

Vitello discusses Christian Moore, Blake Burke recruitment

The Vols’ head coach was also asked about two of his top hitters, Christian Moore and Blake Burke, who are great developmental stories in the Tennessee lineup.

“When we originally committed (Moore) it was kind of half pitching, 50/50 literally, pitching vs. position player,” Vitello revealed. “Then with Burke, he could have gone anywhere up and down the west coast and eventually we thought we had to pull the trigger on him. We thought he was the best option out of some other guys. And he has taken off and is well above some of those other options.”