Tony Vitello praises Dave Van Horn, credits him for shaping him into the coach he is

Head coach Tony Vitello led the Tennessee Volunteers to a national championship on Monday night. It was a feat that Vitello knows he wouldn’t have been able to do without the help from mentors like Dave Van Horn.

Following the win over Texas A&M, Vitello was incredibly excited looking back on his journey to get to that moment. That included his time with Van Horn, which he credits for helping to shape him into the coach he is today.

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“My brain is not working,” Tony Vitello said. “You guys have a job to do so I try to say things that will help you on that, and then it gets thrown back on me. I got a good text message last night by a non-Tennessee fan. I brought up Texas A&M because we went down there and played and it was going on at a couple of other ballparks in the Big 12 too. But this is what I want.”

A native of Missouri, Vitello played for the Missouri Tigers before getting into coaching in the California Collegiate League. He then worked his way up as an assistant in both the Big 12 and the SEC.

“I was a little kid. And to that magnitude is what I saw De Smet High School, the packed gymnasiums and the basketball games and it’s so hot in there and it’s full and everyone’s going crazy. I like that unity. That’s why I’m a music fan and you are too. You go to concerts and everyone knows the words. I love unity. And that’s why to me this was the perfect team to have won, which I was trying to say in a little better words because they were so close and the definition of unity,” Vitello said.

“And my wish came true. Again, I remember that being as a player. I was talking to Ryan Rallo, who was here tonight. Look at these people and what are these chants they’re talking about? Now I get to live that out.”

In 2014, Vitello joined Van Horn’s staff at Arkansas. Together, they found plenty of success, going to a College World Series. Perhaps more importantly Van Horn helped shape Vitello. That’s a mentorship that players on Tennessee currently feel today.

“I did that as an assistant at Arkansas, because Coach Van Horn gave me that opportunity, and also helped lead me along the way. The one thing I’d like to say, and I think some of them appreciate I hustled around down there. And most of them hate me, which is fine. But what they need to realize is their program definitely had a hand in what happened tonight. There’s no question about that. So I’m thankful for my personal opportunity,” Vitello said. “But guys like Zander [Sechrist] and Dylan [Dreiling] are benefactors of who I think is the best coach in the country in Coach Van Horn, is who I’m talking about.”

In 2018, Tony Vitello took over the Tennessee program. Since then, he’s turned the Volunteers into one of college baseball’s best programs, culminating in the 2024 national championship.

“But Tennessee came calling, and I knew a little bit about it. I knew it had those ingredients. But I’ve been blown away by how friendly everybody is, how involved everybody is,” Vitello said. “And loyalty is a very important word to everybody, but especially to an Italian fella, and I don’t know that there’s a more loyal fan base and really just community when you’re in that state.”