Zander Sechrist tells Tennessee AD Danny White that Tony Vitello needs 'a lifetime contract'
Zander Sechrist was going to miss the opportunity and this was just another example of it. Late Monday night, after No. 1 Tennessee won its first baseball national championship in a 6-5 win over No. 3 Texas A&M, the senior pitcher had to gets something off his chest.
“I see Danny White back there,” Sechrist said, referencing the Tennessee athletic director in the back of the room while the Vols held their postgame press conference, “so I’m going to put it out there: I hope there’s a lifetime contract coming soon for Coach Vitello.”
That’s what Tony Vitello means to Tennessee Baseball. In just seven years, Vitello took a program coming off a 27-win season to a national championship, setting a new program and SEC record with 60 wins.
Tony Vitello’s Tennesse baseball teams lead the country in wins the last four seasons
It was the second straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha for Tennessee (60-13), the third in four years and the first time the Vols played for a national title since their first trip there in 1951.
Vitello has rewritten the Tennessee Baseball record books, leading the country the last four seasons in wins (211), win percentage (.773), NCAA Tournament wins (25) and home runs (566).
The Vols won everything they could this season, winning the SEC’s regular-season championship, the SEC Tournament championship, Knoxville Regional and Knoxville Super Regional.
The team lost back-to-back games on March 16 and 17, then never lost back-to-back games again. They went 7-0 while facing elimination in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, including coming back from down 0-1 in the best-of-three College World Series championship series against Texas A&M.
Danny White: ‘I think he is a great baseball coach, we have figured that out’
Now it’s time for White to finalize a new contract for Vitello — whether it’s a lifetime deal or not — with his current deal running through June 2026.
“So excited,” White told Volquest on the field Monday night in Omaha. “We plan to win a boatload of national championships at Tennessee. You have to start somewhere, though, and this was so much fun to see this group to get to the pinnacle moment.”
The “boatload of championships” White is planning to win will have to include Vitello.
“I think he is a great baseball coach, we have figured that out,” White said of Vitello. “More importantly, he is a great ambassador for our programs. He is so supportive of all of the head coaches here. We have a really good thing going. I think we are a growth stock. The best is yet to come.”
