On Top Off The World - Tony Vitello developed an identity for Tennessee as it climbed the SEC ranks en route to anational championship

Tony Vitello developed an identity for Tennessee as it climbed the SEC ranks en route to anational championship. Tennessee won 60 games, more than any team in 22 years. It collected every trophy it could, winning both the Southeastern Conference and SEC Tournament on its way to Omaha greatness. It was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and became the first No. 1 overall seed to win the championship since Miami did it in 1999.

- By Teddy Cahill

With confetti raining down at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello raised the national championship trophy aloft. The Volunteers had won the 2024 College World Series, cementing their legacy as one of the best teams of all-time.

Tennessee won 60 games, more than any team in 22 years. It collected every trophy it could, winning both the Southeastern Conference and SEC Tournament on its way to Omaha greatness. It was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and became the first No. 1 overall seed to win the championship since Miami did it in 1999.

It was a complete team effort. The Volunteers led the nation in home runs, ranked 11th in scoring and sixth in ERA. They had All-Americans, Freshman AllAmericans, present first-round picks, future first-rounders and some gritty, veteran college players amid the stars.

At the heart of it all was Vitello, the program’s architect and the man responsible for bringing Tennessee from the cellar of the SEC to the pinnacle of college baseball.

Vitello did it in a truly modern way, embracing the transfer portal, the rule changes around name, image and likeness rights and the offensive surge in college baseball. But he also did it through traditional recruiting, hard work and a dedication to player development.

Vitello’s story—and Tennessee’s, because the two are intertwined—is uniquely of the moment, but also one that followed a blueprint familiar to any program building in college baseball over the years. Vitello took over in Knoxville in 2017 and built Tennessee into a powerhouse, reaching the greatest heights this June in Omaha.

For those reasons and more, Vitello is the 2024 Baseball America College Coach of the Year. He is the second coach in program history to win the award, joining Rod Delmonico in 1995.