Tennessee is handsomely rewarding head baseball coach Tony Vitello for winning the College World Series.
The university announced Friday that Vitello agreed to a five-year contract extension that will pay him $3 million per year, double his previous salary. The deal will make him the highest-paid coach in college baseball. reports Joe Rexrode of The Athletic.
The Volunteers won their first Division I men’s baseball championship in June, defeating Texas A&M in three games to claim the title. Tennessee was the No. 1 team nationally entering the NCAA tournament, becoming the first program to win the College World Series with that ranking since 1999.
We think we’ll let him stay
Head coach Tony Vitello has signed a 5-year contract extension through the 2029 season.
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) August 23, 2024
Vitello was hired as Tennessee’s head coach after the 2017 season, following 15 years as an assistant coach at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas. In his second season, the Vols won 40 games and earned their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005. In his fifth season, Tennessee advanced to the College World Series for the first time in 17 years.
Under Vitello, the Vols have reached three of the last four College World Series and finally broke through by winning 60 games and a national championship last season. They have compiled an overall record of 295-112 in Knoxville.
Previously, Vitello was the fifth-highest-paid coach in the SEC, According to Front Office SportsWith his new contract, he surpasses Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin ($2.45 million per year) as the player with the highest annual salary in the sport. (Jim Schlossnagle, who left Texas A&M for Texas after the College World Series, will receive $2.68 million in the third year of his contract with the Longhorns, The Austin American-Statesman reports.)
Vitello and Tennessee agreed to the new contract on May 31. According to the Knoxville News SentinelIf the school fires him without cause during the next five years, Vitello would be entitled to the remainder of his contract. The coach would owe Tennessee $4 million if he left for another job before June 2025. The buyout amount is reduced by $1 million in each of the two subsequent seasons, increases to $800,000 in July 2027 and then to $400,000 in the final year of the contract.
Additionally, Vitello’s contract buyout for leaving Tennessee would be cut in half if athletic director Danny White is no longer in that position for the duration of the contract.