Tennessee Baseball Navigates Unexpected Coaching Search

Tennessee baseball is without a coach in October, an unusual time in the college baseball world to be in the market for a coach.

The Vols and athletics director Danny White have to fill the spot left by Tony Vitello, who was hired by the San Francisco Giants to be their manager.

The first decision facing White is whether he appoints an interim coach or launches into a coaching search outside the normal months in which to conduct a search.

White will likely follow his usual process when appointing a coach. He typically meets with the team to gather input from players, prioritizing the perspectives of team leaders.

UT has two leading interim candidates on the staff: associate head coach Josh Elander and pitching coach Frank Anderson.

Anderson was the coach at Oklahoma State from 2004-12. He has been the pitching coach on Vitello’s staff since 2017 and has a proven track record of developing MLB Draft picks. Elander has been the hitting coach on UT’s staff since 2017 and was appointed the associate head coach in 2022. He is an elite recruiter and has coached the best offensive players.