The Bay Area Great that Forced Giants Boss Tony Vitello to Lose His Composure

Tony Vitello has been making the rounds as the new manager of the San Francisco Giants. This Bay Area great made an impact.

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello. | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

On Wednesday, everything gets real for San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello.

Months of hype, questions and build-up surrounding president of baseball operations Buster Posey’s boldest move of the offseason starts to get graded for his work as a first-year manager. The fact that he’s never held a professional baseball job of any kind adds to the intrigue.

Since he was hired, he’s moved to the Bay Area and made the rounds. He’s participated in Giants Fan Fest events, sat in a box with San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan for the Super Bowl and met all sorts of area legends.

But one Bay Area great made him lose his composure, as he told Alex Pavlovic on the Giants Talk Podcast.

Why Made Tony Vitello Lose His Composure?

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Vitello could help but fan boy just a bit when he met Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. Yes, Vitello admires him as a coach. But it goes much further back than that.

“It's hard to stand there and keep your composure when you're talking to Steve Kerr, especially (as) a guy that was a Bulls fan,” Vitello said. “I'm from St. Louis but my dad is from Chicago, and we didn't have an NBA team.”

Before Kerr led the Warriors to four NBA titles as a head coach, he was a player in the league for 15 years. He played for the Chicago Bulls from 1993-98 and was part of the franchise’s second three-peat in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The last season of the three-peat was chronicled in the 2020 ESPN documentary “The Last Dance.”

Kerr only scored 5,437 points in his NBA career but won four titles (the other was with San Antonio). His growth from role player to NBA coaching legend gives Vitello lessons to follow as he embarks on what will be a one-of-a-kind managerial journey.

He’ll have resources to lean out besides Kerr and Shanahan on this journey. He has two former managers on his staff — Jayce Tingler and Ron Washington. There are also two managerial legends in the front office, Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy.

Vitello spent eight seasons at Tennessee, rebuilding the Volunteers into one of the best baseball programs in NCAA Division I. That reached a zenith in 2024 when he guided Tennessee to 60 wins and the Men’s College World Series championship in 2024. He also took the program to the MCWS in 2021 and 2023. He also led the program to two SEC regular-season and tournament championships.