Tony Vitello Unhappy About How Departure from Tennessee to Giants Was Reported

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello took more than three minutes on Monday to address his departure from Tennessee.

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

It isn't often that a Major League manager discusses a potentially uncomfortable topic unprompted. But that's what San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello did on Monday at spring training.

As he entered his daily media scrum in Scottsdale, Ariz., he had a question for the reporters assembled around him. He asked, “When did you first think I was taking this job? Do you remember that far back?”

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Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle, who was seated next to him, replied “Yeah, it was about four days before it actually happened.”

Vitello took it from there and went on a three-minute, unprompted journey around his departure from Tennessee to San Francisco, as recorded by Matt Lively of CBS Sports Bay Area.

Tony Vitello on Leaving Tennessee

Tony Vitello began his Monday media availability by asking reporters when they heard he was taking the Giants job. He wanted to clear things up about his departure from Tennessee. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/AanrH7hOIn

— Matt Lively (@mattblively) February 16, 2026

Vitello said that he had made no such decision four days before the hiring was made. But when the first reports that he was considering the job broke, the Volunteers were in the middle of fall workouts, and he said he was working behind the scenes to ensure his coaches were taken care of.

“I’m just having a conversation, therapy if you will,” Vitello said. “I needed confirmation from the coaches that I worked with, that helped boost my status, that they were OK with what was going to go on and they were going to be OK with their jobs. That staff had always been built as like next man up and, all of a sudden, that was being threatened.”

Tennessee ultimately elevated one of Vitello’s assistants, Josh Elander, to head coach. When the first reports of his consideration of the job broke, the Vols were in the middle of practice, and he said that he saw his “first base and third base coaches freaking out. And they freaked out on me, too.”

“At that point, nothing was going to happen. But somebody decided that it was going to happen and then the whole world starts spinning real, real, quick and I had to address the team,” Vitello said.

He was clearly bothered, even four months later, at how the news of his departure went down. Four days out from it being official, he made it clear that nothing had been decided.

When he was asked why he was asking, Vitello really didn’t have a good answer. Then, he started looking forward.

“That was not a fun Saturday and then it kind of affected how the next few days went,” Vitello said. But ultimately — sorry to rain on your parade — great organization, great people to work with and a great challenge, so I didn’t say no.”