What Tennessee baseball national title means to Tony Vitello’s dad: ‘This is heaven for us’

OMAHA, Neb. — Tony Vitello checked his phone before bed five nights prior to Tennessee baseball making program history.

His iPhone popped up a string of photos, including one from October 2017 that triggered a memory montage. It showed him standing on the field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium with a glove in his right hand and his father, Greg, with a glove on his left hand before he had coached a game at Tennessee.

Vitello’s left arm is slung around his dad’s shoulders.

On June 26 in Omaha, Greg Vitello wrapped his right arm across his son’s shoulders for a family picture next to the pitcher’s mound at Charles Schwab Field. He reveled in every moment of Tennessee’s first national championship — and the brilliant work his son has done to build a program in the past seven years. 

“You know the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ when he says, ‘Hey, is this heaven? No, it’s Iowa?’ No, this — this — is heaven for us,” Greg Vitello said. “You can’t do any better than this.”

Why Greg Vitello thinks Tony Vitello is successful as a coach

Tony Vitello hugged his staff, ran to celebrate with his players, dashed back to shake the hands of the Texas A&M coaching staff, then made the most important stop after Tennessee beat the Aggies 6-5 to win the national championship.

He climbed up the stairs behind the third-base camera well to lead his parents and family onto the field. 

“I don’t think a lot people really understand what it takes to get here until you do this,” Greg Vitello said. “To be able to walk away with a championship, it is just totally amazing.”

Any conversation about Tony Vitello being a coach has to begin with his father. 

Greg Vitello coached at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis for 46 years, winning six state titles — five in soccer and one in baseball. Tony Vitello watched his dad, played for him and is undoubtedly on his father’s coaching tree.

Greg Vitello didn’t know what kind of coach his son would be when he got into coaching. He was — at his own admission — a marginal player, but undoubtedly a hard worker. Tony Vitello hopped into coaching at Missouri as a volunteer assistant as soon as his playing career for the Tigers ended. He worked at TCU then landed at Arkansas, where he continued to become feared as a recruiter and a master of player development.

Tim Jamieson, who coached then hired Tony Vitello at Missouri, once told Greg Vitello he had never seen anyone work as hard as Tony Vitello did.

That is one of the traits that Greg Vitello said got Tennessee to the national title.

“He has gone through a whole lot — every coach has,” Greg Vitello said. “His perseverance and being able to rather than point the finger at somebody else, point the finger at me, I think that is one of the reasons he gets along so well with his players.”

How the Vitello family came together for Tennessee baseball national title 

Tony Vitello took off on a full sprint down the left-field line in Omaha, up a rolled-up tarp and into the stands after Tennessee won the title. 

Moments prior, he was hunched over between his mom and dad to embrace them both. It was a moment within the many celebratory minutes that Greg Vitello, 77, said he hopes to remember for a really long time.

“I will take it to heaven with me,” Greg Vitello said. 

Vitello family members from across the country flocked to Omaha for the College World Series final. Greg Vitello’s brother came from Chicago. Family members from Houston came and others did from New York. 

Family was on Greg Vitello’s mind after Tennessee won it all. He lauded the way Kathy Vitello raised their four kids — Tony Vitello and his three older sisters. He admires his wife’s strength. It could be why Tony Vitello is the way he is and why he battles so hard for for his players. He value family and clearly treats his players like family members.

BOOK: Celebrate Tennessee baseball’s epic CWS national championship with our special new book

The Vitellos posed for photos in the middle of the field, holding commemorative newspapers, shirts and pompoms. More importantly, they held each other. 

“His baseball brought together our family,” Greg Vitello said. “It’s all our family. It is all because of baseball. You just don’t do better than family. You really don’t.”

That isn’t lost on Tony Vitello. Neither is what he saw in the old picture with his father from seven years ago.

Lindsey Nelson Stadium had natural grass, trees behind left-field and only one row on porches. The ballpark is entirely different now and about to change even more, including a decal on the wall for the first national title in Tennessee baseball history.

“It is a dream,” Greg Vitello said. “It is a dream come true.”

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it