Greg Vitello was in the stands at Omaha when he saw his son, Tony, lead the University of Tennessee to its first College World Series title in 2024.
A year later, Greg found himself with a front-row seat to yet another crowning achievement for his family.
Sitting in the club level at Oracle Park on Thursday, Greg watched proudly as Tony was formally introduced as the 40th manager in Giants history, becoming the first coach to leap directly from college to the pros.
“It’s kind of like it’s our Omaha,” Greg said afterward. “It’s our Field of Dreams. I keep using the word surreal, but that’s what it is for us. You just can’t fathom the fact that he’s going to wear the Giants uniform and be the Giants’ manager.”
Tony, 47, spent the past eight years orchestrating Tennessee’s rise to national prominence and cut his teeth at several of the most respected college baseball programs in the country, including the University of Missouri (2003-10), Texas Christian University (2011-13) and the University of Arkansas (2014-17).
But his coaching education really began with Greg, a Missouri Sports Hall of Famer who coached baseball and soccer at De Smet Jesuit High School in the St. Louis area for 46 years.
“We’re all in this together, and I’ve learned that from my dad,” Tony said. “Getting to sit on the bench when I was little and see all the different teams he coached, you kind of become well-educated in, ‘Well, this isn’t the right thing to do in this situation,’ or, ‘This is.’ His teams had a knack for peaking toward the end of the season, and I think that’s piling up lessons learned.”
Tony played for Greg’s soccer and baseball teams at De Smet, but some of his most enduring lessons came off the field, where he often got a chance to dissect games and talk strategy with his dad.
“Going home after a practice or after a game, I put him on the spot because I coached by myself,” Greg said. “I would ask him, ‘What do you think about the third baseman? Should he be hitting third, should he be hitting seventh? Do we need a new right fielder?’ And even though he was talking about his peers, he was willing to give me feedback, to talk about stuff like that.
“His insight into the game was just tremendous. He used to sit on the bench and watch guys like [former Giants third baseman] Bill Mueller play. When he went to Missouri, he wasn’t a starter when he first got there. But he was able to sit and watch guys like Augie Garrido coach and develop different perspectives of the game. ‘This worked, this didn’t work.’ And I think that was all part of his baseball education.”
“I didn’t know what I was talking about, but the more you’re around something and the more you discuss it, the more information you gather and get a little better at it,” Tony said of his formative years at De Smet. “Hopefully those golden days of being with my dad will serve me well.”
Tony imbued his Tennessee teams with a level of swagger and bravado that tended to rub some people the wrong way, and he isn’t necessarily committing to tamping down on that now that he’s at the helm of a big league team.
“I think if you asked my mom, she’d want me to tone it down,” Tony said. “But if you asked my dad, he’d say kick it up a notch.”
Greg understands his son will have his share of doubters due to his lack of professional coaching experience, but he’s confident Tony will be able to continue to channel his fiery energy in a productive way with the Giants.
“I think he’ll find that line,” Greg said. “But I think he’s smart enough to know that he can go up to that line and not cross it. I think that’s one of the things about him in general and his personality. I think he knows how far he can go because he’s an extremely intelligent individual. Much more than his father.
“His personality is such that he convinces people to trust him,” he added. “If you can get people to trust you, I think that’s the most important thing. Being able to play Minor League Baseball or Major League Baseball, I think that’s inconsequential right now. I think it’s trust, I really do. And his personality is built that way. He gets people to trust him, no matter what level you’re talking about.”