Former Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello rails against NIL era: 'It's just a mess'

Since the advent of the transfer portal and the rise of name, image and likeness (NIL), there have been countless debates about how to create and adjust a system to establish guardrails when necessary.

As the college sports landscape has adjusted to NIL, the gap between college programs with deep-pocketed boosters and alumni and smaller schools with fewer financial resources has continued to widen. 

Although he was in a position to potentially benefit from those perceived advantages during his time as head coach at Tennessee, Tony Vitello railed against NIL's shortcomings.

"It’s a disaster," Vitello told Taylor Lewan and Will Compton during a recent episode of the "Bussin’ With The Boys" podcast.

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Vitello coached the Volunteers to the program's first national championship in 2024. Despite his lack of coaching experience at the MLB level, Vitello was named manager of the San Francisco Giants last month.

As he reflected on his successful tenure at Tennessee, Vitello shared some of his grievances with the current NIL system.

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"It’s a disaster," Vitello told Lewan and Compton. "We all have thoughts that you dream a little bigger. I kind of have this weird fantasy or vision of, OK, can college and MLB merge together a little bit and help each other? I certainly shouldn’t be the patron of either. But I can connect the right people and get this thing where it’s a little more fluid. But the one part MLB can’t affect is where NCAA sports are in general."

Vitello concluded that NIL has contributed to what he remembers as a chaotic environment.

"It’s just a mess. … It’s like you’re driving in the fog, and you can’t really see but about 100 or 200 feet in front of you. You’re grasping for what’s real, what you can do, what you can’t do. I’m sure someone will throw out that I did something wrong, or I didn’t do this. But, overall, it’s very frustrating when you don’t know the rules to the game."

While walking through the disparity between college baseball programs, Vitello also suggested the NIL era is counterproductive to the push to have schools compete on an even playing field.

"That’s the whole point of athletics or competition is: Let’s find out who can do it better. But when you really don’t know what the rules of the game are or they’re so lopsided in favor of Tennessee over Middle Tennessee State, it’s kind of hard to have that nose-to-nose competition."

Vitello replaces Bob Melvin, who departs after two seasons with the Giants. San Francisco has not advanced to the MLB postseason since 2021.

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