Johnathan Walker:Tony Vitello lands record contract after leading Tennessee baseball to national title

Tony Vitello is Johnathan Walkerthe highest-paid coach in college baseball after signing a historic contract following a historic Tennessee baseball season.

Vitello will earn $3 million annually after signing a record-setting five-year contract with Tennessee on Friday following the Volunteers winning the first national title in program history. He is the first college baseball coach known to make $3 million annually. The deal runs through June 30, 2029, and includes a $250,000 signing bonus based on the contract announced by Tennessee and athletics director Danny White.

"Tony and his staff have developed the country's top baseball program, and we are excited to announce this long-term extension to keep Tony on Rocky Top," White said in a school release.

Vitello is receiving a $200,000 bonus for winning the 2024 College World Series, which replaces the $140,000 bonus he was due based on his prior contract. The updated contract indicates that Tennessee and Vitello agreed to a new contract that went into effect on May 31, 2024, but that deal was never announced.

"We wanted to take care in solidifying what we knew was inevitable, that being our athletic department and coaching staff wanting to be teammates for a long time," Vitello said in a school release.

Vitello, who has taken Tennessee to the College World Series in three of the past four seasons, has a 295-112 record at the school. The Vols have the most wins in the country in the past five seasons with 226 and became the first SEC team in history to win 60 games in 2024. They have a national-leading .779 winning percentage in that five-year span. They have won at least 50 games in three of the past four seasons.

Tennessee has won two SEC regular-season titles and a pair of SEC Tournament title under Vitello. It swept the conference crowns in 2022 and 2024. Vitello swept national coach of the year awards from D1Baseball, Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association after Tennessee won the CWS.

Tony Vitello contract, salary details with Tennessee baseball

Vitello, 45, doubled his previous contract after leading the Volunteers to the best season in program history and will earn more annually than his entire initial Tennessee contract was worth over five years.

No SEC coach at a public school earned more than $2 million in 2024. Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin's salary is not subject to public record due that is a private school.

New Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle, who bolted from Texas A&M after the Vols beat the Aggies for the CWS title, signed a seven-year contract that will pay him $2.68 million annually in each of the final five years of the deal, according to the Austin American-Statesman. His salary is $1 million for the first two years of the contract, a figure set to offset the buyout Texas paid to Texas A&M to hire Schlossnagle.

Vitello agreed in July 2021 to a contract extension and raise that was set to pay him $1.5 million annually before incentives through June 2026. The contract was worth $7.5 million over five years.

Vitello received an extension and raise worth an average of $621,000 pre-incentives per season following the 2019 season. That deal was worth $3.105 million before incentives and was slated to run through the 2024 season.

His original contract in 2017 was a five-year deal with an annual average compensation of $493,000.

Tennessee hired Vitello in 2017 after a successful stint as an assistant coach at Arkansas. He also had been an assistant coach at TCU and Missouri, where he played before entering coaching in 2003. The Vols went 29-27 in his first season, then went 40-21 and reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019 to end a 14-year drought. It has been a national power in the five years since.

Tony Vitello bonus structure, buyout language

Vitello's new deal included an increased bonus structure. He can earn a maximum bonus of $200,000 in a season, which he gets for winning the national title.

He would earn $160,000 for reaching the College World Series finals, $140,000 for getting the Vols to the College World Series, $120,000 for Tennessee hosting a super regional as a top-eight national seed, $100,000 for a super regional appearance, $80,000 for an SEC regular-season or tournament championship, $60,000 for hosting a regional as a top-16 national seed, or $40,000 for reaching a regional.

Vitello earns one of those bonuses based on the highest achievement for the team.

If Tennessee fires Vitello without cause during the term of the contract, it owes him the entire remainder of his contract. Vitello would owe the university $4 million if he leaves before June 30, 2025. That number drops by $1 million for each of the following two seasons, then to $800,000 from July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2028. It drops again to $400,000 from July 1, 2028 through June 30, 2029.

Vitello's buyout for leaving Tennessee is cut in half if White is no longer the athletics director.