If Danny White doesn't hire Josh Elander, he will be choosing to erase everything Tony Vitello built at Tennessee

Elander obviously hasn't been as front-facing in the program as Vitello was for the last eight years, but he's still been a massive part of Tennessee's incredible run in recent seasons.

The former TCU baseball standout is a key reason why the culture built under Vitello works. Tennessee's "no bad teammates" philosophy, for example, is a big part of the Vols' sustained success -- and it's a philosophy that Elander is completely bought into.

"We always talk about being a good teammate," said Elander before the 2025 season in an interview with Prep Baseball Report. "I mean, that takes care of a lot of things. So the one thing we have no tolerance for is just guys being bad teammates. And then the thing is now with the culture, with how secure it is and how organically it's been built over the years, it takes care of itself. Guys that are not good teammates, it just doesn't work out here."

If Danny White doesn't hire Josh Elander, it'll be the biggest mistake of his career

White told reporters the day that Vitello accepted the job with the Giants that he wanted to hear from Tennessee's current players.

"The first data point for me will be hearing more directly from that leadership group of student athletes, what they're experiencing right now," said White. "A lot of times when you go into a coaching search, it's because the team isn't having the kind of success you want to have, so how do we make things better? But we're obviously 18 months removed from a national championship and just lost our coach to the big leagues for the first time in the history of college baseball. So, we have a positive momentum and a good thing going."

If what the players have to say truly matters to White, then it has to be Elander.

If it’s not Elander, White will be tearing apart the very fabric of the culture that Vitello worked to build over the last eight years. Hiring someone else would replace what made Tennessee great under Vitello with another program’s culture.

Elander won’t have the same personality as Vitello. His interviews with the media won’t be as entertaining (no offense, Tony V was just unabashedly Tony V). But he will keep the spirit of what Tony V created going. The work ethic, the recruiting philosophy (which is far more than looking at a list — these coaches are investing in players and creating relationships), and the culture. 

That culture, by the way, isn’t just the brief moments of bravado you see in big moments during games. It’s more than that. It’s the work behind the scenes, the no-bad teammates tolerated policy in action, and the genuine relationships that develop as a result. Those relationships lead to trust on the field, and real accountability — necessary ingredients to consistently win. 

This is an easy decision. Danny White doesn’t need to put on a show for everyone and waste money while getting candidates raises. The answer is right in front of him. It’s Josh Elander. And if he needs to confirm the answer, just look at one of the first coaches he’s set to interview — Coastal Carolina’s Kevin Schnall, a guy who just took over for a very successful coach this past season and led CCU to the CWS finals. Why would White go hire a different version of what he already has at Tennessee in Elander? 

If White doesn’t hire Elander, it means he will officially be ending Vitello’s version of Tennessee baseball and starting the Danny White era of Tennessee baseball. 

I’m not saying the Danny White way won’t work -- I have no idea how it would go. 

I just don’t understand why White wouldn’t trust Elander and the rest of the guys in the program that have been making this thing work daily for years. Those are the guys that deserve to coach in the new version of Lindsey Nelson Stadium, not a staff who had nothing to do with making those renovations a possibility. 

White said it himself -- Tennessee baseball has positive momentum right now. Hiring anyone but Elander would put that positive momentum at risk.

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