One part of Tennessee AD Danny White's press conference about Tony Vitello isn't sitting right with Vols fans

Tennessee Vols athletic director Danny White met with the media on Wednesday following UT baseball coach Tony Vitello's decision to leave Knoxville to become the new manager of the San Francisco Giants.

Near the beginning of the press conference, White addressed the rumors that have been flying around about the amount of funding (NIL/revenue sharing) the baseball program receives compared to the Lady Vols basketball program.

White suggested that fans/media should apologize to Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell for the rumors.

"First I think we all should ask anybody that's participated, where did that rumor come from?" said White. "Did anybody report that in here? So who reported it? Somebody had to make up something that's not true for it to become a rumor, right? So I think we should all collectively apologize to Kim Caldwell, and our women's basketball program, because that's factually incorrect. Never happened.

"Our rev share numbers are consistent with the house settlement. Five percent for women's basketball, 15 percent for men's basketball, 75 percent for football, and five percent for other. With that other budget, which is $900,000, we distributed $750,000 to our baseball program. That is far from what we do for baseball, or for any sport."

White's comment about apologizing to Caldwell didn't sit well with fans. That's because, regardless of the root of the rumors, no one (fan or media) was directing blame in any way toward Caldwell or the Lady Vols. The rumors suggested that White was responsible for the baseball program not receiving more funding.

Some fans thought it was a bad look for White to take himself out of the equation and mention Caldwell instead. It felt like White was shifting the spotlight away from himself in that moment.

Tony Vitello was reportedly "supportive" of Kim Caldwell and the Lady Vols

It was certainly an odd press conference moment from White (though Vols fans are used to odd moments in coaching-related press conferences from leadership) -- especially given the level of support that Caldwell has received some fans since she was hired in 2024.

Not to mention the fact that Vitello, according to VolQuest's Austin Price, was very supportive of Caldwell and the Lady Vols, too.

“Listen, I don’t think that Tony Vitello is ever going to hate on Kim Caldwell and her success, or anything like that,” said Price earlier this week on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will. “I think he is uber supportive of her, just like he is of Rick Barnes or Josh Heupel. They all want more (NIL resources). I don’t know what her rev share number is compared to what it was a year ago — obviously, the rev share wasn’t even a thing a year ago. It was NIL.

“So the whole thing’s kind of morphed over the last six months, when Tennessee became more involved — and colleges all became more involved — with the rev share part of this, versus just NIL and collectives. And so NIL and collectives, with certain kids, can take whatever the rev share number is and take it over the top to get you where you need to be financially to get the deals done. But I think Tony is very supportive of the Lady Vols. I don’t think this is a he’s mad at Kim Caldwell type of thing."

It felt like White was playing defense at times during his press conference on Wednesday. But that's to be expected -- anytime a program loses one of the top coaches in a sport, it's going to result in a fire that the athletic director has to put out.

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