Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello during game one of the NCAA baseball tournament Fayetteville Super Regional between Tennessee and Arkansas held at Baum-Walker Stadium on Saturday, June 7, 2025. Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tony Vitello Offers Thoughts About New Adidas Deal

Originally posted on Tennessee Volunteers on SI
By Dale Dowden | Last updated Aug 23, 2025 2:39 PM ET

August 13 brought huge news to the athletics department of Tennessee. It was officially announced that the Volunteers would no longer be a Nike school, but instead, would be switching back to Adidas, which is set to transpire in July of 2026.

Two premier brands. One shared ambition:

To set a new standard in college sports.

adidas x Tennessee
07.01.2026
— Tennessee Athletics (@Vol_Sports) August 13, 2025

There are a multitude of reasons as to why the move was for the better. The ten-year deal is estimated to be in the 20-million-dollar range, with reportedly 10 million going to NIL efforts.

The above estimates are believed to be the per year numbers as well.

Despite all the financial benefits, not everyone is positively sold on the idea of going back to Adidas, but that is not the case for the head coach of the baseball team, Tony Vitello.

Coach Vitello joined the Josh and Swain show and offered some insight from a coach's perspective.

Jayson Swain, a former football player, now co-host of the Josh and Swain show asked Tony Vitello what the new deal meant for him, and inquired how involved he may have been during the process.

"Well, it was fortunate enough to be brought into the conversations," Vitello quickly stated.

"Because, any topic you don't wanna feel like you're on the outside looking in, and you know whether it's the stadium or that in particular, Danny (white) called me over to the office. The timing was unique, so I was like what's this about? And that came out of left field because you know Nike is, does have a niche where to the kids, it's one of the cool brands and things like that. But, what's cooler to the kids these days is customization.

Listen to this and more below.

"What's cooler to the kids these days is customization."

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello explained on @JoshandSwain why UT's new partnership with adidas makes sense for the Vols' future. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ePv38oP7Aj
— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) August 21, 2025