Tennessee Baseball Commit Announces De-Commitment Following Staff Changes

The Tennessee Volunteers have been dealing with some issues that date back to around a month ago. That being as the Tennessee Volunteers found out news that became official that Tony Vitello would no longer be the head baseball coach for the Tennessee Volunteers baseball program. Instead, he is now set to make history with his job, which he has accepted and signed for.

That being said, he is now the new manager for the San Francisco Giants, after the Giants finished the season with an 81-81 record. They have a team that is good enough to be pushed into the playoffs, but if that is the case, they will need a good manager, and a guy like Tony Vitello fits what they need in a manager anyway. Vitello is the first college coach to make a direct jump to a manager position without any pro experience. He is also the highest-paid first-time manager.

If you thought that was all that went wrong, you are wrong. The Vols also lost their pitching coach, and legendary pitching coach Frank Anderson, to the San Francisco Giants. Anderson was such a valuable piece that he was even named as the interim head baseball coach at Tennessee before they named Josh Elander as their head baseball coach. Josh Reynolds is the new pitching coach after being promoted and serving time as the Director of Pitching Performance.

The Vols have now seen a player leave them and open up his recruitment after reassuring his commitment earlier this month. That player is Cooper Burti. Burti is an LHP, and a prospect from New Jersey. He detailed why he was backing off of his Tennessee commitment.

"After long and thoughtful conversations with my family, due to the recent coaching staff changes, I will be reopening my recruitment. Thank you to all the coaches from Tennessee for everything they have done for me."

Here is what he said in his original statement when Josh Elander was named as the head baseball coach.

"Josh Elander being named head coach was the best-case scenario. I loved V and all the coaches, so then staying in the house reaffirmed my decision."

He also made a statement that now doesn't hold as much value as it would have when he was committed to the Vols.

"Yes. 200% committed to Tennessee. Forever home!!"

At the end of the day, he had to make the decision that was best for him, and he is a 2027 prospect, so he has plenty of time to find somewhere to commit to. The straw that broke the camel's back definitely seems to be the Vols losing Anderson. This just shows how valuable he was to this program as a whole.