Tennessee Volunteers baseball coach Tony Vitello was at the receiving end of an ice bucket shower following their College World Series win. Tennessee won Games 2 and 3 to beat Texas A&M to win the title.
After the Vols held on for a 6-5 win, the players stormed the field and celebrated, followed by an ice bucket shower for the coach, which is traditionally part of a prank played by players on coaches they love and respect.
Vitello was a true sport as most good coaches are, and playfully joined in.
Tony Vitello says winning the national title is 'Surreal'
Tony Vitello has helped Tennessee to a ton of success since he took over. He finally got the team over the hump and won a national title in his third attempt at the College World Series.
Following Tennessee's win, Vitello said it was surreal for him and the Vols to be national champs.
“Very surreal,” Vitello said, via The Vols Wire. “Hard to center yourself, which is a good thing, being lost in the moment, I guess. Nothing too intelligent to say other than the first thing to say is I hope the fans that have turned this into an insane party, insane event, got the series that they wanted and that they deserved.
"No better team to win for the University of Tennessee than a bunch of guys who were truly the definition of a team. No better play for our program too, I think, be the winning run on that slide, a guy that’s just built with a ton of grit, and his teammates follow his leadership, and it’s a great example of how this group got things done.”
Vitello has been the head coach of the Volunteers since 2017 and has led the program to a 295-112 record. He had agreed to a contract extension in June 2021 that paid him $1.5 million before incentives through June 2026.
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