Austin Price: Hello everybody and welcome into another episode of Vol Club Confidential. It's been a while since we've seen you. Tennessee has won the Orange Bowl, got 11 wins for the first time since 2001, finished sixth in both the coaches and Associated Press polls, and then Tennessee's basketball team rolling right through the month of January in league play. A really impressive start for Rick Barnes and company. Let's bring in Spyre's Brandon Spurlock. Brandon, when you look at the energy around this fan base, the new members with the Vol Club, coming off the bowl win over Clemson, it feels like you guys have got a nice little tailwind behind you pushing into 2023. Brandon Spurlock: Well, I don't want to say we're spoiled as fans, but it's kind of what we come to expect. We're in a position where we're trying to capitalize on that energy and really harness it and funnel it into creating the best NIL opportunities for our players. And so we're excited to go into the new calendar year and really look at, evaluate really how we did our first full year in the NIL space and kind of make some changes, make some improvements, and we go into this new year looking at capitalizing on the basketball season. We've got some watch parties coming up. We're going to do some here locally, but to start it off, we just wanted to take the show on the road because we don't get to see a lot of our people outside of Knoxville very often. So on the same night, January 17th, Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, we're going to hit different areas there as a thank you to our members and just kind of a value add there where they get an opportunity to come hang out with us and watch the Vols continue this winning that they're doing in basketball. Austin Price: A lot of great ball fans in all three of those cities across the state. My personal favorite, my people, my crew out in Memphis. Besides that, you also have a tailgate coming up near the end of the month, and just pay attention to your newsletter with the Vol Club members. As you know, Vol Club will announce kind of more details about the tailgate even though it's basketball season for the Texas weekend. Brandon Spurlock: Yeah, something different there and we're still ironing out the details, but that Texas weekend, it's on a Saturday, good opportunity to partner with Tennessee with the athletic department to do something that you don't typically do in basketball. And also something that we had a lot of fun with during football. So I think a lot of people will be jazzed up for that game, obviously. So to have a basketball tailgate, whether it's indoor or outdoor, that's the part we're working on since it's still in January. But really excited about that. And again, really the next thing, the big thing for us is looking at beyond the tailgates and all that, really always trying to pour and add value to our membership. The Volunteer Legacy is something that's going to be really big for us this year in addition to Volunteer Club. So that's going to be our nonprofit opportunity for people to do some tax deductible giving. Really big opportunity for our athletes to make a bigger impact in the community and to give donor benefits through that program. So we're really excited about that and people are going to hear more about that in the coming days and coming weeks. Austin Price: Football's wrapped up, basketball's in full swing and right around the corner is baseball. And that's the topic of tonight's Vol Club Confidential with head coach Tony Vitello. Tony Vitello: What's up man? Austin Price: What's up bud? Tony Vitello: How are you doing? Austin Price: Good, how are you? Tony Vitello: Good. Good to see you Austin Price: Coach Vitello, when you kind of look at your baseball career, what are you most proud of? Is it your coaching? Is it your playing days? I mean, I know all coaches go, "I was just a mediocre player." But I mean, what do you look back on with fondness? Tony Vitello: In a weird way sometimes they say you got to go with your first instinct, I think it's not quitting. And I know that's kind of a negative phrase or not an exciting thing to say, but it was very trying for me as a player. My father was a coach and he was a great one and so people looked to him for success. And so there was not only expectations I had for myself, but then you kind of throw maybe a little extra weight in there to be a good player because of who my dad was. And then I just also had high expectations. I wanted to be at a state university like I am now and at University of Missouri, I don't know that I was talented enough to be in that group. So it took a little extra perseverance and it took a couple days of, do I want to quit? Do I not want to quit? And I'm glad I stayed with it because there's no way I'd be here if I did. Austin Price: You grew up in Missouri, you played at Missouri. Big Cardinals fan? Tony Vitello: In an odd way, a bit of a Cubs fan. My dad's from Chicago, of course I'm from St. Louis. You have to respect the Cardinals, especially when you grow up and Whitey Herzog has his teams. But maybe a little bit of the edginess I have, to me that goes overboard sometimes comes from having a balance cheering for the Cubs in the city of St. Louis. Austin Price: See that, flip that, the guy that lives across the street from me, the best neighbor on the earth, but he is a Chicagoan, born and bred and he's a Packers and Cardinals fan, which is like the arch nemesis, the Bears and the Cubs. So it happens more times than you think. Who maybe did you look up most as far as baseball growing up? I mean, who were your favorite players? Who did you love to watch? Tony Vitello: Sure. My dad of course, I looked up to because I was able to go to his practices, sit on the bench and things like that. But with each new team he had every year coaching baseball and soccer, and he coached a variety of other sports too, was I'd kind of pick out my guy that I liked. And a lot of those guys are ultra successful in different fields. Some of them athletically. One guy that stands out is Bill Miller, Mariano Rivera's pitching, ready to close out the series and Bill gets the hit that drove in the run to tie the game. And then of course they come back from that series down three-oh. So Bill was right in the thick of that. He won the batting title that year. Bill came and spoke with our team this year so that that's why he's fresh on the brain. He did a great job talking to our guys and he talked about that Red Sox team. I mean, you got to have a unique locker room to come back from three-oh against the Yankees when they have Rivera. So he's one that stands out. And Andre Dawson, speaking of the Cubs, was a guy that I loved and my dad kind of used his connections. I got to meet him one day in Wrigley Field and then watch a game and that was one of the best days of my life. Austin Price: Oh, I can imagine the hawk baby. He could mash. Do you have a fondness for seventies and eighties and nineties baseball compared to modern day baseball? Tony Vitello: I think I kind of roll with the punches. I mean seventies, eighties, nineties music. We could certainly, I don't know what nineties music was like, but you can find positives and negatives to each and I think times evolve and it's a little bit like NCAA athletics, college baseball. I mean, things change and whether you like them or not, if you're just an individual person, you're going to have to adapt with them. But it doesn't mean you can't appreciate what occurred in the past and pick out what you like and maybe make fun or criticize what you didn't like. Austin Price: When you look at your team, is there a characteristic that you feel like has been there every year? I know teams change and the chemistry changes and stuff, but is there a characteristic that you feel like's been there every year at Tennessee? Tony Vitello: I think there's been a little bit of a blue collar, that's very cliche, every coach would check that box and say, "We're blue collar." But I think there's been a little bit, I'm just going to use that to umbrella not having the best facility, maybe not having the most talent on the roster, not having the best tradition, especially in relatively recent history. So a little bit of like we're going to have to bring our lunch pail and hardhat to work every day in order to fit in with this group that is the SEC. And I think that's been there every year. And it probably boiled over to the point last year where there was so much, it was our greatest strength and at times was also a weakness. Austin Price: How would you compare what you inherited or encountered when you got here to what Josh Heupel inherited and encountered when he got here? I mean, do you see similarities there? You all hadn't had much success there for several years leading into when you got here, which is why they had so much change and turnover. Hadn't been to the SEC tournament in a long time. Football had struggled the last, well, 10 plus years. Is there some similarities that you can see? Tony Vitello: If me and Josh were eating lunch, we could tease each other and you could go the direction I think you're kind of asking the question is, who had it worse? We could say, well, we didn't have a shortstop or there was no defensive back or we couldn't trust this guy at this position. But I think you can flip it and look at it the other way. We both had a key component and it was a location. You wouldn't start a restaurant at a location that you didn't think you could have success. And here there's ingredients with the fan base and other things involved where you're capable of having success. It's not going to be easy, might be easier in a few places. It's dang sure not as easy as it is at some, but the right ingredients are there if you're willing to put in the work and you got good people working around you with the players. And he certainly did that. I think to do it as quick as he did speaks to the genius of his ability to call plays and how good some of his support staff is. I think when a football game starts, I think coaches have a little bit more ability to control some of the things that are going on than a baseball coach does. I mean, both sports in every sport, the players are going to win and lose the game. You can call the best player in the world, but if Patrick Mahomes doesn't make the play, it ain't all going to work out. But I do think X's and O's, the pressure's on. That's why they got guys in the press box. We just got a few guys in the dugout spitting sunflower seeds. Austin Price: When I look at it, I see that both of you took what you had and you made those players your players instead of, that's the previous guy's players. You know what I mean? Because some coaches do that. It's like there's a divide. But the instant you got here, the instant he got here, all those players that were on your roster were your players just like you had recruited them and that's how you treated them and I think that's how they responded. Fair? Tony Vitello: We both would kill to coach Deion Sanders. But it kind of reminds me of Deion coming in and it was a little different. And it might have been for show for the cameras, I didn't even watch the thing, but it was kind of, get out because we're going to bring in our guys. Well that's fair and I'm all for upgrading, but what you have is what you have to work with, and it carries over too with the guys you recruited. You may think a guy is this fast, but when he shows up, he's only this fast or however you want to phrase it. The bottom line is, he's wearing your jersey, he's your teammate. The players are the key to success. So you got to get the most out of them you can. And there's no question that staff is on a mission to pull that out of each guy. And I think the one thing we really got going for us as a coaching staff, there's a lot of people that look after our guys and I think to help make them Vols for our coaching staff when we first got here. Austin Price: When you first got here, is there a player that ended up maybe overachieving or someone you saw like, that kid's never going to help us, and then all of a sudden three years later you're like, wow? Tony Vitello: Yeah, I think it's tough to pick out just one guy off the top of my head. But Andre Lipcius was a guy that we inherited and he just drove you nuts because he's so cerebral, he has so many questions. He's an over analyzer and normally that's the worst thing. Analysis paralysis, all that stuff. Could not be a better teammate, kid, rep of our program. I think he's going to make it to the big leagues. And he was our best player for one, probably two years in a row. And then another kid, Jake Rucker that we recruited ourselves, came in as a freshman our second year. And he was the guy we picked on because he could take it, but also he was a freshman playing amongst older guys and he made the most mistakes. But by junior year, he's leading us to Omaha hitting in the three hole playing a phenomenal third base. Austin Price: I asked you this last year when we sat down at the stadium and you gave me I think three or four names that ended up being unbelievable last year. Who's some players on this current team that nobody's talking about now as we sit here in mid-January that people will be talking about mid-March, mid-April? Tony Vitello: I hope we have those guys. It's certainly not a magical dust I sprinkled on last year's group, whoever they were, but- Austin Price: No, but you had a good beat on your team though. You had a good beat on who you thought would help. Tony Vitello: Yeah, and I think that conversation took place a little later than this one- Austin Price: It did, yeah. Tony Vitello: So you're still gathering up information. One thing you do right now is see who put in their work over Christmas break and who slacked off. Who had a bunch of desserts like I did. Our guys look good. And I think Andrew Lindsey looks as good as anyone physically. He's a transfer in a weird sort of way, he was at Charlotte and took a year off from baseball. He just didn't have a good life experience, no harm or fair play to Charlotte's baseball program, but it just didn't go well. So he takes a year off, Frank sees him throw, long story short, he's now on our campus. I think he'll be that pitcher. Another guy that no one's talking about because time has passed without him pitching is Seth Halvorsen. He was Missouri's Friday night starter, has a fracture in his arm that eventually broke all the way through and had just a tough grueling grind to rehab that thing. So those are two guys on the pitching side. And then another one that I don't think people are talking about, even though they'll remember his name when he is announced is Charlie Taylor, our catcher from last year got a couple standing ovations just because he had to replace Evan Russell in some key situations and he was a fresh face, baby face even. And he did so well, he did well because he's a great teammate and a great worker and now that's taken him a year forward in his progression as a player. And then another one for me that sticks out as Christian Scott has been a part of the program for so long, he's kind of been behind the scenes kind of like Trey- Austin Price: Blue guy? Tony Vitello: Kind of like Trey Lipscomb has been. An injury, we have other good players, it could have been a different resume he's got to this point, but the bottom line is here we are. We didn't know for sure whether he'd come back and use that extra year that he has or just stay in the program because there's no guarantee he'd play. But he has, he's improved. His maturity level is off the charts compared to what it was as a freshman. And those are four guys that I'm glad they're in our locker room, I'll put it that way. Austin Price: I think you guys will always be able to hit, but you lose some big time production from last year's offensive lineup. Do you feel like the fact you're so strong with the pitching staff and so deep in the pitching staff that it gives some of those younger hitters a chance to kind of come along and there's not so much pressure on them right from the jump? Tony Vitello: Well, the first thing is I want to know why you think we'll always hit. That'll give me confidence. Austin Price: You've hit the last several years. Tony Vitello: Yeah, I think Coach Elander does a great job getting guys to do something, backspin baseballs and then Coach Q, our strength coach and then the park will play lively for you. So it's a good setup if we recruit the right way and the guys work hard, and they have. I think when you have confidence in your pitcher when you come to the park every day, it alleviates stress. Had the good fortune of having Max Scherzer, his freshman year was a developmental year. His sophomore year he took over college baseball and our guys showed up at the park every day. I remember we were in the Big 12, but we did play Florida. They were number one in the country and we beat them, I think 22 to three. And that was a night Max started and the hitters felt no pressure. They felt like if we score two runs we're good. And I think this year's team needs to feel a sense of urgency, not pressure on defense to hook it up behind these good arms we have, but also at the plate they need to feel a sense of relaxation that the pitching is going to be what keeps us in the game. It's going to be our backbone. So what they need to do is just have competitive at bats. And if we're doing what we think we can on the defensive side, the offensive side will kind of take care of itself. Austin Price: Right or wrong, you had never met Frank Anderson when you hired him, right? Tony Vitello: We had met, but we had never had lunch, we had never had dinner. We never probably had been around each other for more than a few minutes at a time. Only really in passing at the ballpark when we're both recruiting the same guys. But there was a moment where my mentor ended up on a Southwest Airlines flight with Frank to go down to Arizona to recruit. Well, they start talking and one thing my mentor shared is when we were at Missouri, we basically started a research project on Frank Anderson and we wanted to mimic him or benchmark what he was doing. And Frank will hide emotions, he just got national pitching coach of the year. He wouldn't even tell us he won the award. He won't show you how much it means to him, but it's there beneath that thick skin of his. And at that moment I think he was emotional and realized that's the best compliment anyone can ever get. And so he knew I was a part of that. So that mutual respect was kind of the initiation of our relationship. Austin Price: You talk about him hiding emotion. I see him come flying out of the dugout. Tony Vitello: Well that that's intensity, I'm going more on the soft side. The tears aren't going to always be flowing and if they are, he's going to hide those. But he's a guy that cares a lot about the kids and he's great with mechanics and things like that. But I think that trust level and that deep-rooted relationship he forms with the pitchers has a great effect on how they perform. Austin Price: When you first got here, you didn't have the beard back then, and I know the program, you kind of saw promise in it, but to see it kind of in year two go boom, then obviously the COVID year and then the last two years were awesome. How much has your life changed just around the state? Because it feels like you're probably not going anywhere where people aren't gravitating towards you, because you are a big personality. Tony Vitello: Yeah, I think, I tried to trick them when I first got here that I was mature. That kind of went out the window, I think against Kentucky with an ejection. But that first year was just so tense and life the first two years because of recruiting and you felt like you had zero room for error to make mistakes on the field, it just was such a heightened sense of tension around the program. And now I don't think we relax, I mean, we're still working hard, but it's different. And we hit a different stride there where I think we were all at peace with, we've invested a lot of time here. We love working here. And the biggest part of my answer to your question is, we have roots here. It feels so good to have roots in the state and know who the donors are, the loyal fans are, the new fans, who the kids are coming up, who the players are in the state and the coaches. Just how it all works. Just having roots here is a great, great feeling. And our coaches all want to be here. They've said no to other jobs or starting families. Some of them are building, I can't say who or what, but some of them are building upon on those families. So that that's a huge part of it for me is the roots. Now it's all kind of flipped and it is a new environment. You feel a sense of pressure now. When fans meet and greet you, they say stuff and they want to go to Omaha and they're disappointed we lost last year earlier than some thought we should. They're buying season tickets. They're helping with NIL or stadium facilities. You're crazy if you don't feel a little bit of pressure, which is the first time in my career. I've never worried about what other people thought because I seem to put a type of pressure on myself that my dad did to himself. But now it's different, yeah, it is just about our inner circle, but it's also about a lot of other people in this state and really across the country. Austin Price: Coming up in six weeks by the way, we'll do the gender reveal for said coach who has a growing family. Tony Vitello: Yeah. We'll see how many months that is. I'm out of the loop on that. Austin Price: I would be surprised if at what week they can do the gender reveal. Major league baseball manager that maybe you looked up to try to model the way you manage after. Tony Vitello: I just loved Whitey Herzog's plan. It was just so obvious. And you read the books too, it kind of reaffirms that. And then my dad is a part of a club where they get together and talk sports and now he knows him personally. Whitey had everything. He was so well-rounded. And why go to an extreme? And it's easy to sit here and say this, why go to an extreme where you're only in offensive guru, or you're a real hothead, or you're kind of a low-key guy and you don't have much energy. He was just so well-rounded. He was intense at the right times, calm at the right times, great X's and O guy, it seemed. He had a great plan, good feel for personnel. You saw there was a distance between the players and him because he's got a job to do. He's got to write out the lineup. But there was also a closeness where you'd see Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith and him yucking it up during BP and things like that. So I was young, but being in a family where coaching was present every day, it was easy to see how well-rounded he was. And then another guy, because of my dad's background, and we didn't have a football team in St. Louis, the Cardinals who our players don't even know the Cardinals were in St. Louis, they leave when I'm about seven. We used to go to Soldier Field all the time. Austin Price: Your players may not know the Rams were in St. Louis. Tony Vitello: That's true. Well, the St. Louis people do, they're still bitter about that. But we used to go to Soldier Field. Walter Payton was my favorite player, but Mike Ditka, how could he not grab your attention as a sports fan or just anybody? And that big personality was something I loved and it was more of an edge than Whitey had, a bigger personality than Whitey had. Two different types of guys, but both champions and both great to look up to if you ask me. Austin Price: All right, this may take a minute. If you're filling out your lineup card for your all-time team, who's at each position? Tony Vitello: That's hard because you're, you're so loyal to certain guys, but Jayce Tingler is the most intense player I've ever played with or coached, and I got to do both. Jayce was manager of the Padres. He's up for manager of the year one year, fired the next year. That's how pro sports goes if the big free agent guys don't perform. They had some injuries. He's now a bench coach with the Twins, which we've got several guys in pro ball with the Twins now, but you'd have to have him out there. Ian Kinsler, I was only around for a year. If you were going to... What's the criteria? Based off his pro career, he is a no doubter. College career, I'd have to favor a guy probably that I was around Tennessee for three years. There's some tremendous ones. Andrew Benintendi and I have grown really close as friends now. As a player, I was in awe of watching him at Arkansas, some of the things he could do. And then Drew Gilbert, he had probably the most electric moment I've ever been around in sports and I've been to a lot of games. But also just how he changed the culture at Tennessee. I don't think even the most loyal fan... Or you're a hardworking member of the media so you get to kind of peel back the curtain a little bit, but I don't think anybody will ever know how much Drew affected our culture at University of Tennessee. Austin Price: Made people believe. Tony Vitello: Yeah, he really did. And he affected people's minds and that's very hard to do. And he did it in a unique way too, not in a Tom Brady or I don't know, Derek Jeter, where it's kind of obvious and you see him kind of being a point guard on the field. In a weird way in the hallways and behind the scenes, he affected that culture more than anyone will ever know. Austin Price: You ever seen Bagger Vance? Tony Vitello: I have, great flick. Austin Price: So at the end, he makes the putt and Bagger's walking down the beach and he hears the... When Drew hit the Grand Slam, I was covering a junior day for football. So I was in the complex and I mean, I knew the score, I was keeping up with it on my phone, and all of a sudden I hear... And I'm like, "Did he just hit a grand slam?" And it updated I'm like, "Whoa." It was just so neat to kind of be like, if you weren't there it was a cool place to be to feel the... It's kind of like when we talked to Josiah-Jordan James about seeing the video from the Alabama game of the people watching the watch party in Circle Park, and there's a delay on the screen. So Chase is lined up for the field goal, but the fireworks go off. So they know that Tennessee's won before they ever actually get to watch it. But it was just kind of a neat way to take that in when you weren't at the game. Tony Vitello: Yeah, no doubt. No, I've had other stories from other people too where they were golfing and literally the cheering moved the ball on the green. But that was an epic moment and I thank him for that. And a lot of the other stuff he did, and one guy leave off that list is coaching third base for us. I coached Josh Elander for two years at TCU, and he was the epitome of what you're looking for. I sat in the dugout one weird day, we were playing Texas, and I got on the field and I looked back and Roger Clemens' number is on the wall, and I'm like, "What the hell am I doing out? I don't deserve, I'm not athletic enough to be out here." But then I kind of tried to credit myself and say, "Well, I kind of worked my way to this point." So later in the game when I'm out of the game where I belong on the bench, I'm thinking, "Well, if I can do that just by doing this in the weight room and this on the field, then what if you get a talented player to do that?" The perfect storm. And Kobe's the easy guy to point to. He was the most talented player and he was the hardest worker. And one of the reasons Coach Elander was hired, first college coaching job, no experience. He gets into the SEC is just that background of being the best player on our team at TCU and also the hardest worker. Austin Price: Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, should they be in the hall? Tony Vitello: Yeah, no question. Barry Bonds, you can go back and look at how skinny he was. He was as skinny as a fungo with the Pirates. He was a Hall of Fame player. And also who are we to play private eye or FBI, which- Austin Price: He had 500 steals before he ever got big. You know what I mean? Tony Vitello: Right. Roger Clemens, you look at his career at Texas, everyone knew he was going to be a superstar. And anyone who's been around him, that level of intensity and work ethic. I coached or played with a guy that, or played for a coach, I'm sorry, that coached him in minor league baseball for the Red Sox. They said in between innings of his start, he would go to the bullpen and do fielding drills, basically practicing in the middle of his outing. He's a maniac worker. And then Pete Rose epitomizes the definition of how to play the game hard. And if we're going to dissect how people live their life off the field, that's going to eat up a lot of time. There's going to be a lot of podcasts. And the easy argument too for Bonds and Clemens is, how many guys did they face either hit against or pitch against that were also on steroids? Austin Price: Yeah, that's right. Tony Vitello: Put up the numbers. So I don't know. I don't if that's the right answer, but that dang sure is my first instinct and convicted answer. Austin Price: If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who would it be and why? Tony Vitello: Oh, that's a tough one. I am slow to commit. Hence the no jewelry on my fingers. So I'd hate to commit to just to three right off the bat. Man, that's a tough one. I'd like to balance out a sports figure, which would probably be Walter Payton, a historical figure as well, and then somebody else that's outside of the athletic realm, whether they be an artist, probably a musician would be a pretty cool one. I don't know which musician I would choose, but probably the one that I think's got the best stories from being on the road. Austin Price: If you could go watch any musician you wanted to in their prime, who would it be? Tony Vitello: Man, Led Zeppelin would be pretty cool to check out, but I'm trying to think what would be the most unique, where it's so difficult for anyone else to say they did it. Maybe seeing Jimi Hendrix play that guitar because it was such a short time that he was doing it and it was so unique too, what he was doing. Austin Price: I'll go Elvis. Tony Vitello: That ain't bad. Just slide over to Memphis. Get you a donor to fly you over there. It's what, an hour flight? That's another one that's that's really tough to answer. Bob Marley for me would've been pretty special to see too. Not that I got any paraphernalia or anything in my car. Austin Price: Favorite Tennessee tradition? Tony Vitello: Oh gosh. I mean, Rocky Top is kind of the thing. For me growing up, it was the Checkerboard. I mean, that's what I visually saw. Pat Summitt and the Checkerboard and Coach Fulmer were what Tennessee was to me. Being a St. Louis kid that's not really a Tennessee fan, but a collegiate athletics fan, and you had a reason to kind of recognize what was going on over here. But now that I'm here when we score, it's that song and it's a pretty dang good one. And my favorite thing about being a part of a team, because if they got rid of me today and Coach Barnes said, "Do you want to be a manager?" Yeah, I want to be a part of a team. My favorite thing is when a group in unison is all together for one thing. That could be a concert where everyone knows the lyrics or it could be a sporting event where everyone's cheering on the same side and you get to combine those with Rocky Top. Austin Price: Favorite Tennessee song that's not Rocky Top? Tony Vitello: Oh man, I don't know if it's my favorite, but I shouldn't say this about 86, I had a little insight about the Morgan Wallen song 865, but man, Dixieland Delight's about Tennessee, if you ask me. So I don't know that it's my favorite, but listening to that after we beat Alabama on the field will be a memory that'll never, ever leave my brain. Austin Price: It's kind of like when Pat sang Rocky Top, when Bruce had things going on back in the mid-2000, they've started to use you in the non-baseball sports. When you're not doing your real job, do you kind of get to be like cheerleader number one that they throw up on the Jumbotron? And it seems like you embrace that role. Tony Vitello: Yeah, I mean, I'm all for playing the part. I'm the worst singer in the state of Tennessee, hands down. Or we could go to any state, it doesn't have to be one where Nashville's located. So I get a little uncomfortable with having to either shout out stuff or sing. But man, again, I like team stuff. And Danny White's my teammate Rick Barnes is my teammate. You name it, I consider myself a fan of our women's soccer team- Austin Price: Brandon Webb's your party pal. Tony Vitello: That he is. We shared a little time on a boat on New Year's Eve, and I don't know that I could have had a better day on New Year's Eve. Great day, great way to start or transition into the new year. So yeah, we're all pulling on the same rope, to use that cliche. And when I first got here, we asked the '95, guys on Helton's team or JP and Hochevar in 2005. I mean, in that decade, at the very least, '95 to '05, everybody was helping each other. I mean, Al Wilson's leadership was getting the football team to win games, but it was getting recruits to commit because of what they were seeing on the field. And I think we have that environment right now. I wish we could bottle it up. I don't want it to go away, but why would it go away? Austin Price: You bottle it up and you sell it to all the recruits out there and every sport. We'll get you out here on this. Tell us something no one knows about Tony Vitello. Tony Vitello: Oh man. I hope it stays in the closet. I don't know what it is in particular, but I think Tennessee people, because we get to interact without helmets, we're up close and personal with our fans, our stadium's so clean. I think the fans know me, but I don't think people know who I really am that are outside the program. I think they see me as maybe cocky or wanting to fight all the time or anything like that. I'm pretty reserved. I don't like the camera being on me. I want it to be on the players. I don't like when I have to make big game decisions. I'd rather the players just decide the game. And I think my work is supposed to be behind the scenes. Everyone says as an SEC coach, when I first got the job, I literally snapped on a parent on the phone. I can't believe I did it, but it's big business and you got to win games. My job is not to win games. My job is along with our other coaches, to develop players, develop men, make them better people, make them better players. If we do that well, then on game day they'll be developed and we will win games. But that's not my job. And so that's where my focus is. All this other stuff comes at kind of a part of the nature. We have a huge loyal fan base. All of our games are on TV. Twitter, unfortunately is a big part of the world. So I'm good with all that stuff not existing. What I'm not good with, or what I would never want to not have in my life is being a part of our team and being able to help guys be better than I was as a player and a person. Austin Price: Well, I know Tennessee fans are excited and happy that they're on your team. Heading into this 2023 season, Tennessee will look to make another run potentially to Omaha and when the season starts in just over a month, we are excited to see it. Thanks for joining us. Tony Vitello: Thank you. I appreciate it.