KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello was guaranteed to get a nice bonus in his paycheck after the Vols punched their ticket to the College World Series. Now that Tennessee has won it all, he'll earn even more.
The coach's $350,000 base salary, while impressive, is not the star here. The real star is his cut of the broadcast deals and various endorsements UT gets – those really pump up his take-home pay.
At a minimum, Vitello earns $1.15 million in supplemental pay each year from big endorsements. On top of that, he gets another 75% cut from any revenue UT receives over $100,000 for bat and equipment endorsements.
Once the Vols punched their ticket to Omaha, Vitello was guaranteed a bonus of 32% of his $350,000 base pay.
Now that the Vols are champions, that 32% bonus will be boosted to 40%, meaning Vitello will take home another $140,000 this season.
In total, Vitello is getting paid at least $1,640,000 this season -- and that's not including the extra supplemental pay for bat or equipment endorsements, or the maximum of $25,000 he would receive if the Baseball Vols collectively post strong grades this year.
In case you are wondering, Vitello's current contract extension ends at the end of June 2026. Before signing an extension in 2021, his previous 2019 contract was more, how do we say, reserved when it came to his supplemental pay. Back then, he was earning a base pay of $280,000 with an annual base supplemental pay of $300,000 for the broadcast and endorsement contracts. As it turns out, continued success seems to pay well.
If you're looking for a point of reference on SEC baseball coaching salaries, Vitello still has a ways to go before he reaches the likes of Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin's yearly salary. According to a 2023 report from The Tennessean in Nashville, Corbin earned at least $2.4 million in the 2022-23 season.
With a College World Series National Championship under his belt, you can bet that will help Vitello at the negotiating table the next time he and UT begin talking about his contract.