Josh Elander was officially introduced as the Tennessee Vols baseball coach in front of his family, friends, team, and the Tennessee media. There were multiple questions about Tony Vitello, which he was quick to answer. Here is what he had to say about Vitello during the presser.
Josh Elander Thanks Tony Vitello
“And then Tony V. A lot of ways I could go with this. We made a lot of great memories. A lot of wins, a lot of running around on the road, a lot of dreaming to make this place something great. And I really believe our staff did that together. I’m so excited for you, man. I can’t wait to see you win a World Series. But thank you for taking a chance on me and showing me what it means to leave your soul in the game. I hope our players always feel that way as well.”
Josh Elander Recaps Call With Vitello After Signing
“Coach V’s been amazing throughout this whole process. We FaceTimed shortly after I signed the contract. He was on a plane in Atlanta. It’s just simple. We’ve always — we’re so different and we’ve worked together for so long, but it was just, ‘hey, congratulations. Love you, love you.’ He’s got things to do, and let’s move on. So what’s the next task? It’s something we’ve talked about a ton with our players. That’ll be a theme here as well. But again, he took a chance on me. I’ll never take that for granted, but I think right now it’s, hey, he knows I’m focused on this group right here, but I know we’ll link up again plenty of times over the next month, two months, but he’s a lifelong friend and mentor. I will never take what I learned from him for granted.”
Josh Elander on His Most Valuable Lesson From Tony Vitello
“Yeah, I think it’s just attacking each day. We never really talked — it may sound crazy — like, hey, we’ve got to win x-amount of games, or win this many championships. It was, do you have good habits and processes, and can you get buy-in from the players to get a little bit better each day, and then hold them accountable to be consistent over a long period of time. That’s been our magic here. And then treating people right, teaching them how to be a pro, teaching them how to recover, knowing that we have their backs, right? I think the family aspect is something that’s thrown around a ton in recruiting, but I know these guys feel it, and then when recruits come in, it’s authentic here. It’s a little bit different, and we don’t expect that to change.”
