Tony Vitello made sure to squeeze every San Francisco Giants great and fan favorite into his two-minute introduction on Thursday. A message that this outsider was well-versed in Giants lore.

He referenced the greatness of Willie Mays and Barry Bonds; lauded Madison Bumgarner’s toughness, and Sergio Romo’s, too. He acknowledged his predecessors, Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker, and practically drew a parallel between him and another baseball guy known to uplift, Hunter Pence. He pointed to the guy to his right on the dais, Buster Posey.

The closest Vitello came to the Giants’ success happened 11 years ago, when he watched from seats behind the Kauffman Stadium home plate as Posey leapt into Bumgarner’s arms after Pablo Sandoval caught the final out of Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. Vitello didn’t reference the celebration, but the chaos one out prior when Alex Gordon tripled past a frazzled Juan Perez in left field.

“It was rather intense,” Vitello said.

“Yeah, I’ll second that,” Posey responded, getting a loud laugh from the room.

Vitello witnessed Giants history, and with his hiring as the first coach to go straight from college to pro manager, has instantly become part of it. No other teams this year contacted Vitello about managing, he said. And amid a handful of prospective managers – including Nick Hundley – the Giants had fairly quickly narrowed their search down to the 47-year-old who fielded questions on Thursday about how he can handle making history.

Asked how his over-the-top collegiate energy might strike a grizzled veteran, or amid a touchy part of the long 162-game schedule, Vitello didn’t waver that he had no plans to tone down the bravado.

“If you ask my mom, she’d want me to tone it down, but if you ask my dad, he’d ask me to kick it up a notch,” Vitello said.

Posey likely doesn’t want Vitello to tone any of it down. Though he presents as even-keeled, Posey sees congeniality as a growing trend between opposing teams and is nostalgic for a style of baseball that “ruffles feathers” of the opposing team.

“For me, there’s an argument to be made that we’re lacking that severely right now,” Posey said. “All the young players will not like me, but I don’t like guys hugging before the game. I don’t like it. As a fan, I want there to be a little bit of friction at times.”

That’s Posey’s nod – perhaps an outward wish – that Vitello turn the Giants into baseball’s villains in the same way the Vols were to the Southeastern Conference. Not to be the league’s shame, but to find emotional advantages in a hyper-competitive division. The Giants may not have as much talent as the Los Angeles Dodgers, but maybe they have the attitude to bend unwritten rules and get under their skin.

To the idea that energy might be off-putting to a player older than 30, Vitello pushed back, saying he doesn’t operate on a general high-motor, but individualized hyper-focus. He said his voice might easily translate to a 21-year-old Bryce Eldridge, who Vitello pointed out rejected his offer to play at Tennessee, but also gets through to a guy like future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, a close friend.

“It’s easy to say it’s individualistic, because it’s kind of vague, but that’s truly what it is,” Vitello said. “Coming back to my other answer, you have to go back to the office and vibe it out.”

It helps that Vitello developed a crew of college players, including Scherzer, Colorado’s Chase Dollander and Boston’s Garrett Crochet. The good word about Vitello spread across the league over the years, including to Giants ace Logan Webb.

“Garrett Crochet said great things about him, I heard Drew Gilbert say great things about him,” Webb said over Zoom on Friday. “Even guys going to my gym who were recruited by him have the best things to say about him. I’m super excited, I know the guys are super excited. It’s going to be a healthy energy boost to our team and clubhouse.”

Webb texted Vitello before he was introduced on Thursday.

“I’m pretty sure I said ‘Let’s win the damn thing a couple of times while we’re here,'” Webb said. “You could see the passion. He sent me a long text. He was energetic, he was ready to go.”

He also pushed back at the idea that baseball might reject him because he didn’t pay his dues with any pro ball experience. The college baseball grind, he said, is a due payment.

“I am very sensitive to the phrase pay your dues, because like other coaches in our league and across the country … it’s a lot of lonely nights in hotels and a lot of phone calls and text messages,” Vitello said. “It’s hearing ‘no’ just as much as an insurance salesman or whoever else, maybe a reporter looking for an interview that hears a no. Dues come in different ways, so hopefully respect will be earned in different ways. The only way I know is hard work.”

Vitello nudged at the idea that the Giants are even ahead of the curve on the college-to-MLB cross-pollination. With minor league baseball shrinking in scale and amateur draftees jumping into the big leagues earlier and earlier – think Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and Toronto’s Trey Yesavage – Vitello thinks his expertise could be an advantage.

“You look at guys like (Los Angeles Angels’) Christian Moore who is almost immediately in the big leagues and Paul Skenes is having success and things like that,” Vitello said. “I think the two are melting together and, trust me, I wouldn’t vote myself to be the pioneer of college baseball, but one thing that can come of this is it be one step further of the two melting together and MLB supporting college baseball and college baseball interacting with MLB and see how those two things can melt or bridge together.

“I think it can be very beneficial to the game, especially since many of the minor league teams have been taken away and also especially since college baseball has risen in popularity so much. There’s real star power and the fan following has matched that.”

The gaps in knowledge aren’t secrets: He’ll have to manage a 162-game season, including spring and a potential postseason, for the first time. He will manage the complexities of a pitching staff and Latin American players who don’t speak English for the first time.

The Giants aren’t going to leave him hanging without a safety net. Following Thursday’s news conference, Vitello and the Giants brass returned to their enclosed offices to discuss who will complete the coaching staff in 2026.

Will Vitello bring former San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler, a close friend from their University of Missouri days, into the fold? Posey expects at least a handful of staff from the Bob Melvin regime will remain; will that include pitching coach JP Martinez – who has another year on his contract – and bullpen coach Garvin Alston?

The Giants will at least need to fill the third base coach and bench coach jobs. Posey didn’t rule out a reunion with Antoan Richardson, who left the New York Mets this offseason. Richardson helped tremendously with the Giants’ baserunning as their first base coach under former manager Gabe Kapler. Last season, the Giants were reluctant to steal bases or use any athleticism to extend plays. Notably, too, is that Vitello called out Pence as a culturally aligned former Giant. Perhaps he would be a solid addition to the staff.