Monday Motivation: Tennessee Baseball Coach Tony Vitello's Rant on How To Define Success Will Have You Ready To Run Through a Wall

Holy shit, what a speech. If you were wondering why every top baseball player coming out of high school and the transfer portal wants to play for Tennessee right now, watch that video and you'll get a pretty good idea.

I think there are a lot of people — sports fans and media, particularly — who need to hear what Vitello said about being successful. In the social media age, it seems like we have become obsessed with labeling any team that doesn't win a championship as a failure. When Tennessee lost to Notre Dame in a Super Regional in 2022, everyone in the country couldn't wait to talk about what a failure a team that went 57-9 was. But like Tony said, nobody had ever talked about college baseball as much as they did with that team.

I've enjoyed sports so much more since I broke free of that social media mindset. Tennessee lost in the Elite Eight this past season, which I'm sure some losers on the internet would consider an unsuccessful season. It was by far the most fun I've ever had watching basketball and I will always remember that team fondly. Same thing with the 2022 football team that didn't quite make it to the College Football Playoff but won 11 games and a New Year's Six bowl — because South Carolina had our plays from Michigan, but that's a discussion for another day. Those are successful seasons.

Now, I absolutely want Tony V and the Vols to go to Omaha this week and win the national title. But if they don't, this was another incredible season and I will trust that the guy who has been to the College World Series three of the last four years will keep getting us there and probably win one sooner or later. And even if that never happens, I'll go to war with Vitello 11 times out of 10 regardless of what Tennessee's baseball record looks like at any given time.

Sign this guy to a lifetime contract.