When Bobby Petrino was hired to be the offensive coordinator at Arkansas, it was the most unpredictable, insane hire in the history of Arkansas sports. But just a few weeks later, the university went one more step and hired former Kentucky head coach John Calipari, a hire that sent shockwaves through college basketball.
Surprisingly, X kept its servers from crashing despite how many Arkansas fans were purging their accounts of anti-Cal posts. Before he started wearing red and calling the Hogs, Arkansas fans hated Coach Calipari. Now 90 percent love him. The fact is that fans hated him because he was good and because he kicked Arkansas‘s butt more than once in his 15 years at Kentucky.
In the same way, Arkansas fans hate Tony Vitello. There's an added personal aspect because he’s a former Arkansas assistant coach and because of his spat with coach Dave Van Horn in 2021, but it's safe to say that most people hate him because he’s at Tennessee and he’s a good coach.
If Van Horn were to retire tomorrow and Arkansas hired Tony Vitello as the next head coach, I’d be ecstatic. He just won the College World Series, and he’s had one of the best teams in college baseball for the last three years. Of course, I’d be happy.
Not only is he a great coach, but there seems to be a special place in his heart for Coach Van Horn and the Arkansas program. After winning the CWS, Vitello could’ve discussed anything in his press conference. He chose to devote part of that time to thank Arkansas without necessarily using that word.
“Their program definitely had a hand in what happened tonight…Guys like Zander and Dylan are benefactors of who I think is the best coach in the country, and Coach Van Horn is who I’m talking about.”
Tony Vitello on Arkansas after Tennessee won the national championship:
— Mason Choate (@ChoateMason) June 25, 2024
“Their program definitely had a hand in what happened tonight…Guys like Zander and Dylan are benefactors of who I think is the best coach in the country, and Coach Van Horn is who I’m talking about.” https://t.co/DyPLKGZud2 pic.twitter.com/eOd5sj6lCD
This is by no means a “Van Horn should be fired/retire“ post, but Arkansas would be lucky to have Tony Vitello as the next coach of Arkansas baseball AFTER Van Horn leaves. And I imagine if that were to happen, there'd be another mass post deletion on X.