Tennessee's Tony Vitello Says False Reporting On NIL For One Player 'Started A Mess' In Locker Room Last Year

We have all seen the ramifications of NIL when it comes to collegiate athletics. Sometimes it's good, but there are also times when monetary figures can cause problems in a locker room. This was the case for Tennessee's baseball team last season, according to head coach Tony Vitello. 

There are certainly stories that make the rounds about how much a high-profile player makes when they sign with a particular school, and sometimes those dollar figures are confirmed by agents and representatives. 

But for the most part, the amount of money a player gets is usually kept from the public, although there are times when a reported figure can make its way into a locker room or dugout, which could obviously cause problems between teammates. 

Tony Vitello Discusses Problems With NIL Reporting 

Appearing on OutKick's Hot Mic on Tuesday afternoon with Chad Withrow and Jonathan Hutton, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello pointed toward a tweet from 2023 that caused a riff in the locker room, and led to a player wanting out of his NLI, which the Vols granted. 

Speaking about his fiery press conference opening statement on Sunday night, Vitello pointed toward some of the things said in the media, while discussing what success looks like for his baseball program. He did not hold back on the troubles that come with NIL, especially when false reports about money are written. 

"One thing about my little rant, and I don't like listening to myself talk. But I do know i left out one thing when i was talking about the media. I didn’t mean to say last year's team wasn't fun or anything like that. But last year we got off to a rough start because we had a player come through the portal to us to play shortstop (Maui Ahuna) cause this is where he wanted to be. 

"Just because someone tweeted out that we gave him $250,000 or some absurd amount that became the thought around our locker room and around the team, and it started a mess. It wasn't true, it wasn't even close to being true. We had a player we had signed, ran off and played at another program, we went ahead and released him,. That we lost because of that tweet." 

Vitello Starting To Hear About Fake NIL Offers, False Promises

One of the other big components to NIL in collegiate sports is the willingness for collectives or folks representing a school to either promise or discuss large monetary sums for their services, then not delivering. 

There have been numerous scenarios in this new era of schools promising a kid a certain dollar-figure, then going back on their word. This was one of the concerns Tony Vitello has right now with the current situation with NIL, pointing out that this has become a major problem, all going back to empty promises. 

"So I think the worst thing about NIL in our sport is rumors and maybe some lies," Vitello mentioned. "And then now I'm starting to hear there are kids being promised money that they aren't given. Not at our place, but just out there. It's a hot mess, I think. 

"But at the end of the day what it should be is not what the focus is for a kid where he's wanting to go to school, he should find a good match. He should take comfort, at least at these Power-5 schools and major schools, that it's going to be easier to pay for school with the help of either NIL, or educational funds." 

We will continue to hear stories about how NIL is ruining college athletics, but at the end of the day, we are still seeing positives that come from the current situation. This is especially true in a sport like baseball, where there are only a certain amount of scholarships allowed, while a good chunk of players are paying to play the sport.