With their season on the line, Tennessee needed a heroic performance during a College World Series elimination game on Tuesday. To beat juggernaut LSU, the Volunteers would need all hands on deck — great pitching and timely hitting at the plate.
They got neither. And the latter poor plate appearances in a 5-0 shutout loss were rather frustrating for Tennessee coach Tony Vitello.
Vitello expressed this frustration by trying to light a spark under his players in one of the most peculiar ways: He turned their dugout stools upside down, taking away the option to sit when not playing.
It, quite obviously, didn’t work.
Tony Vitello did the Mike Leach move pic.twitter.com/2nA7xOyLjE
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) June 21, 2023
There’s a certain point of diminishing returns.
For me, if my players weren’t hitting well, I’d probably just chalk it up to bad luck and a poor afternoon. It wasn’t our day or our season. You live, and you learn. But with the Volunteers up against the wall, I suppose Vitello thought he had to pull out all the stops — or, in this case, turn them over — in order to motivate his team.
This was how Twitter reacted to Vitello's stool stunt
Jokes on you.. Tennessee fans actually prefer to sit on upside down stools https://t.co/gI8Wfa5DGG
— K🐗Money (@K_Money4real) June 21, 2023
Second favorite Tony moment. Hate it had to happen in losing fashion. https://t.co/DnfD3tMMPb
— PattRiley🍊 (@VolBibee94) June 21, 2023
Almost worked as the Vols loaded the bases but couldn’t bring any runs across! @wvlt https://t.co/GV7kbm4dIv
— Rick Russo (@wvltrick) June 21, 2023
Just making sure more of them can sit down at once. https://t.co/gRudGfyl76
— tru_marooon (@tru_marooon) June 21, 2023
With them upside down they now have more places to sit https://t.co/1awexoxCWZ
— Chris Romero (@tchris96) June 21, 2023
-stares confusingly- https://t.co/THearxY3e4
— Jon Williams (@radiojondeek) June 21, 2023
Thought we finally had a coach that doesn’t do corny stuff like this https://t.co/gGRYKMfv9p
— Daniel (@Dster904) June 21, 2023
I’ve seen this before.. https://t.co/0MEUs5AhWs
— Justin T (@JTizzle2100) June 21, 2023
Clown show…Look at me Look at me!! https://t.co/ev0xRDRsa6
— xHandedbandit (@joshbroadaway1) June 21, 2023
