FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas assistant baseball coach Tony Vitello interviewed for the head coaching job at his alma mater Missouri.
He was never offered the job, he said Friday.
Vitello said he interviewed for the position last month at a hotel in Kansas City, Mo. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported he was one of the favorites for the job before Missouri hired former Southeast Missouri State coach Steve Bieser on Thursday.
"Once I walked out of that [meeting], I knew I wasn't a viable candidate," Vitello said. "I'd love to look like the most loyal Razorback of all-time and I say I turned them down, but I was never offered the job ... and at no point was I ever all-in on saying yes if it was offered."
The Post-Dispatch reported Vitello had the backing of several influential alumni at Missouri, including major league All-Stars Max Scherzer and Ian Kinsler. Vitello, a St. Louis native, played three seasons at Missouri and was an assistant coach with the Tigers in 2003-2010.
Vitello indicated he didn't seek the position. He said he has aspirations to be a head coach one day but isn't in a hurry.
"I've never been very active, never pumped out my resume," Vitello said. "If somebody comes to me with something I can't refuse, then I'd have to say yes. Until then, I'm focused on what I'm doing. I'm pretty damn happy at Arkansas. I know I get paid to say that, but it's different than the other two places I've worked at."
Vitello, 36, coached three seasons at TCU, helping assemble a team that has made the past three College World Series. He has coached at Arkansas since the 2014 season.
He is considered one of college baseball's top recruiters and helped assemble a recruiting class this year that was ranked the fourth-best nationally by Perfect Game USA before the major league draft. The Razorbacks had seven signees drafted. Three have signed professionally, and two more have yet to decide whether they will go to college.
"I've never really been old enough to know what I'm doing in recruiting and then stuck around to coach the guys that I've worked on," Vitello said. "I left behind a lot of work at TCU, and at Missouri there was really one group that I got to see through that I thought was really special like I think the '16 group can be at Arkansas. I'm looking forward to coaching this group that we've been working our butts off to get to campus."
Hogs 4th in tickets sold
Arkansas finished fourth nationally in tickets sold per game this season .
The Razorbacks averaged 7,815 tickets sold for their games at Baum Stadium, according to NCAA figures. The program recorded virtually the same average of tickets sold last year (7,817 per game).
Arkansas was second nationally in paid attendance for five consecutive seasons in 2011-2015.
According to UA figures, the Razorbacks sold 6,123 season tickets by the start of this season, an increase of 2.87 percent over the previous year
The six programs with the highest attendance figures this season were from the SEC. Arkansas was the only one of the six that did not host an NCAA regional or super regional round. The Razorbacks finished 26-29 overall and 7-23 in SEC games, and they missed the NCAA postseason for the first time in 15 years.
LSU was first nationally with an average attendance of 10,580 per game, followed by Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Other SEC programs in the top 10 were South Carolina, Texas A&M and Alabama.
Biggers added
Arkansas recently added middle infielder Jax Biggers as a late signee for the 2017 season.
Biggers, 5-10, 165 pounds, spent the past season playing at Cisco College in Abilene, Texas. As a freshman, he batted .385 with 7 home runs and 50 RBI in 64 games and helped his team to the Junior College World Series.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Biggers also had scholarship offers from Arizona, Auburn, Baylor and Houston after one season in junior college.
"When I committed to Cisco, they said if you have offers to leave after one year, you are more than welcome to," Biggers told the Chronicle. "I feel like I found the right place to go to."
Sports on 07/02/2016