Tony Vitello is in his seventh season as Tennessee’s baseball coach. He has never won a national championship.

But he already ranks among the school’s greatest coaches of all-time. Based on my 38 years of following UT sports, I would rank him second to only legendary Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Summitt oversaw a Lady Vols dynasty that produced eight national titles. You can’t expect any other UT coach to come close to that.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if Vitello won multiple national championships, even though championships are terribly difficult to achieve in his sport. He will get a chance at his first national title when the Vols go to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series later this week.

Vitello’s career is similar to former LSU coach Skip Bertman through seven seasons. Bertman is now recognized as the SEC’s all-time top baseball coach. In fact, there’s no debate on the subject.

Bertman won five national championships in 18 years at LSU. He also won 75.4% of his NCAA Tournament games and seven SEC championships.

As accomplished as Bertman was, he didn’t win his first national championship until his eighth season.

He had multiple chances for a title before he finally claimed one. The Tigers played in three College World Series until they won the championship. They also had three 50-plus-win seasons before winning their first championship in 1991.

Baseball success was foreign to LSU when Bertman took over the program after the 1984 season. But like the best coaches in any sport, he won right away.

Bertman not only was quick to prove himself as a coach. He excelled as a recruiter and promoter. Remind you of anyone?

Tennessee ranked among the SEC’s worst programs when Vitello was hired. Its fan base was similarly apathetic to LSU’s before Bertman.

The Vitelllo-led baseball revival occurred in a flash. Suddenly, the Vols weren’t just winning. They were drawing fans and expanding their stadium.

All that happened because of Vitello, who, like Bertman, can promote as well as coach. He’s also a relentless recruiter and has been as successful selling his program to high school prospects as transfers.

This will be his third team to reach the CWS. It’s also his third team to win 50-plus games. He might have had a fourth on both counts if not for the COVID-shortened season of 2020. Tennessee was 15-2 when the pandemic abruptly ended the season.

UT has won so much in baseball that winning has become routine. For the second time, it’s a favorite to win the championship in a sport that has a history of treating favorites horribly.

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Not since 1999 has the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed won the championships. Favorites have a better chance of winning the Kentucky Derby – another event in which underdogs so often finish in the winner’s circle.

Bertman can vouch for that. However, after he finally won one championship, he won four more.

I won’t guess how many championships Vitello might win. But I would bet it's more than one.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball: Tony Vitello trails only Pat Summitt as Vols best