How Tennessee Baseball’s Championship Mirrors a Strong Financial Plan

This week, the Tennessee Volunteers baseball team claimed their first National Championship with a win at the College World Series in Omaha. The images of Head Coach Tony Vitello after the win were a great example of why people love sports. There was the on-field celebration with an ice bath, Tony jumping up and down with fans in the stands, and then the next day, a king’s welcome back home with a parade through downtown Knoxville. Coach Vitello was a winner and a huge success.

I met Tony Vitello in 2018 at a small Chamber of Commerce event where he was the guest speaker. He had just gone 29-27 in his first season.

He gave the typical coach talk, including his life story, what brought him to the university, and his goal to win a championship. At the end of his speech, since only around 25 people were in the audience, he said, “Look, I am going to be honest with you. No one comes to our games.”

He said his email address was public on the school’s website, and he offered to send anyone who emailed him as many free tickets as they wanted if they would just come sit in the stands.

He wasn’t lying about the attendance. Below is a photo of the first pitch at his first game seven years ago.

It may have seemed irrelevant to his championship goals at the time, but he had a vision and was implementing the first steps in a plan to achieve it.

He knew bigger crowds at the games would lead to more players wanting to play for his team. This would lead to better recruiting classes and greater talent, which, as the years rolled on, compounded into a program that became the best in the country. The first step was fan attendance and only he saw it.

I see many similarities to how successful financial plans are built. The first steps are often unclear, and the path may be indirect. Just like Coach Vitello, it helps to first decide the end goal.

After that, the plan can be broken down into smaller steps and prioritized. Then comes the hard part of seeing the plan through as years go on, and short-term news and life happenings constantly attempt to distract from keeping the main thing the main thing.

Over the last several years, the Vols baseball team has faced losses, players transferring schools, and plenty of uncertainty and failure just as investors regularly deal with volatile markets, global unrest, and a revolving door of constantly changing issues. It would be impossible to break through and succeed without a strong “Why.”

Success does not come overnight. It usually comes from the focus and discipline of maintaining a well-thought-out plan, even if the first steps seem miles away from the desired outcome.

I enjoy these stories of different paths that led to accomplishing big goals. I would love to hear if you have an example of an unexpected first step.

This week has been fun for my alma mater, but it has also made me wonder why I didn’t take Coach Vitello up on his free ticket offer for Monday night’s championship game.

Chase Kerby, CFP®, AIF® is a Senior Advisor with Rather & Kittrell.