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In today's paper. For full article: Kirby Connell, minus waxed handlebar mustache, has new role with Tennessee baseball | Adams
Here are some snippets:
Kirby Connell is still deeply involved in Tennessee baseball. But his role is different. He’s not “Vollie Fingers” anymore. He’s Coach Connell. Connell made the transition from Tennessee relief pitcher to an assistant coach on Tony Vitello’s staff a few months after the Vols won the national championship last June in Omaha, Nebraska.
The new job comes with a new look. The waxed handlebar mustache that made him one of the most recognized players in college baseball has been retired. Connell still sports a mustache and beard but no longer shapes his mustache to nickname proportions. “I wanted to start a brand for myself, and felt that was the best way to get people's attention,” Connell told me of his decision in 2021 to wax and curl his mustache. “It’s different as a coach.”
He’s content to get lost in the dugout amid a team full of coaches and players. That’s quite a switch for someone who once had such a presence on a pitching mound. The mustache and long hair seemed to fit a pitcher whose coolness under late-game pressure and pinpoint control so often enabled him to close out an inning.
The “Vollie Fingers” nickname enhanced Connell’s brand. Rollie Fingers, a seven-time major league All-Star, grew and groomed his mustache as a member of the Oakland A’s. The half of fame relief pitcher’s look was contrived for commercial purposes after A’s owner Charles Finley offered him $300 to adopt the mustache.
Connell has lost a handlebar and nickname but gained so much more. Once he realized he wasn’t going to make a living playing baseball, coaching became his goal. He admittedly didn’t have a Plan B. “If that hadn’t worked out, I’d still be trying to figure out what I wanted to do,” he said. No figuring is necessary now. Connell was hired as a quality control analyst. The job title seems much too formal for someone once dubbed “Vollie Fingers.” But the job itself is a great fit for Connell.
What better place to start if you hope to be a college head coach one day as Connell does. Vitello is at the top of his profession, and assistant Frank Anderson is a long-recognized pitching guru. Moreover, there’s a familiarity that wouldn’t exist anywhere else. Connell not only knows the coaches. He knows some of the returning players.
Vitello also serves as an ideal role model for a rookie coach who must now relate to former teammates as a supervisor of sorts.
“It’s different,” Connell said. But it’s not as different as it might be in other programs. Vitello can interact with players as a coach and friend. That’s why he’s so often referred to as a “player’s coach,” a vague term that has become a sports cliché. However, with Vitello, the description is appropriate.
“He can flip that switch,” Connell said. “He’s going to do what he can every day to help us get better. But it’s not like he’s a military man. He lets players be themselves.”
And if one of those players is willing to invest the time in maintaining a flamboyant mustache, he wouldn’t object. Neither would his quality control analyst.
Here are some snippets:
Kirby Connell is still deeply involved in Tennessee baseball. But his role is different. He’s not “Vollie Fingers” anymore. He’s Coach Connell. Connell made the transition from Tennessee relief pitcher to an assistant coach on Tony Vitello’s staff a few months after the Vols won the national championship last June in Omaha, Nebraska.
The new job comes with a new look. The waxed handlebar mustache that made him one of the most recognized players in college baseball has been retired. Connell still sports a mustache and beard but no longer shapes his mustache to nickname proportions. “I wanted to start a brand for myself, and felt that was the best way to get people's attention,” Connell told me of his decision in 2021 to wax and curl his mustache. “It’s different as a coach.”
He’s content to get lost in the dugout amid a team full of coaches and players. That’s quite a switch for someone who once had such a presence on a pitching mound. The mustache and long hair seemed to fit a pitcher whose coolness under late-game pressure and pinpoint control so often enabled him to close out an inning.
The “Vollie Fingers” nickname enhanced Connell’s brand. Rollie Fingers, a seven-time major league All-Star, grew and groomed his mustache as a member of the Oakland A’s. The half of fame relief pitcher’s look was contrived for commercial purposes after A’s owner Charles Finley offered him $300 to adopt the mustache.
Connell has lost a handlebar and nickname but gained so much more. Once he realized he wasn’t going to make a living playing baseball, coaching became his goal. He admittedly didn’t have a Plan B. “If that hadn’t worked out, I’d still be trying to figure out what I wanted to do,” he said. No figuring is necessary now. Connell was hired as a quality control analyst. The job title seems much too formal for someone once dubbed “Vollie Fingers.” But the job itself is a great fit for Connell.
What better place to start if you hope to be a college head coach one day as Connell does. Vitello is at the top of his profession, and assistant Frank Anderson is a long-recognized pitching guru. Moreover, there’s a familiarity that wouldn’t exist anywhere else. Connell not only knows the coaches. He knows some of the returning players.
Vitello also serves as an ideal role model for a rookie coach who must now relate to former teammates as a supervisor of sorts.
“It’s different,” Connell said. But it’s not as different as it might be in other programs. Vitello can interact with players as a coach and friend. That’s why he’s so often referred to as a “player’s coach,” a vague term that has become a sports cliché. However, with Vitello, the description is appropriate.
“He can flip that switch,” Connell said. “He’s going to do what he can every day to help us get better. But it’s not like he’s a military man. He lets players be themselves.”
And if one of those players is willing to invest the time in maintaining a flamboyant mustache, he wouldn’t object. Neither would his quality control analyst.
