Sunday afternoon Tony Vitello was back in his familiar perch against the rail of the dugout with his arms folded and those three strips of white medical tape affixed in front of him as the Vols rallied for a 6-4, 11 inning win to complete the sweep of Florida.

For Vitello, all was right in his world following his ejection and subsequent four-game suspension. It was a suspension that disrupted the Vols so much they went 4-0, outscoring their opponents 44-11, without the head man present.

And honestly, is anyone surprised at their success?

Since his arrival in Knoxville, Tony Vitello has pushed all the right buttons. He’s accomplished unprecedented things with the program. Arguably his best accomplishment is that his team didn’t need him in the dugout this past week.

We throw the word culture around too often. But the overused phrase applies perfectly in this case. Vitello’s program didn’t need him because of the culture he has built since he was introduced as the Vols skipper on June, 7, 2017.

Obviously, Vitello was around his team all week, so I’m not suggesting that he was locked away in some dungeon serving his time. He had meetings and coached his team, but when the lights come on he wasn’t there and the Vols looked no different.

There’s no drop off in effort. There’s no drop in energy or confidence. As DJ Khaled sings, “all I do is win” — All the Vols do is win.

They win because they are abundantly talented. But they also win because of the program. Vitello lets his assistants coach. Frank Anderson is the best pitching coach in the country and one post-game interview listen of assistant Josh Elander and it’s obvious his voice is important.

Vitello’s players also manage the locker room. Internal issues are handled that way - internally. The players take care of any issues themselves.

Again, really its about the culture which is a credit to the type of players Vitello and his staff have recruited. It’s also a credit to Tony Vitello.

Vitello is the big man on campus. But his program is not about him. The man who raised money for charity by doing $2 dollar chest bumps on campus this week and the man who set up a lemonade stand outside of Lindsey Nelson Stadium the last time he was suspended is not about himself.

He has fun with everything in promoting his program - not himself.

Tony Vitello is Tennessee baseball in many ways. But in the biggest ways, he’s not - which is why his program didn’t miss a beat from the moment he was ejected eight days ago.

It’s just another example of the Vol skipper continuing to push all the right buttons and frankly is anyone surprised.

Sunday, Coach V was back and his team welcomed him with a heart-stopping 11 inning win. The win pushed the Vols to 17-1 in SEC play the best ever in the conference. Four of those wins named without Vitello leading his team a true statement to just how important he is to Vol baseball.

It’s just another reason why the Vols are sitting on top of the college baseball world heading into May.