Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello caught the eye of a few sports fans walking the red carpet at the 58th annual CMA Awards in Nashville.

The highest-paid coach in college baseball made quite an entrance Wednesday night wearing a black cowboy hat, bolo tie, boots and a shimmering silk suit.

The look prompted a slew of reactions on social media as "Tony V" joined Vols fan and Nashville TV anchor Nikki Burdine for a red carpet preshow interview.

Vols Nation well represented at 2024 CMA Awards

Vitello, who led the Vols to their first national title in program history, and Burdine, a UT grad and winner of the UT Knoxville Alumni Volunteer 40 under 40 Award in 2020, were not the only ones representing Vol Nation at the CMA's Wednesday.

Vols football legend Peyton Manning co-hosted the show alongside singers Luke Bryan and Lainey Wilson. The QB cracked a joke about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys and was seen performing a David Allan Coe favorite at a Nashville bar.

Morgan Wallen, who had a record-breaking weekend with his hometown run of shows at Knoxville's Neyland Stadium, won the CMA Awards' top prize. He became just the fourth native Tennessean to win Entertainer of the Year , following in the footsteps of Eddy Arnold and East Tennessee's Dolly Parton and Kenny Chesney.