Country music superstar Morgan Wallen is one of the most famous Tennessee Vols fans on the planet right now, but he could’ve been the source of an NCAA issue if UT baseball coach Tony Vitello had recently accepted an invitation from the East Tennessee native.

Wallen recently appeared on This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von and he briefly touched on his relationship with Vitello.

The singer told Von that he invited Vitello last month to participate in an NCAA Tournament bracket.

Vitello, however, declined (likely due to the NCAA’s rules against coaches and student-athletes participating in sports gambling).”He (Vitello) always helps with stuff involving our foundation,” said Wallen. “We stay in touch on a regular basis. I tried to invite him to a bracket the other day. I was like, ‘you’re probably not allowed to do this, are you?’ [and] he said ‘no’….I tried to invite him into that bracket.”

Here’s what the NCAA rules say about coaches and student-athletes and betting on sports.

NCAA rules ban participation in sports betting activities and prohibit providing information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports betting activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics competition.

In other words, if you are a student-athlete, coach or athletics staff member, regardless of sport or division, you are not allowed to bet or provide any useful information that can influence a bet in any sport the NCAA sponsors at any level.

I don’t think there’s any harm in a coach filling out a bracket, but I’m guessing Wallen’s bracket pool probably has some cash involved. Either way, it’s a good call by Vitello to decline (the last thing the UT baseball program needs is the NCAA snooping around).

While appearing on Von’s podcast, Wallen also revealed that his favorite pre-concert “walk out” came last fall when he performed twice at Neyland Stadium.

“Neyland Stadium, you know, it’s my home,” said Wallen. “It’s where I grew up watching games. Peyton (Manning), that one was really good. The baseball team, that one was really good, too. But that Peyton one, that was one of, you know, it’s hard to beat. Anything that happened those two nights at that stadium, I find myself just being like, those are some of the best memories I’ve had.”

By the way, I doubt Vitello would’ve won Wallen’s bracket challenge anyway. I’m sure Tony V would’ve had the Vols winning it all.