Following a Legend

SI Staff | Nov 8, 2007

Following a Legend /

Following a Legend

yankees.torre.girardi.jpg — Jeff Zelevansky/Icon SMI

Joe Girardi has big shoes to fill while following Joe Torre as manager of the Yankees. In essence, Girardi is replacing a legend, but he's not the first to do so. Send comments to siwriters@simail.com.

Dean Smith

"I'm really tired," Smith said in October 1997. College basketball's winningest coach quit after 36 seasons and two NCAA titles so his long-time aide could take over. "I'm exhausted," said Guthridge, who couldn't please North Carolina fans despite 80 wins and two Final Fours in three years.

Adolph Rupp

''The Man in the Brown Suit,'' Rupp's teams ruled the Kentucky bluegrass and won four NCAA championships. From 1972 to 85, Hall won 297 games and the '78 title in three Final Four trips. But he'd had enough of the Big Blue frenzy by '85, when Joe be gone.

Mike Davis

Basketball's Knight errant, despite three national titles at Indiana, was finally canned by IU in 2000. Knight was enraged that Davis, a young assistant he wanted to fire, got the job. IU made an unlikely run to the '02 title game, but the program ebbed. Davis, under fire before announcing his resignation in 2005, is now at UAB.

Bear Bryant

When college football's most acclaimed coach resigned in '82, Bryant was succeeded by one of Bear's Boys. But many Tide backers found Perkins, the ex-New York Giants coach who had none of Bryant's charm, unbearable. After four years seasons, he left to coach Tampa Bay.

Casey Stengel

From the Ol' Perfesser to the Major, who had a major problem in the early '60s: Houk oversaw the last days of the Yankee dynasty. From 1949 to '60, Stengel won 10 pennants and seven World Series (five straight from 1949 to '53) and spoke ''Stengelese.'' Houk won the Fall Classic in '61 and '62, but was gone after being swept in '63 by the Dodgers.

John Wooden

Onward, Wooden successor! Onward to UAB! Gene Bartow had no chance following in John Wooden's Kong-sized UCLA footsteps (10 NCAA titles in 12 years). Two seasons, a 52-9 record and a 1976 Final Four berth later, Bartow fled Westwood for Birmingham.

Vince Lombardi

"What the hell's going on out there?!" So Packer fans wondered, parroting St. Vincent's epic sideline rant. Bengtson was an assistant during Lombardi's nine-year, six-NFL titles reign. But Titletown quickly had its three-year fill of Phil, fired after going 20-21-3.

Eddie Robinson

Two legends of the fall: Robinson, the architect of Grambling football and first coach to win 400 games. Williams, his star QB, a Super Bowl MVP and Coach Rob's successor in '98. Despite SWAC titles from 2000-02, Williams wisely went the NFL personnel route.

Rick Pitino

What becomes a legend less? Replacing a real legend. A Kentucky icon after saving UK and taking the '96 NCAA title, Pitino flopped as Celtics coach and president. Red led Boston to 16 NBA crowns as coach,GM and president. Pitino? Not even close, and no cigar.

Tom Osborne

Solich's old coach, the two-time national champ-turned-three-term U.S. Congressman, is back as Nebraska's AD to help restore a once-proudprogram. It's too late for Solich, fired despite reaching the 2001 BCS title game, after going 10-3 in '02. He's at Ohio U.

Dan Devine

The Era of Ara (1964-74) restored Notre Dame to football preeminence. The Irish went 95-17-4 and won two national championships. Devine, who'd bolted Green Bay for South Bend, won a title in '77 but engendered little warmth or magic. Forgive Devine? No way.

John Schuerholz

Johnny Suhspenduz, Atlanta's dapper general manager and baseball's winningest GM from 1991-2007, was as deft with a dictionary as he was in trade negotiations. The Braves won 14 straight division titles, five NL pennants and a World Series. Wren, an assistant GM since '99, now takes over what Schuerholz calls "this grand organization."

Ted Williams

Teddy Ballgame was the greatest pure hitter in Boston -- no, baseball -- history. When he retired in 1960, the Splendid Splinter was followed by a kid named Yaz: a left-handed hitter and left fielder, a first-ballot Hall of Famer and the last player to hit for the Triple Crown during Boston's 1967 "Impossible Dream" run to the World Series.

Wayne Gretzky

Poor Carson. Not only was he part of the blockbuster trade that sent the Great Gretzky from Edmonton to Los Angeles, but also he wound up centering the Oilers' first line. A good player in his own right, Carson demanded a trade after one year. He hated living in Edmonton, and couldn't cope with the pressure of following Gretzky. Request granted.

Steve Young

As Montana's can't-miss, Canton-bound career with the dynastic 49ers wound down, Young was frothing at the mouthpiece for his chance. Montana had led the Niners to four Super Bowl triumphs. Young added a fifth. Both are in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Cal Ripken

No, Bordick didn't end Ripken's record consecutive-games streak. That was all Cal's doing, his decision. Bordick was the A's free-agent shortstop Baltimore signed before 1997, the season Ripken finally switched from short to third. Bordick played for two more teams before retiring in 2001. Cal? Cooperstown, 2007.

Babe Ruth

The most impossible act in baseball history? Following the Babe. That's "Twinkletoes." That was Selkirk's nickname in 1935 when, in his second big-league season, he replaced Ruth. Selkirk hit .312 that year, with 94 RBIs and 11 homers. He batted .290 during a nine-year career with the Yanks. Alas, no one named a candy bar "Twinkletoes." Send comments to siwriters@simail.com.

Published Nov 8, 2007

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