It is certainly hard to argue against the success of Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia as he enters his 12th season at the helm, the longest tenure of any manager in the American League and second longest in the majors behind Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals.
During his 11 seasons as manager of the Angels, Scioscia guided the team to its lone World Series victory in 2002, won five division titles in six seasons, was named Manager of the Year twice (2002, 2009) and broke the franchise single-season win record with 100 wins in 2008, breaking his own mark of 99 set in 2002.
Angels owner Arte Moreno is so enamored with Mike Scioscia that he had no problem signing him to a long-term contract that runs through the 2018 season.
All of these accolades and accomplishments, however, only speak to the tangible successes of Mike Scioscia. They don’t speak to the fact that Scioscia has also mentored several other coaches on his staff, and three of those coaches are now managing their own teams in the major leagues.
When former Angels manager Terry Collins resigned with just a few games left in 1999, Joe Maddon finished out the season as interim manager. Although the Angels decided to hire Mike Scioscia as their next manager for the 2000 season, Scioscia kept Maddon on his staff.
Maddon served as the bench coach for Scioscia for the next five seasons before being named manager of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2006. Maddon then took a Tampa Bay team that had never even seen a winning season in its short existence and guided it to the American League pennant in 2008 and the American League East division title in 2010.
Bud Black was the pitching coach under Mike Scioscia with the Angels from 2000-2006 before being named the manager of the San Diego Padres in October 2006. Last season, Black took the Padres, who had the second lowest payroll in baseball, to the wire in the National League West division title race, only to lose the title to the San Francisco Giants on the final day of the regular season.
For his efforts, Black was named the Manager of the Year for the 2010 season and was signed to a long-term contract through 2013 with club options for 2014 and 2015.
Ron Roenicke, who served as the third base coach under Mike Scioscia and the Angels for six seasons and then as bench coach following the departure of Joe Maddon, will make his debut as the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, having been hired in November of last year.
Roenicke takes over a team that is loaded with offensive talent, with sluggers Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder leading the way, and with the offseason acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, the Brewers will certainly be in contention in the National League Central division.
Each one of these managers was guided for at least five seasons under the tutelage of one Mike Scioscia. While the managerial record of Scioscia speaks for itself, it’s his ability to mentor his coaches and develop their managerial talents that really goes unnoticed.
He has singlehandedly turned the Los Angeles Angels coaching staff into a managerial training program, and the successes of both Bud Black and Joe Maddon largely speak to the vast knowledge that they gained while working under the hand of Mike Scioscia.
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