Win or Get Out

BRUCE BOCHY skippered the Padres to back-to-back division titles. As a reward, the front office didn’t extend his contract, and he sought out a new job. Bochy’s oversized head will be covered by a San Francisco Giants cap this year. Look for his familiar bushy mustache in the opposing dugout when the Padres open the season April 3 in San Francisco.

Marty Schottenheimer led the Chargers to a 14-2 regular season. Unfortunately, the team is less successful at notching playoff wins than Britney Spears is at staying in rehab. But the Chargers did go 35-13 over the past three years. And for that, Schottenheimer was sacked——not by linebacker Shawne Merriman but by owner Dean Spanos, who called the relationship between his former coach and general manager A.J. Smith “dysfunctional.”

In a city that’s never seen its major sports teams win a World Series or Super Bowl, dumping a proven winner seems more like a Survivor strategy than a habit of highly successful people.

“It’s very bizarre,” says Mighty XX sports radio’s Scott Kaplan. “Here are two popular guys pushed out the door, both with a year left on their contracts. Bochy wanted a long-term extension. The team says he could have stayed this year. But they didn’t give him [job] security, and the Padres showed him he wasn’t wanted. The Padres got swept in the playoffs, and Bochy was unceremoniously pushed out.

“The Marty-A.J. feud was very public. It’s really hard to fire a coach who just went 14-2. But it became easier for A.J. to sell the firing to Dean when all of Marty’s assistant coaches left for other jobs. During the season, the Chargers owned this town. And most people don’t hold Marty responsible for the playoff loss to the Patriots.”

The front-office folks from the Padres and Chargers now say continuity is key in getting back to the playoffs and trying to advance. The Padres hired Bud Black as manager; the Chargers tapped Norv Turner as head coach. Black is fitting in quickly. And Turner is the person who installed the Chargers’ current offense——back when he was the team’s offensive coordinator in 2001.

Bravo for continuity. But here’s a proven method for maintaining it: Don’t fire your head coach.

ADMITTEDLY, Schottenheimer has led a jinxed post-season life. His regular-season record is 200-126-1. But in 13 playoff attempts, he is just 5-13, and has never won a Super Bowl.

But Schottenheimer wasn’t dismissed——or didn’t engineer his dismissal by suggesting the team hire his brother as defensive coordinator, as has been alleged——because of a dismal playoff record. Schottenheimer is gone because the GM and the coach are graduates of the Donald Trump–Rosie O’Donnell School of Communication.

“It’s true——there’s not often a change made on a team that goes 14-2,” says Chargers spokesman Bill Johnston. “But Marty and A.J. and Dean consistently talked about the relationship being irreparable. It was past the point of working.”

Chargers fans are left to wonder if Oprah Winfrey or Dr. Phil might have been able to get Marty and A.J. to hug it out.

“With Norv Turner, though, we have someone who’s been a head coach elsewhere,” says Johnston. “He allows for continuity on offense, since he installed our system. And I know Norv feels good about taking over a 14-2 team. Our expectation is not to go 14-2, however.”

SANDY ALDERSON is about as respected a man as any working in Major League Baseball. While he was general manager and president of the Oakland Athletics, the team won four division titles, three American League pennants and a World Series. He literally wrote the book, Moneyball, which details a successful formula for small-market baseball teams to put a winner on the field.

And as the relatively new CEO of the Padres, he’s two-for-two in seeing the team make it to the postseason. Alderson and Padres general manager Kevin Towers (a close friend of Bochy) aren’t linked to bad public-relations moves (like the Chargers ticket guarantee) or sandbox antics between coaches and the front office. So why is Bochy now getting ready to pencil Barry Bonds into his lineup card?

“I’m not going to compare Bud Black’s and Bruce Bochy’s styles,” says Alderson. “That would suggest a criticism of Bochy. I applaud what Bruce did. You’ll see that Bud is a player’s manager. And Bud won’t be burdened by 12 years of history [the length of Bochy’s San Diego tenure]. I’m looking for Bud to collaborate with the front office, and for us to all be on the same page. I expect Kevin and Bud to work together as well as Kevin and Bruce did.”

Bochy couldn’t be reached for comment. But Mighty XX’s Kaplan believes the relationship between the front office and Bochy became strained when the team waived third baseman Vinny Castillo last year without consulting Bochy. “They didn’t give Bochy any say in it; nobody asked him,” says Kaplan. “I wouldn’t use the word dysfunctional, but Bochy felt like his opinion didn’t matter.”

DESPITE THE DUAL ODDITY of sending successful coaches packing, Kaplan contends the firings could turn out to be good news for San Diego sports fans.

“It might be that people are no longer satisfied with having the Padres be Western Division champs,” he says. “Or with having the Chargers win the AFC West title. Now maybe people are thinking it’s time to win a World Series, or a Super Bowl. Sure, two popular, well-liked coaches are out of jobs. But maybe it’s time to go to the next level.”

That’s possible. Turner inherited a team heaped with talent——from a “Lights Out” defense to the all-world offensive ability of LaDainian Tomlinson. And Black has lucked into a starting pitching rotation with two of the best young arms (Jake Peavy, Chris Young) and a pair of the craftiest veterans (Greg Maddux, David Wells) in the game.

But what happens when the Giants come to town April 9, and Bochy emerges from the wrong dugout?

“I suspect he’ll get a good deal of support, but ultimately the fans in the park will want to see the Padres win,” says Alderson. “Bud Black is an appealing character as well. It may take him a little while to establish the rapport with fans that Bruce developed. But Bud is a pretty appealing personality.”

Black denies there’s added pressure to beat his predecessor.

“There’s no extra pressure to finish ahead of San Francisco in the standings,” says Black. “Initially, it’ll feel a little different to see Bruce in another uniform. But things like this happen all the time in baseball.”

Adds Alderson: “It will not be a successful year if we finish ahead of the Giants but we come in third place.”

Officials from both teams won’t say they’re under added scrutiny for tinkering with success. They may or may not really believe that, but in the court of public opinion, they’re in the crosshairs.

The bar has been set. There’s just one dysfunctional action left that won’t be tolerated: missing the playoffs.

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