White Sox: Ventura Rated Worst Among Coaches in Major Sports
By Matt Manetti
Former White Sox manager Robin Ventura was rated the worst coach in the four major sports by ESPN The Magazine. Fans were responsible for the vote and the full standings will be in the Oct. 31 issue.
The Chicago White Sox ridded themselves of Robin Ventura but he will go down as the worst coach in the four major sports. ESPN The Magazine has a ranking, which fans voted on, in its Oct. 31 issue. Rick Renteria replaces Ventura, who resigned at the end of the season.
Ventura definitely struggled when he was manager of the White Sox. However, you can’t squarely place the blame on his shoulders. There’s no doubt he had some suspect rosters, but he also had rosters that were capable of winning. Look at the roster this year for example. That team had some flaws, but they had enough talent to win. Ventura just couldn’t get the best out of his players.
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Looking at his body of work, I struggle to find an argument against this ranking. In his five seasons in the dugout, he was 375-435, which is a .463 winning percentage. Just goes to show that being a great player doesn’t translate into being a good coach.
It never seemed like he wanted this job. I remember when the organization wanted to hire him, it took a lot of convincing. It always seemed like he took this job because he didn’t want to say no. Maybe he did it because he felt he owed something to the organization. After all, he spent the bulk of his major league career here.
It’s clear he didn’t do enough to keep his job and he probably should have been fired. But the fact the organization wanted to bring him back means they had faith in him. Blind faith, but nonetheless, they were convinced he was the guy that could turn this team around. There’s no arguing he didn’t do a great job in his time with the Sox, but it may be a stretch saying he’s the worst coach in all sports.
There are other guys out there, Jeff Fisher for example, who got a contract extension and have yet to have a winning season with their respective team. Ventura can at least say he had a winning season. What definitely hurts his case is he was never able to get the most out of his team. And he also made a lot of questionable decisions.
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He was actually one of my favorite players growing up. I was excited for him to be the manager and very quickly wished they would fire him. I view him as a great player an a bad manager. And hey, that’s okay. Ventura may have been rated the worst coach in sports, but you can’t deny he had talent on the field. And that talent is what we should remember him for.