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In 2007 the Astros had a terrible season. And so with just a few games left to play team management decided to fire manager Phil Garner and replace him with Cecil Cooper. At the time, Cooper told reporters he was the right man for the job and he knew what it took to make the team a winner again.
Fast forward two years, the Astros have another bad season and so with a few games left to play, the team fires Cooper.
Now the team has lined up ten candidates to replace Cooper. Candidate number one…interim manager Dave Clark says he’s the man for the job and he knows what it will take to make the Astros winners again.
“Whether it’s the culture, whether its the attitude or whatever the case may be. And I feel like I’m the right guy that can bring about those changes to get us back to prominence.”
The Astros have had 17 managers in the team’s history. Bill Virdon coached the longest, holding the position for 7 years in the ’70’s and ’80’s when they had the rainbow uniforms. Salty Parker had the shortest tenure. He coached exactly one game in 1972.
One of the people up for the latest coaching vacancy is Phil Garner. Interestingly, he was the Astros manager in ’07 who was fired before Cooper was hired. Whoever they hire Astros fan Mike Rolin says isn’t as important as getting better players.
“Most of the time it ain’t the coaches fault when teams lose all the time. It’s the players, but the coaches get the blame and they’re the ones who get fired.”
The Astros will interview all ten candidates in the next six day. All of them undoubtedly believe they are the right man for the job and know what it takes to make the team a winner again.
The team hopes to make a decision before the start of the world series.
Bill Stamps KUHF-Houston Public Radio News.