Bobby Valentine might have a new job. The former Red Sox manager interviewed for a college job at Sacred Heart and is a possible candidate for the athletic director job at the small university near his home in Fairfield, Connecticut.
According to the Connecticut Post, sources say that Valentine interviewed for the athletic director position at the university. The source claimed that the former Boston manager is "among the candidates for the job," along with Joe Del Rossi, SHU's senior associate athletic director for development and the director of the Pioneer Club.
According to Fox Sports, Don Cook has served as Sacred Heart's executive director of athletics for the past 20 years, but he'll be retiring this year, leaving an opening for Valentine, who reportedly visited the school's campus in Fairfield about two weeks ago.
Sacred Heart is a division one school in over 30 sports, apart from football, and has an undergraduate enrollment of over 4,000 students. Some of the sports teams have been very successful, with the baseball team winning the Northeast Conference in 2012.
Valentine had a disastrous season with the Red Sox in 2012 and was fired after one year after the team went 69-93 record, their worst record since 1965. The team posted the third lowest winning percentage in 70 years and went only 7-22 in September.
There was news a couple weeks ago that Valentine was hired by hired by NBC Sports Radio to be a commentator and radio host, but its unclear if the two jobs would conflict.
According to the original report, Valentine will begin his time with the network by calling in weekly to NBC Sports affiliated stations over the next two months and later will co-host a daily sports-talk show on NBC Sports Radio starting in April. According to Sports Illustrated, Valentine's co-host will likely be named in the early spring.
The 2012 season in Boston was filled with drama for a number of reasons, including when Valentine criticized Kevin Youkilis on television in April and then later called out his coaches for being disloyal while speaking during a radio interview.
The team dealt with injuries and underperforming players and eventually gave up on the season, trading a crop of star players to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The teams moved $250 million in future contracts, trading first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, starting pitcher Josh Beckett and outfielder Carl Crawford to Los Angeles. Some of the players that missed time for the team included Carl Crawford, Andrew Bailey, David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Will Middlebrooks. According to ESPN.com, the Red Sox used 56 different players this season, a franchise record.
Valentine never got along well with the media in the city and the Red Sox fired him soon after the season ended, replacing him with John Farrell, the former Toronto Blue Jays manager and Boston pitching coach.
Valentine has taken the road less traveled many times in his career and is known as an eccentric manager, which is one reason why things didn't work out in Boston. He has coached in Japan and also was the director of health and public safety in Stamford, Conn.
Valentine was manager for the Texas Rangers in the late 80s and early 90s and led the Mets to the World Series in 2000 while managing in New York from 1996 to 2002. He spent time in Japan as a manager for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese leagues before for ESPN as an analyst on television for Sunday Night Baseball.
The job would be a step far below the manager for one of baseball's most valuable franchises, but Valentine may be looking for something less stressful after dealing with the crazy media situation in Boston.
