Is Joe Maddon following the inglorious pattern of Chicago coaches?
When it comes to winning championships in Chicago, the managers and coaches quickly fall into a nice pattern by Year Two. The end of their careers isn't as smooth.
Joe Maddon was hired as the Chicago Cubs manager before the 2015 season and promptly won National League Manager of the Year. The Cubs, a last-place team the season before, won 97 games, the Wild Card game and the National League division series before falling short of the World Series.
In his second year, as all Cubs fans know, Maddon managed the Cubs to the team's first World Series championship since 1908.
As glorious as that scaling of the mountain seems, it is what Chicago coaches do.
In his second year as White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen won Manager of the Year and led the 2005 White Sox to the team's first World Series title since 1917.
In his second year as the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, Joel Quenneville guided his 2009-10 team to the first Stanley Cup championship since the 1960-61 season.
In his second season as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson led the 1990-91 Bulls to the NBA title for the first time in franchise history.
It took Mike Ditka twice as long, but he guided the 1985 Chicago Bears to the 1986 Super Bowl victory in his fourth season as head coach, and that was the first time the Bears had won a title since Ditka was a player in 1963.
All these coaches are legends in Chicago. But none of them, so far, has left his team on good terms.
The colorful Guillen followed up his World Series triumph with a winning season that fell short of the playoffs. Then he recorded a losing season, a winning season, a losing season, a winning season and a losing season in 2011, when he was sent packing near the end of the season, setting the table for the Robin Ventura era.
Guillen's record with the Sox was 678-617, and he is the only Sox manager to lead the team to two division championships. But his departure was unpleasant, with burning bridges in his wake.
Quenneville guided the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships and finished with a record of 452 wins and only 249 losses. Yet, he was unceremoniously fired a dozen games into the 2018-19 season when the team record was 6-6.
Ditka, whose name still graces local restaurants, became an almost mythical creature after the Bears won the Super Bowl. His teams won the conference the following three seasons, but they suffered inglorious defeats in the playoffs. After a losing season, his teams turned in 11-5 records in consecutive seasons but again bowed out of the playoffs. After a 5-11 season in 1992, Ditka was fired.
After coaching his Bulls team to a sixth NBA championship, Jackson made good on his promise to leave at season's end, along with players Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. Jackson rode off into the sunset on his motorcycle. The Bulls were eager to give the reins to Tim Floyd.
That leaves Maddon. The always entertaining Maddon gave Cubs fans a championship that the previous 51 managers who followed Hall of Famer Frank Chance, manager of the fabled 1908 champs, could not. Maddon's squads have averaged 96.75 wins per season during his four full seasons. And yet, there is speculation that his contract, which expires at season's end, won't be renewed. If the Cubs don't recover from that lousy 2-7 road trip to start the season, Maddon might not last through the summer.
Unfathomable just three years ago, Maddon could be fired, same as Guillen. But if Cubs fans have their way, they'd prefer a Coach Q ending, with the ax falling after a third championship.