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Always wearing a business suit and hat, Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for the baseball teams first 50 seasons -- and occasionally fell asleep in the dugout during his latter years -- before retiring at age 87 in 1950. Of course, he also was the teams partial or sole owner those 50 years, so Mack didnt have to worry about a boss calling him into the office and ordering him to pack his bags.That isnt the case for pretty much everyone else in the coaching profession, who can face dismissal after even one bad year. Why, only five of the 30 active NBA coaches have been with their current club for more than three years. As former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wrote in his autobiography about his 27 years with that club: The control I was able to exert over Manchester United was a privilege few managers will be lucky enough to know.Thats what makes Arsene Wengers tenure as Arsenals manager impressive. Oct. 1 will mark the 20th anniversary of when he officially took over for what has been by far the longest managerial tenure in club history. He is the only active Premier League manager who has been with his current club more than four seasons. That is noteworthy, even outside soccer.To have that kind of longevity, former baseball manager Tony La Russa said, he must not only have a tremendous knowledge of the game and how to manage, but he also does something well to relate with the players.Yet even as successful as Wenger has been -- three Premier League championships and six FA Cup titles -- this past spring there were fans jeering and holding banners with such wording as: Thanks for the memories but its time to say goodbye.It isnt easy keeping a coaching job. For most people. Jim Boeheim started as the Syracuse University mens basketball coach in 1976 and still holds that position 40 years later, longer than any other active coach or manager in a major American sport. What advice would he give to someone just starting out?Try to do a great job and win. Then you can last another year, Boeheim said with a laugh. Just keep winning and youll be all right. Nothing else will matter. If you win, youll be OK. If you dont win, youll be looking for another job.Maintaining a managerial position is difficult anywhere, but coaches tend to last longer at the college level. In addition to there being more teams, coaches can acquire much more control at schools than in the pros, and the universities are not bought and sold by multibillionaire owners who want to make instant changes.I think [control] is something coaches ask for when they take a job, former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden said. You can imagine the control Nick Saban has at Alabama. He probably has the biggest staff in the country, and whatever he wants, he gets. If you have the biggest weight room, he will get one bigger. If you have the biggest dormitory, he will get one bigger.Bowden coached Florida State for 34 years before leaving at age 80 after the 2009 season. Thats a long time, but consider that Eddie Robinson was Grambling States football coach for 55 years.The professional level is different, with the great majority of coaches and managers in major sports having been with teams less than four years. Gregg Popovich, who has been coaching the NBAs San Antonio Spurs since 1996, is the longest-tenured active coach with one team in U.S. major professional sports. Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who both took over their teams in 2000, are the longest serving in Major League Baseball and the NFL, respectively. Claude Julien, about to enter his 10th season with the Boston Bruins, is the longest tenured in the NHL.The professional ranks are more difficult to last a long time in, Boeheim said. Its just a different dynamic to the whole thing. If you dont get some good players, youre not going to last very long. In college, you have the chance to recruit more players and maybe get better. Its harder and the longevity is more difficult in the NBA than it is in college.Another factor, Scioscia says, is that a successful college coach is not only the coach, hes his own general manager. Hes going to go out and recruit the players he wants. Hes going to run the program the way he wants to. As a baseball manager, you are definitely part of a team of not only coaches but a team connected with executives and front office guys that are the people who put the team together.As a baseball manager, Ive been very fortunate to have this opportunity, but that becomes more fragile the length of time youre in one place because general managers change very often and there are a lot of things youre not just in control of.Just staying with one team doesnt inherently make the job all that much easier.Weve probably had four or five, six turnovers -- or different looks -- with this team. Its not like you manage the same players for 16 years, Scioscia said. There are always new challenges about team building and figuring out how the parts work. A lot of managers have to do that when they go to different organizations. Ive just been doing it at one organization, but I think the challenges are the same.Generational changes are part of that dynamic.When I started coaching in the 1950s after World War II, Bowden said, youd tell a kid to do something and he would not bat an eye. He just did it. And if not, you threatened to get rid of them. Nowadays you have to sell them on it. Tell them that if you do it that way, it will help you in this way.As the athletes approach changes over generations, so must the coaches. Which is part of the reason why La Russa, now chief baseball officer for the Arizona Diamondbacks, always made certain to read up on and research leadership methods.Probably the key to longevity is you have to maintain a really fresh and Whats next? attitude, said La Russa, who had two managerial stops that lasted at least a decade, 10 years with the Oakland Athletics and 16 with the St. Louis Cardinals. You can have a couple good years and human nature is to get complacent. Its really vital to free your mind so that youre always looking at whats next. Its good. It makes you hungry to do more.Just to stay fresh is really important, especially with the people youre leading. If you stand up and just start yakking, they may tune you out because theyve heard you say it before.While coaches and managers get older, being around young athletes helps them retain some youth. Scioscia says that coaching players from different cultures also is very beneficial.I think its fun if you embrace the cultural differences of kids from Latin America or kids from California or North Carolina or South Korea, he said. Its been a learning experience for me. I think when you sift through all the cultural difference and changes not only in our club today but how things that have evolved in 16 years, the one thing that these players are connected with is their passion for the game. And thats what you need to tap into to motivate them.Bear Bryant coached the University of Alabama football team for 25 years and won six national championships. After his final game, a reporter asked Bryant what he planned to do in retirement. He replied, Probably croak in a week. He died of a heart attack a month later.Bowden has been enjoying retired life after his full 57 years in coaching.All of a sudden, there is a big weight lifted from your shoulders, he said. I didnt have to worry about players grades, worry about conduct, worry about a 2 oclock call from the police. All of a sudden a weight was lifted off my shoulders. And boy, was it different. Boy, what a relief. Now, I just have to worry about food that I still have to buy.Boeheim, who turns 72 in November, says he will retire in two years. Well see whether that is the case. And how many more years Wenger, who turns 67 in October, keeps going. After all, when Ferguson turned 60 in 2001, he planned to retire at the end of the season, his 16th at Man U. His family, however, told him to continue managing. One, your health is good, his wife told him. Two, Im not having you in the house. And three, youre too young anyway. So he continued for another 11 years.Although now retired, Fergusons presence still remains at Old Trafford, not just in legend but in the form of a bronze statue with arms folded in a commanding manner.Meanwhile, there are new coaches and managers just beginning their careers and hoping to be able to match those of Ferguson, Wenger, Boeheim, La Russa, Bowden and others.I tip my hat to anyone who has sat in that head-coaching position for that long, whether its baseball, football or whatever sport, Seattle Mariners first-year manager Scott Servais said of Wengers 20-year reign. Its not just the game action; its all of the other stuff. The fans dont see it, but experience really does help. I marvel at those people.I hope I get in that position.Well then, he better keep winning. Sneakers Online Australia Sale . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. Sneakers Online Australia Store . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. http://www.sneakersaustraliawholesale.com/ . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Best Cheap Sneakers Australia . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Cheap Wholesale Sneakers Free Shipping . Siddikur, whose previous win on the circuit came in Brunei three years ago, finished his bogey-free round with a birdie on the 18th for a total of 17-under 199. Indias Shiv Chowrasia, who has finished runner-up in this tournament twice, was in second place after a 66.ST. PETERSBURG, Florida - On Tuesday afternoon, prior to the Blue Jays middle game of a three-game set with the Rays, TSN.ca sat down with manager John Gibbons to discuss the season to date. The following is the transcript of the 15-minute discussion: TSN.ca: John, here we are on the eve of the return of Jose Reyes. I take you back to the night that it happened, youre reclined in your seat, were all standing around you and you said, quote, "Its a killer." But depending on tonights result, youre either going to be four games above or two games above in a 66-game stretch without Jose Reyes. Your team has gotten through it and of course they were just on a terrific 11-game winning streak. How do you feel they pulled it off? GIBBONS: Well, Scott, that seems like a long time ago and at the time I said that it was definitely accurate. But I tip my hat to the guys, our players out there in the room for holding tough. It wasnt easy. Theres no doubt these last couple of weeks have definitely put us in a better position. But you know what, that group out there, they never panicked. They continued to play the right way, we werent always good but they approached it the right way. We hung around. Nobody could knock us out. With this last two weeks weve crawled right back in this thing. Theres a long way to go but its a good feeling that Joses coming back. Even at the time, throughout spring training, the way we kind of looked at the way the team was built, our depth at different positions, he was really the one guy we thought we couldnt afford to lose and sure enough. But hell be coming back riding that white horse and well be glad to have him. TSN.ca: Munenori Kawasaki was a big part of this and I think you know hes become a bit of a cult figure in Toronto. Looking at the statistics, this is a replacement player, because thats what he is, playing above replacement level. Some of those sabermetrics youre so big into… GIBBONS: Spell that. TSN.ca: Im not even going to try. But theyll tell you that. I would have to think that youre pleasantly surprised and I know Alex is surprised as well because he openly mused about potentially having to make a deal. Yet Kawasaki came in and he held the fort. GIBBONS: Yeah, Kawasaki did a tremendous job for us, he really did. He came out of nowhere, we didnt know what to expect. Early on, Alex was in the wires trying to acquire somebody but they had us in a vulnerable spot because they knew we were desperate. The asking price for some of the guys we were looking at was way too steep and so we decided Kawasaki was doing such a good job for us, throw him out there and let him do his thing. Hes done a tremendous job, he really has, he just brings, you look at his statistics, theyre not great, overwhelming statistics by any means but the little things he adds, the energy, the execution of the little things in baseball, the way he busts his butt on everything he does out there, things like that. The way he uplifts a team, you really cant calculate just how important that was to us. I tip my hat to the guy but theres no question, getting Reyes back, one of the better players in the game, hes been on rehab for a couple of weeks and everybody seems to think hes ready to go so well definitely welcome him back with open arms thats for sure. TSN.ca: There were fans who were frustrated earlier on in the season and there were fans who were over the moon the other day as you were on this near-historic franchise winning streak. Can you talk a little bit, for fans who are new to the game or maybe have rode this wave and struggled with it night in, night out, about the need over the course of an extremely long season to keep an even keel. Youre not as good as an 11-game win streak but youre not as bad as dropping 21 of your first 31 games. GIBBONS: Yeah, Scott, thats hard to do. This games an emotional rollercoaster not only for us guys involved here in this room but for our fan base out there. Coming into the season with expectations the way they were we wanted to get off to a great start. It didnt happen. Baseball is a long season, theres no doubt about that and when you get off to a slow start, when things are built up, it can become overwhelming. We all understand their frustrations because there were more frustrations in this room than probably out there. But, you know, our fans have been great, theyve stuck by us, theyve shown up to our games at home and theyve been behind us. Thats been a big part of it, especially on this late run. It proves, you know in Toronto there, you win and you put a good team on the field and theyll show up. Its like anywhere else, people want to see a winner. Thats the key. Now that the streak is over weve got to continue to play very good baseball. Weve climbed back in this thing but theres not a whole lot of room for error. We need to continue to play steady baseball. Our division is very good, its up for grabs, everybody beats up on everybody else, so we have to maintain some kind of consistency. TSN.ca: Injuries have played a factor and its still going to be a while before you get to put that left side of the infield that you thought you were going to be able to at the start of the year, out there together. Brett Lawrie is still a while off but it seems like you have, one through 25, down in the bullpen, the rotation is coming together, left-handed lineups, right-handed lineups, seem to have found roles for all of your players. How important has that been and did it take you longer or maybe a shorter period of time than you thought it would? GIBBONS: Well, yeah, weve kind of settled in to how were going to run things now. Players know against the lefties these guys are going to play; against the righties these guys are going to play. That did take a while to develop simply because when Reyes went down he was a mainstay in there and we kind of worked around him. You know, Lindy, at the start of the season he was in a platoon role and now hes a regular. There were times we do the same thing with Colby. There will be certain nights against certain lefties theyve had trouble with those guys probably will sit. It did take a while to develop because when we lost Reyes, you put Kawasaki at short and you give him a chance to hit but as time went on he struggled against left-handers so we put Izturis in and let him play there to get DeRosa more at bats. Its really kind of evolved and those guys are comfortable with those roles and been very productive. Everything has kind of revolved around what happened to Reyes and the fact that he was out and of course when Brett went down that opened up some more spots where we had to do some more mixing and matchingg, those kind of things.dddddddddddd I really like the way theyve been playing and good or bad, one thing you can count on with this team, this group of guys out there, they show up everyday, they lay it on the field and thats really all you can ask. TSN.ca: Brett is so young and intense. I remember asking Mark DeRosa what Brett needs to do when it is that he does get back. He told me Lawrie needs to relax. If you could say one thing to Brett upon his return to help him out, what would that be? GIBBONS: Relax. TSN.ca: I opened that door for you but maybe thats it, right, because he takes his craft seriously and he was struggling there after the injury in spring training. GIBBONS: Yeah but thats the key. You can say that all you want but that takes time, through experience, getting comfortable, being productive at this level, you know what I can do this on a daily basis at this level, knowing you know what, I belong. It takes guys a while. Hes been up here the last couple of years but its not unheard of that it takes a few years for guys to finally settle in. The skys the limit for Brett. Nobody plays the game harder, you know nobody cares more. Hell run through a wall for you and he wants to win. In a lot of ways you wish there were more guys in this profession to be honest with you. Everybody always says and its the truth, youd rather have a guy with that kind of intensity that plays that way because he can back down a little bit. Its tough to get the kind of guy thats dead, and just kind of lackluster, its tough to rub those guys up. Its usually not in them. In due time, with a little more experience, I think Brett will settle in and he will relax more. Thats the key because the sport of baseball is so much different than the other sports. In other sports the harder you try, sometimes the better you get because you can run harder, you can block harder, you can hit some guys harder, thats just the nature of the game. Baseball is a slow moving game and sometimes, different guys personalities, its tough for them to relax but usually over time with a little success that usually takes place. TSN.ca: Got to ask you about your bullpen. Theyve been unbelievable. I think theyve got a sub-1.00 ERA in the last two weeks. Brett Cecils retired 40-plus batters without allowing a hit. Casey Janssen has just the one blown save all season. As you slotted things out in spring training to where we are now, did you foresee each guy falling into the role that he is now in and just a general comment on their performance because theyve been used a lot and theyve been consistently excellent. GIBBONS: Yeah, Scott, its a special bunch down there, a really talented group. Thats kind of evolved too, you know earlier in the season we were struggling in our rotation, those guys were getting used an awful lot. Everythings kind of balanced out lately with the results weve been getting out of our rotation. All those guys are very well rested. A lot of times you see the results because of that. Theres a group out there that you want to go to with leads and were able to do that. Plus our depth is so strong out there now that we feel confident bringing any of them in at any time and thats a luxury. Most teams cant do that. Weve been a little banged up there, you know with Janssen we monitor him but he seems to be turning the corner on that. Darren Oliver went down for an extended period of time there. Sergio Santos. So weve gone through some changes. I think Cecils been off the charts and it couldnt happen to a better guy. Delabar, everybody knew what he was. I think in a lot of ways when we really took off is when Wagner came on board. It was at the time that we were putting Esmil Rogers in the rotation. Wagner came along and was a guy who could get a tough right-hander out in a key spot late in the game and that really has added a lot to our team. Of course Loupy is the swing guy out there. He can pitch multiple innings or he can come in and get a big out for you, things like that. We have a lot of different options down there, a lot of different combinations we can attack you with. The key still lies in the rotation getting you deep enough into the game and giving you a chance to win with a lead or a tie or something like that or at least in a close game youre down a run or two and those guys can hold you right there and give you a chance to win. TSN.ca: The schedule is the schedule and you cant change it. But there are teams that get to beat up on the Houston Astros or the Seattle Mariners a lot more than American League East teams can. You play four other quality teams 18 or 19 times each and they would say the same thing. Do you concern yourself with the fact that, I mean other than winning more than you lose, hey man weve got to go through the grind here in the next three months. Almost every night youre playing a tough team home or road. GIBBONS: Well this divisions always been that way, top to bottom. I remember in my first go around here when the Yankees and the Red Sox were the top two teams in all of baseball with the star power and stuff like that. Its kind of changed a little bit but the balance in how tough the division is is still the same. At the major league level all the teams are good. Some teams are stronger than others, no doubt about that, but on any given night if you get a well pitched outing that team has the chance to win regardless of what their record is. The thing about our division, you look, everybodys over .500 at this point. Its definitely a grind. Its almost like the game is played a little different. This division has become known as a grinding division and I think the Yankees and the Red Sox kind of set that tone years ago where they grind out at bats. They make you use your bullpen. You go to a three, four-game series, youre using everybody damn near everyday, thats just the way the games are played. Theyre long, drawn out games. Something that I dont think thats talked about much is that in our division all the ballparks we play in are home run hitting parks. A leads never safe and youre never really out of a game. You get a couple of guys on and a home run gets you right back in it and vice versa. That, in a lot of ways, is what makes it so grueling. Youve got some parks where a lazy fly ball is a home run. Youre sitting over there and youve got to be conscious of that. In some parks a guy may smoke a ball but it may get to the gap or may one hop the wall. A home run can kill you but a double doesnt. In our division that seems to be the way it is. There are a lot of factors and its not easy. The team that comes out of this division has definitely earned it, thats for sure. ' ' '