There is no magic formula.
Joe Torre was far from the first choice to manage the Yankees. Mike Brown was far from the first choice to coach the Knicks. Both came questioned by fans, media and the industry — and those questions persisted into their first seasons; seasons that would end with drought-ending championships.
The executives who were around then will tell you that Torre was hired in a slapdash way, with little background work and based more on having preexisting relationships with folks who had George Steinbrenner’s ear. Yet, Steinbrenner had such buyer’s remorse that he — depending on who you believe — either contemplated rehiring Buck Showalter in the weeks after naming Torre or actually offered him the job back.
Unlike in his three previous stops, Torre’s calm-bomb-dropping persona proved ideal to manage in Steinbrenner’s chaotic world for what became the dynastic Yankees. Torre was terrific, a deserving Hall of Famer. But his blessing was arriving in The Bronx simultaneously with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, still the two most self-confident players I have covered in four decades. Brown having Jalen Brunson as the team thermometer sure helped too.
