Two years ago, Arizona was the only school in America to have head coaches in the NBA (Steve Kerr), NFL (Antonio Pierce) and MLB (Terry Francona). A lot has changed since then.

Pierce was fired by the Las Vegas Raiders and Francona, who “retired” and left Cleveland, has returned as the Cincinnati Reds manager. Who’s next? It appears to be ex-Arizona All-Pac-10 catcher Nick Hundley, who seems to be the runaway leader to be manager of the San Francisco Giants. He has interviewed twice with the Giants.

Former baseball player Nick Hundley before a game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Oct. 1, 2021.

Jeff Chiu, Associated Press

Hundley was a terrific ballplayer at Arizona. He hit .353 with 15 home runs for Andy Lopez’s club in 2005, and was one of three finalists for the Johnny Bench Award as college baseball’s top catcher. Hundley was one of six from the UA’s ’05 team to reach the big leagues, joining Jason Donald, Trevor Crowe, Jordan Brown, Mark Melancon and Jon Meloan. Hundley has the longest MLB career, playing 12 seasons, including two with current San Francisco general manager Buster Posey for the Giants, 2016 and 2017.

People are also reading…

Hundley has been an assistant to the general manager for the Texas Rangers the last two seasons and has coaching in his blood. His father, Tim Hundley, who owns a home in Oro Valley, has been an assistant football coach at Colorado, Washington, UCLA, Oregon State, SMU and UNLV. The Giants are expected to name Hundley their manager this week.

Dig deeper into Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen’s notebook

Be the first to know