Narron wants Dent on staff
Yanks icon would be bench coach
By Marc Lancaster
Post staff reporter
Jerry Narron's short list for the lone vacancy on his Reds coaching staff consists of one name: Bucky Dent.
"He's my first choice," Narron said Tuesday. "I was with Bucky in Texas, and he is an outstanding infield instructor. I mean, just outstanding."
Dent, 53, has spent the last three seasons as manager of the Columbus Clippers, the New York Yankees' top minor league affiliate. His record in his second stint as Clippers manager is 233-199 (.539). He also managed Columbus in 1987-89 before taking over the Yankees briefly at the end of the 1989 season and the beginning of 1990.
Dent's relationship with Narron dates to 1979, when the Reds' manager was a rookie catcher with the Yankees and Dent the starting shortstop. The previous fall, Dent had etched his name in baseball lore forever with a game-winning home run that lifted the Yankees past the Boston Red Sox in a one-game playoff.
The pair spent 1995-2001 together on the Rangers' coaching staff, with Dent serving as bench coach and infield instructor and Narron the third base coach before taking over as interim manager in May 2001.
Considering Narron needs a bench coach/infield coach to round out his 2006 Reds staff, Dent would appear to be an ideal fit. But the Reds have not yet received permission from the Yankees to discuss the opening with Dent. Now that the Yankees have been eliminated from the playoffs, Narron said he hopes to interview Dent at the earliest opportunity.
"I definitely would like to talk with Bucky about it, but Bucky belongs to somebody else at the moment," Narron said. "I don't even know, with the Yankees, what they've been doing the last week or so - a coach or a manager in the minor leagues isn't exactly a high priority for them. So it'll be a couple days before we probably know if they'll let him talk with us."