As of the completion of the 2023 season, Nashville's managers have led the club for 6,422 regular-season games in which they have compiled a win–loss record of 3,320–3,100–2 (.517). In 16 postseason appearances, their teams have a record of 49–44 (.527) and have won two Southern League championships and one Pacific Coast League championship. Combining all 6,515 regular-season and postseason games, the Sounds have an all-time record of 3,369–3,144–2 (.517).
Trent Jewett won 320 games from 1998 to 2000 and 2003 to 2004, placing him first on the all-time wins list for Sounds managers. Having managed the team for 625 games over five seasons, he is also the longest-tenured manager in team history. The manager with the highest winning percentage over a full season or more is Stump Merrill (1980–1981), with .622. Conversely, the lowest winning percentage over a season or more is .437 by manager Mike Guerrero (2012–2013).
Nashville switched its affiliation to the Cincinnati Reds in 1987.[20]Jack Lind, previously manager of the Reds' Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, led the team from 1987 through the first three months of the 1988 season.[21] From June to July 1988, the Sounds went through five different managers.[22] Lind was fired on June 27.[23]Pitching coach and former Sounds starting pitcherWayne Garland served as a fill-in manager for one game.[24][25] Jim Hoff, Cincinnati's minor league field coordinator, managed the next five games on an interim basis.[25] Former manager George Scherger was brought in on July 3, but he chose to retire after one game.[26] Garland managed two more games before Hoff returned for seventeen games.[27] Finally, former big league skipper Frank Lucchesi was hired on July 25 to manage the Sounds for the last 39 games of the season.[27] He remained with the team for the 1989 campaign.[28]Pete Mackanin was hired to lead Nashville in 1990.[29] He was selected to coach the National League team in the 1991 Triple-A All-Star Game.[30] Mackanin was dismissed on June 28, 1992.[31]Dave Miley, manager of Cincinnati's Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, was promoted to take his place for the rest of the season.[31][32]
Nashville moved to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL) in 1998 following the disbandment of the American Association after the 1997 season.[38] As an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates,[39] the Sounds were managed by Trent Jewett, who had spent the last two seasons with their previous Triple-A club, the Calgary Cannons.[40] He remained with Nashville until being named Pittsburgh's third base coach on June 6, 2000.[41] Sounds pitching coach Richie Hebner was made the manager for the rest of the season.[41]Marty Brown, a former Sounds third baseman from 1988 to 1989, was manager in 2001 and 2002 after two years leading Pittsburgh's Double-A Altoona Curve.[42] Jewett returned to manage at Nashville from 2003 to 2004.[40] Over both stretches from 1998 to 2000 and 2003 to 2004, Jewett won 320 games, placing him first on the all-time wins list for Sounds managers.[11] Having managed the team for 625 games over five seasons, he is also the longest-tenured manager in team history.[11]
The Sounds became the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005.[43]Frank Kremblas was given the helm at Nashville after managing Milwaukee's Double-A Huntsville Stars for three years.[44] He led the Sounds to win the Pacific Coast League championship in the first season of the affiliation.[45] Kremblas was chosen as the PCL Manager of the Year in 2007 and remained with the club through 2008.[44][46] Four-time MLB All-StarDon Money, who had replaced Kremblas in Huntsville in 2005, led the Sounds from 2009 to 2011.[47]Mike Guerrero was promoted to Nashville in 2012 after two years at Huntsville.[48] He missed nine games of the 2013 season on bereavement leave. Charlie Greene, the Brewers' field coordinator and catching instructor, served as interim manager during that time.[49] Guerrero returned to finish out the year, after which he won the Mike Coolbaugh Award in recognition for his contributions in developing and mentoring young players in the Brewers organization.[50] His .437 winning percentage is the lowest among all Sounds managers over a full season or more.[11]Rick Sweet, a roving catching instructor for Cincinnati and veteran manager of 24 minor league seasons, led the team in 2014.[51][52]
Nashville switched its affiliation to the Oakland Athletics in 2015.[53]Steve Scarsone managed the Sounds in 2015 and 2016 after two seasons in the same capacity with the Athletics' former Triple-A club, the Sacramento River Cats.[54] He won the PCL Manager of the Year Award in 2016.[46] Scarsone was succeed in 2017 by Ryan Christenson, who had spent the two previous seasons with Oakland's Double-A Midland RockHounds.[55] Fran Riordan was promoted from Midland to Nashville for 2018.[56]
The Sounds affiliated with the Texas Rangers in 2019.[57]Jason Wood, who had been with the Rangers' Triple-A Round Rock Express for the last four seasons, continued in the same role with Nashville.[58] Wood had also played for the Sounds from 2000 to 2001 at third base and shortstop.[58] First-year manager Darwin Barney was hired to manage in 2020,[59] but the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic before it began.[60]
In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Sounds reaffiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers and were placed in the new Triple-A East.[61] Rick Sweet, who led the team in the final season of their previous term with Milwaukee, continued to manage the Brewers' Triple-A clubs in the six years between affiliations and returned to lead Nashville in 2021.[52] In 2022, the Triple-A East became known as the International League.[62] Sweet won the 2022 International League Manager of the Year Award and the 2022 Mike Coolbaugh Award..[63][64]
Managers
Key
No.
A running total of the number of Sounds managers. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms is only counted once.
G
Games managed
W
Wins
L
Losses
T
Ties
Apps.
Postseason appearances: number of seasons this manager led the team to the postseason
†
Award winner or All-Star while managing the Sounds
^Pete Mackanin was dismissed on June 28, 1992.[31]
^Dave Miley, manager of Cincinnati's Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, was promoted to manager of the Sounds on June 28, 1992.[31]
^Trent Jewett became Pittsburgh's third base coach on June 6, 2000.[41]
^Richie Hebner, Nashville's pitching coach, was promoted to manager on June 6, 2000.[41]
^Mike Guerrero missed nine games of the 2013 season on bereavement leave.[49]
^Charlie Greene, Milwaukee's field coordinator and catching instructor, served as interim manager for nine games in May 2013 while manager Mike Guerrero was on bereavement leave.[49]
^Darwin Barney was hired to manage the 2020 team, but the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic before it began.[60]
^Wayne Garland served as an interim manager for two periods in 1988.[25]
^Jim Hoff served as an interim manager for two periods in 1988.[25]
References
Specific
^"What is a Manager?". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on August 31, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
^ abWeiss, Bill; Wright, Marshall (2001). "Top 100 Teams". Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
^Squires, Tom (July 12, 1979). "Walker Still Not Satisfied". The Tennessean. Nashville. p. 15. Archived from the original on April 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ abWoody, Larry (April 22, 1985). "Walls 'Serious' After Surgery". The Tennessean. Nashville. p. 1-C. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^The Nashville Sounds 1986 Official Souvenir Program. Nashville Sounds. 1986. p. 13.
^Burris, Joe (July 5, 1988). "Scherger Quits After One Game". The Tennessean. Nashville. p. 1-C. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^Coleman, Anthony (January 7, 1997). "Spencer to Manage Sounds". The Tennessean. Nashville. p. 1C. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^Woody, Larry (April 27, 1985). "Louisville, Nashville Too Wet". The Tennessean. Nashville. p. 1-C. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
Seely, Chad; Brooks, Peter; Scopel, Doug (2021). 2021 Nashville Sounds Media Guide(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on May 5, 2021 – via Minor League Baseball.