Cleveland Indians: Terry Francona high up on ESPN coaches ranking

The Cleveland Indians have a special manager in Terry Francona and he received a high spot in a special coaches ranking by ESPN.

It is easy for Cleveland Indians fans to be frustrated with Terry Francona after the way the season ended.

Blame falls on the manager in all sports when things go bad. But even with the way things have gone, Francona remains one of the top managers not only in baseball, but in all sports.

ESPN.com recently put together a list of the top 50 coaches across the four major sports. Bill Belichick came in at No. 1 overall, while Francona showed up at No. 8. The only MLB manager higher on the list is A.J. Hinch of the Houston Astros.

For those wanting a good laugh, or perhaps a painful one, Hue Jackson showed up all the way down at No. 118. Poor Browns fans.

Francona is already a Hall of Fame manager thanks to his two titles won in Boston. While Indians fans may be growing impatient with the lack of titles in Cleveland, Tito has brought a new level of play to Indians baseball. One not seen since the glory days of the 90s.

The crazy thing is that Francona is only 59 years old, so he could realistically be in Cleveland for another decade or more. Although it may take winning a championship for the team to commit to him for that long. We all saw what happened with Mike Hargove.

The difference between the two is that Francona has experience winning a World Series elsewhere. That doesn’t do much for Indians fans right now, but he does have unparalleled experience. It is hard to think of a replacement for Francona that would be a better option.