Paul Sullivan: Regime change in the Chicago sports world is a rarity

(Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

CHICAGO — Regime change doesn’t happen often on the Chicago sports scene, where who you know is often more important than what you know.

And the changing of the guard at the top of the Chicago Bulls food chain could be another chapter in a long line of teams “moving on” with familiar faces still in place.

Bulls President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf acknowledged after firing executive vice-president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas that coach Billy Donovan could be more involved in decision-making if he stays on as coach under a new front-office regime, though he suggested Donovan wasn’t interested in “titles.”

But whatever happens with the Bulls, it’s obvious that former Alderman Paddy Bauler’s famous line, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform yet,” also applies to our five legacy sports franchises. Change has been a relative term under current Chairmen Jerry Reinsdorf, Tom Ricketts and Danny Wirtz, while the Bears’ George McCaskey has been the one outlier of our select ownership group.

Here’s a brief history of the Chicago Way.

In the Reinsdorfian worldview, staying inside the organization is the preferred process of succession. White Sox and Bulls regimes from the 1990s have bled into the 2020s, with underlings simply moving up the ladder after their predecessors have been axed, promoted or reassigned as “consultants.”

In 2023, White Sox assistant general manager Chris Getz succeeded his boss, Rick Hahn, who had succeeded his boss, Ken Williams, after Williams was kicked upstairs to executive vice president in 2012. In 2000, Williams had replaced his boss, Ron Schueler, who was hired as GM in 1990 and “resigned” after a playoff season to move into a consultant role under Reinsdorf.

Williams was responsible for the only Sox championship since 1917, but giving up day-to-day GM duties was sometimes difficult. In an interview in 2015 in Detroit, Williams asked me who I thought Reinsdorf called whenever he was ticked off.

“Hahn?” I replied.

“No, he hasn’t graduated to that point yet, and I’ve told him that,” Williams replied. “There are some things that perhaps I may have removed myself a little bit too much from the equation.”

Hahn and Williams both discovered that Reinsdorf gets what Reinsdorf wants, ignoring their advice when rehiring Tony La Russa as manager in 2020. They were fired together in ’23, and Williams was not replaced.

Bulls GM Jerry Krause was in charge for six NBA titles but also was partly responsible for the dynasty’s demise after Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson left in 1998, as chronicled in “The Last Dance.” Michael Reinsdorf last week lumped him in with Karnišovas as a poor “communicator,” forgetting he had never held a news conference himself about the direction of the Bulls in 16 years as team president.

When Krause moved on for health reasons in 2003, Jerry Reinsdorf hired TV-radio analyst John Paxson, a fan favorite from the first three-peat. Reinsdorf told ESPN he had a short list of candidates from casual interviews over the last couple of years.

“It was just a matter of refreshing my memory and having one or two conversations to come to the conclusion I came to,” Reinsdorf said. “And it was a very easy conclusion.”

Paxson moved upstairs in 2009 and handed off GM duties to Gar Forman, forming the legendary “GarPax” regime that enjoyed some success in the Derrick Rose era. Forman was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2011, but Michael Reinsdorf, who took over as president in 2010, fired Forman in 2020 and moved Paxson to senior adviser, replacing Paxson with Karnišovas.

Michael Reinsdorf admitted this week that he didn’t interview his next leader in person because of the pandemic.

Oops. At least he has hired a search firm this time.

The Cubs, meanwhile, have had only two real regimes over the last 32 years under two ownership groups: MacPhail-Hendry under Tribune Co. and Epstein-Hoyer under the Ricketts family.

Andy MacPhail took over as Cubs president in 1994 under the marketing slogan: “We’re working on it.” After an epic fail with the hiring of GM Ed Lynch and his own brief stint as president/GM, MacPhail turned to assistant GM Jim Hendry, who built three playoff teams in 2003, ’07 and ’08 but could never get over the hump.

Hendry finished the 2011 season even after being told he was being let go, before Tom Ricketts hired away Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, who also brought in his old sidekick, Jed Hoyer, as GM. Epstein and Hoyer won a championship in 2016, as you might have heard. But the dynasty never materialized, and Epstein resigned after 2020, handing the baton to Hoyer.

Like MacPhail, Hoyer is also “working on it,” with one postseason appearance and no division titles in five years and a slow start this spring. He got an extension in July, so regime change is unlikely for the 2020s.

The McCaskey-owned Bears are the only team that usually went outside the organization for a new regime. Jerry Angelo, hired from Tampa Bay in 2001, took them to a Super Bowl in the 2006 season but was fired after 2011 and replaced by Kansas City Chiefs director of scouting Phil Emery, a former Bears scout George McCaskey knew well. The next two picks were both outside hires — Ryan Pace in 2015 (New Orleans) and current GM Ryan Poles (Chiefs) in 2022. The arrow, at long last, is pointing up.

The Blackhawks have been run by the Wirtzes since the 1960s, so change has not often been part of their vocabulary. For decades the Wirtzes usually turned to Bob Pulford when it was time to get rid of whoever was in charge. Pulford began as GM/coach in 1977, was kicked upstairs in 1990, resumed GM duties in ’92, and went back upstairs in ’97, saying: “I’m 62 years old. I’ve got to step aside and let the young guys have their turn. It’s time for an old guy like me to sit back.”

Or maybe not. Pully returned to the GM role in ’99 for a season and in 2003 for two seasons before director of player personnel Dale Tallon, a former Hawks TV analyst, took over in 2005. Tallon built a Hawks team that made the playoffs for the first time in seven years in 2008-09, getting into the Western Conference Finals with two young stars, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Change had come at last, and the Rocky Wirtz era was one Hawks fans had waited for all their lives.

But Tallon was fired nevertheless and replaced by Stan Bowman, who reaped the rewards of the Kane-Toews rebuild with three Stanley Cup titles before a scandal over the team’s mishandling of sexual assault allegations against a former video coach led to his resignation in 2021 and the promotion of Kyle Davidson in ’22 to start another rebuild.

Davidson said they would “not rush anything for a quick run. We want to do this right and stay at a top level.” Four years later, we’re still waiting. Danny Wirtz took control of the team after his father’s death in ’23. The Hawks rebuild remains in slow-motion, despite three seasons of star Connor Bedard, whose talent has kept fans from deserting the team.

What the future holds for our legacy teams is unknown.

But if you’re looking for an owner who thinks outside the box, you’ve come to the wrong town.

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