Ben Cherington is Going Back to School...But as a Teacher

(June 11, 2015 - Source: Jim Rogash/Getty Images North America)
Yes, you read that right.

Ben Cherington, former General Manager of the Red Sox, recently accepted a job as "Executive-in-Residence" at Colombia University in their Master of Science in Sports Management degree program. To go along with that, he will be teaching a class in the spring on the topic of leadership in sports.

He also declined a job that the New York Yankees were prepared to offer him. At first sight, that piece of information almost confirmed that he was a true Red Sox at heart. Sticking around to aid Dombrowski also helped.

But then I saw he declined interviewing for the Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners open GM positions. That did nothing to hurt my liking of Cherington, but it did lead me to think something interesting.

How bad was it in the Red Sox' front office?

Of course he probably took the job at Colombia to be with his family more often, and they probably offered him a lot of money. Trust me, Colombia has some.

But I still can't get that thought out of my head.

Most would agree that they moved on from Cherington at the right time, but was it so bad that he wanted to leave baseball altogether?

I mean he didn't even want to get interviewed. Did the Red Sox leave a bad taste in his mouth: one bad enough to be repulsed from all 29 other teams?

John Henry and Tom Werner can make things rough. From what I gather, they're not the easiest two people to work with.

There's no doubt that Cherington, one of the true great young minds in baseball, will return to the game sometime soon.

But for now, it's back to class for Cherington.

Hopefully he helps shape some more minds to be just like his.