By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
For whatever reputation former Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. may have with the team's fanbase, he remains extremely respected in baseball circles. That respect may gain the 52-year-old a chance at a potential dream job.
According to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, Amaro may be a candidate for the Stanford Cardinals' manager position:
The former Phillies GM is gaining alumni and academic support for the vacant coaching job at Stanford, his alma mater. There’s a long list of other candidates, including A’s first base coach Mike Aldrete, but Amaro’s name is starting to resonate.
Amaro played four seasons at Stanford, including their 1987 National Championship season, when he hit .344 with 38 stolen bases according to the Pac 12's website.
Based off of Cafardo's wording, the search appears to be in its infancy, as does any potential support for Amaro. That said, "alumni and academic support" is a pretty good thing to have going in your favor as a candidate for a college coaching position.
What level interest Amaro has in the position is unclear. As cool as it would be for him to coach the team he once starred for, this isn't football. For example, Jim Harbaugh left the NFL to become Michigan's head football coach. In doing so, he got a pay raise, became the face of one of the biggest college football programs in the country and was able to return to coach the team that he played for in college. But in parts of the country, college football is more popular than the NFL. Those parts are few-and-far-between when it pertains to college baseball, so Amaro would be stepping out of the spotlight if he were to take a college coaching job.
That Amaro was fired as the Phillies general manager in September of 2015, used a Cafardo report in October of 2015 to suggest he was interested in coaching and then had a job as a first base coach later that month, speaks to the fact that there is some traction around the league to the idea of him someday becoming a manager.
In fact, two Hall of Famers, Pat Gillick and Tony La Russa, have both vouched for Amaro's ability to eventually be a manager:
Gillick to New York Times: ''I think he's going to be a manager,'' said Gillick a Hall of Fame executive. ''He's a smart guy; he's bilingual. Consequently, I think he's going to get an opportunity.''
La Russa to The Boston Globe: “Ruben is a very smart baseball man. There’s no doubt in my mind he could be a very good major league manager. He’s an ex-player who understands the game.”
(It should be noted that La Russa and Amaro both represented by agent Bob LaMonte.)
While Amaro going from general manager to first base coach in a matter of months lead to quite a few jokes, there's tons of coaches in the minor leagues that would give an arm and a leg to be the first base coach of the Red Sox. Amaro was selected, with no coaching experience, and in just his second year as a coach appears to be drawing interest from a top college program. If he waits things out, it may not be long before he draws interest as an MLB manager. He's also never closed the door on returning to a front-office, though there's no indication that he plans to do that.
In the end, returning to coach his alma matter might not be the best move for Amaro at this stage of his career. Whether he ever has to make the decision between riding things out and hoping for a big league job or taking the Stanford job remains to be seen.
