For Fate of City Manager, See Sports

Dan Joseph is a huge sports fan. He reads the sports section religiously and, so, knows that San Francisco 49ers Coach Steve Mariucci got fired last week although the team made the playoffs. He knows that UCLA basketball coach Steve Lavin, who has taken five teams to the Sweet 16, is a dead man walking because the new athletic director has already fired a football coach whose team wasn’t struggling nearly as much as Lavin’s.

Such is the life of a high-profile coach. Living on the edge, season to season, vulnerable to changing fortunes and new administrations. Riding high in April, shot down in April.

Dan Joseph can relate, because he’s also the city manager of Mission Viejo and, in a way, lives the same kind of life. I found him in an affable and relaxed mood Friday morning, which was impressive considering he could be fired as soon as tomorrow night.

He’s not betting that way, but stranger things have happened. After all, when a new City Council majority comes in -- as one has in Mission Viejo -- and puts on the agenda an item relating to your possible dismissal ... well, you might lose a bounce in your step.

“City managers kind of live from election to election,” Joseph says. “Any time you have a change in the makeup of your council ....”

He didn’t need to complete that sentence.

Joseph, 52, has spent 13 years at City Hall, the last eight as city manager. Before that, he worked for four other cities. The previous council generally divided 3-2, and Joseph is linked to it, if only because the job requires that he do the majority’s bidding. Not helping matters is that two members of the previous majority were ousted in November.

Joseph’s first task is to convince the new majority he’ll serve dutifully. He can, he says, adding that he’d be content if Mission Viejo were his last career stop.

Security-seeking coaches say that all the time, knowing it doesn’t go with the territory.

“I knew before I got into this profession that the average life of a city manager is about four years,” Joseph says. “It’s not a lifetime commitment. You know politics is involved and that politics can be fleeting, and things can change dramatically from one election to another.”

Joseph’s biggest fear is that a new majority may simply want change for change’s sake. If that’s the case, the game is over.

As with a coach or manager, Joseph can be fired at any time. His only protection is that he’d receive six months’ severance.

“This first came up a couple weeks before Christmas, so I’ve had a month to adjust to it,” he says. “A lot of it is simply out of my control, so I try not to let it bother me, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me, the uncertainty of it.”

While talk of Lavin’s demise is rampant, so are reports that he could move seamlessly into a lucrative job in television. With good humor, Joseph notes that former city managers don’t end up in the broadcast booth while they’re between jobs.

Just as there are limited coaching spots that come open, so it is with cities. For that reason, Joseph doesn’t want to become the Mariucci of Mission Viejo.

I ask if the council is letting him twist in the wind. “No, these are nice people,” he says. “I would like some resolution, sooner rather than later. While I would expect this to happen on occasion, to have it hanging over you as some dark cloud, it can start affecting one’s performance after awhile.”

Ever the upbeat one, I ask if after 13 years he’s psychologically prepared to clear out his office as early as Tuesday morning.

With a wry smile, he says, “If that’s what they want me to do, yeah.”

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.