Pittsburgh Pirates hire Chip Kelly's former 'chief of staff' James Harris
James Harris will remain in the state of Pennsylvania while changing sports completely, but that's just fine with the Pittsburgh Pirates who hired Chip Kelly's former "Chief of Staff" for his experience in helping players, not necessarily baseball players.
“James was a guy that always fascinated us,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington told Trib Live's Travis Sawchik. “He had a large role with the Eagles on their performance team. He's also an avid learner. He loves to study leadership and driving culture.”
Harris first hooked up with Kelly at Oregon and followed him to the Philadelphia Eagles where he handled administrative matters like scheduling and players' off-the-field issues like dealing with family, friends and money.
Pirates' search for new ideas involves NFL and D1 football, and a new hire https://t.co/HuosiWtCYY pic.twitter.com/4mWnlldkhr
— Travis Sawchik (@Sawchik_Trib) March 23, 2016
“James is a lot of our scheduling and kind of our liaison for me through our weight room, our training room, what kind of goes on [with] what I call our first floor here,” Kelly, now the San Francisco 49ers head coach, said of Harris' role in 2013.
It kind of sounds like Harris was Kelly's Doug Stamper (of "House of Cards"), charged with doing a little bit of everything to keep the ship running.
As for translating his skills from football to baseball, the Pirates aren't concerned that Harris may have never taken an at-bat.
“It wasn't relevant," Huntington said. "Leadership, culture, and physical performance are things that cross all of sports.”
Since joining the Pirates, Harris has begun working with the club's trainer Todd Tomczyk and stretching coach Brendon Huttman, members of Pittburgh's “performance team.”
This continues an interesting new trend of professional sports cross-pollination as the Cleveland Browns recently hired former Mets executive Paul DePodesta as their Chief Strategy Officer.
