Former Arizona Wildcats baseball star Terry Francona is coming out of retirement to lead the Reds, according to a report

Retirement will obviously have to wait for Tito.

Former Arizona baseball star Terry Francona returns to the dugout as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, according to MLB.com Mark Feinsand. The move comes less than two weeks after the Reds manager was sacked David Bell after six seasons.

Francona, 64, has won 1,950 games as an MLB manager, most recently for the Cleveland Guardians, whom he coached from 2013 to 2023. He led Cleveland to the postseason six times, including the 2016 World Series, where it lost to the Chicago Cubs in seven games.

His other stations were the Philadelphia Phillies (1997-2000) and the Boston Red Sox (2004-2011). He won World Series titles with Boston in 2004 and 2007.

A first-round pick of the Montreal Expos in 1980, Francona played at UA from 1977 to 1980 and was a member of the Wildcats' 1980 College World Series team. Francona won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top college baseball player this season and was also named CWS Most Outstanding Player.

A regular attendee of UA men's basketball games in the offseason, Francona still has a home in Tucson. He doesn't have to travel far for spring training since the Reds practice in the Phoenix area.