Awards season is here and this time of year always brings tough choices and much deliberation for Schmoedown fans. I had to spend a lot of time deciding who I voted for in most categories for the 2021 Schmoedown Awards, but there was one category I had to spend hardly any time pondering.
Manager of the Year.
Shannon Barney was the clear and easy choice for me. While Tom Dagnino should be commended for his accomplishments, proving everyone wrong about his draft and masterfully developing his rookie talent to success, especially in the tournaments, there is one stat that he cannot overcome. Barney guided KOrruption to the faction title, managing her players to two championship belts and five defenses in Season 8. Dagnino’s players, on the other hand, didn’t hold a belt all year. I just can’t give my Manager of the Year vote to a manager who won zero title matches, especially when Barney had such an incredible season. She not only matched her Season 7 results but improved upon them. Barney’s players were able to accomplish five title defenses in one season. Once you start to think about how hard it is to defend a belt historically, it becomes clear how impressive that achievement was.
In fact, Season 8 was such an impressive display by the Queen of KOrruption, I believe it vaulted Barney into another conversation – who is the Greatest Manager of All Time? For almost the entire history of the Schmoedown, Dagnino could be considered the GOAT manager with not a lot of competition. Not because there weren’t other great managers – Emma Fyffe had a historic run with the Fyffe Club, Coy Jandreau has managed both Andrew Dimalanta and Shazam! to great title runs, and Roxy Striar has consistently gotten the best out of her players, including helping the Odd Couple become one of the greatest teams of all time. But Dagnino has proven the ability to reinvent himself and have success with many different competitors in many different eras. The accomplishments that Dagnino’s players have achieved over the years cannot be diminished. It would take a lot to be a serious challenger for the GOAT manager title given the lead Dagnino has grown over the years.
However, not only is Barney a worthy challenger to the GOAT manager title, in my opinion, she has already surpassed Dagnino. I believe this becomes clear once we look at the details of what Barney has accomplished in the past two seasons.
The first metric I think about when it comes to managerial success is the number of belts and successful defenses that players have achieved under a manager’s guidance. Dagnino has managed players to four title wins and nine successful defenses, while Barney has also managed players to four belts, but only five successful defenses. It is tough to deny that Dagnino has the edge when looking strictly at this data, but there is something else we must consider.
Dagnino has been managing in the Schmoedown since Season 3 while Barney began in Season 7. Therefore, Dagnino’s success as a manager has been spread across six seasons while Barney has achieved hers in a third of that time. To guide her players to four belts and five successful defenses in such a short amount of time is incredible. Barney’s players have proven that her support has turned them into competitors that are not only good enough to reach title matches but also capable of winning them. If KOrruption continues the trajectory of success that they are on, it’s possible that the gap between Barney and Dagnino will shrink in Season 9. Barney will start the season with both Marisol McKee and Mike Kalinowski holding belts, and she will likely be anticipating more success.
For the last two years, everyone has been focused on faction points and winning the faction title, which brings me to the next metric I think about, and that is who had the most impressive run of consistent success. For some, the obvious answer would be Dagnino’s management of The Patriots to six straight defenses, a feat that may never be repeated in the Schmoedown. However, I think that Barney’s two faction titles are more impressive. KOrruption is the only faction to have won the faction championship, but in neither Season 7 or Season 8 were they considered the favorites.
In Season 7, Dagnino’s Finstock Exchange roster was stacked with current or former champions in Dan Murrell, Ben Bateman, John Rocha, and Mark Reilly. Yet his squad underperformed and came fourth in the final standings while Barney guided her team from last place to first. Going into Season 8, KOrruption had a target on their back that many felt would be hit by the new look Dungeon roster. Murrell and Bateman had moved to Kaiser’s faction, which also included heavy hitters like Mara Knopic and Robert Parker. And what happened? KOrruption managed to have a better year in Season 8 than they did in Season 7.
Given the level of competition that Barney’s players faced in those two seasons, their accomplishments are mindblowing. Looking back on the previous title runs Dagnino’s players have had, the competition back then wasn’t what it is now. With Barney’s help, Kalinowski was able to put together a string of defenses that some may argue is just as impressive as The Patriots. After all, Kalinowski became the first person to defend the Innergeekdom belt more than once, achieving three successful defenses in that span. This is notoriously difficult given the history of the Innergeekdom division. Overall, I believe Barney’s two faction titles and managing Kalinowski to three consecutive successful Innergeekdom title defenses is a more impressive feat than any of Dagnino’s accomplishments.
When it comes to impact on the game, while Dagnino has had a considerable impact on the game, I once again must give the edge to Barney. In her rookie season, Barney changed how factions and competitors studied. KOrruption’s success in Season 7 affected everyone within the league. Every other faction saw how KOrruption studied and how committed to each other they were and looked to replicate it. It is incredibly obvious how big of an impact Barney had on Season 8. It’s not an overstatement to say that Barney revolutionized the faction system. I would not be surprised if years down the line we could still see the impact of how Barney managed KOrruption in Season 7.
The biggest tiebreaker for me in this debate is the following – Barney is the only manager whose players have won belts in three different divisions, only failing to reach a championship match in the Star Wars division. While Dagnino has had great success in both singles and teams, he has always struggled with the Innergeekdom division and has never had a competitor reach a Star Wars title match. Barney took Chance Ellison from an 0-1 Innergeekdom competitor to a tournament champion and helped Kalinowski cement his legacy as the Innergeekdom GOAT. As for Dagnino’s competitors, their greatest accomplishment was when Moose Haas beat Ellison and made the semifinals of the Season 8 Innergeekdom tournament. The gap in Barney’s success in the Innergeekdom division vs Dagnino’s is just too wide.
I would also give a slight edge to Barney when it comes to singles success since she was able to turn two newcomers, Collins and McKee, into champions, compared to Dagnino achieving singles titles with experienced veterans Murrell and Bateman. The gap here is much closer, with both sets of players having achieved two title wins and two defenses. And in teams, Dagnino has the clear advantage given The Patriots’ run, but both managers have guided two of the greatest teams of all time. However, this singles and teams success cannot, in my opinion, overcome the Innergeekdom gap. Therefore, Barney’s dominance in Innergeekdom is the main tiebreaker for me in the Greatest Manager of All Time debate between Barney and Dagnino.
Dagnino can very easily close the gap to Barney in the near future. It’s currently a very close race, and though I believe Barney is the GOAT, I understand the other side. Both managers still have a lot more to prove and will have many chances to achieve more success. It’ll be an interesting race to keep an eye on moving forward. What Barney accomplished in the last two years cannot be overlooked. Her level of success in such a short span of time is historic and should be acknowledged as such. Even if you do not believe that she has taken the title of Greatest Manager of All Time as I do, fans hopefully realize that there’s at least a conversation and debate to be had.
