Hey, former Iowa football/baseball player Bo Porter will be a major-league manager

To me, it's often seemed like out-of-sight, out-of-mind is how college football fans feel about players.

When former Iowa tight end Scott Chandler catches two touchdown passes for the Buffalo Bills, like he did Sunday, it's a "That's nice" reaction from Hawkdom. But he didn't do it in a game for Iowa, so, it doesn't really matter.

It's as if once the player no longer is wearing that black-and-gold laundry, he isn't quite as relevant. Which makes me think fans aren't really all that attached to the players, at least not the ones they don't know personally.

That would be an entire column in itself, maybe even a book.

But I like to point out when former Hawkeyes have done well in their professional careers because ... well, because it simply interests me. Which brings me to Bo Porter.

Marquis "Bo" Porter lettered at defensive back for Iowa from 1992 to 1994. Those were unremarkable teams, so Porter didn't have a chance to stencil his name in Hawkeye lore. He was a co-team MVP in 1994, and had a team-high three interceptions that year.

He also played baseball at Iowa, and played it well. He was a 40th-round draft choice of the Chicago Cubs in 1993, and signed with them. His path through the minors finally took him to Chicago in 1999.

Porter played in 24 games for the Cubs that year, 17 for the Oakland Athletics in 2000, and 48 for the Texas Rangers in 2001. He had two home runs in 128 major-league at-bats. He played 1,064 games in the minor leagues. This is a baseball guy.

After his playing days ended, he became a minor-league coach in 2005, and the manager of the summer-league Class A Jamestown Jammers in 2006. In 2007 he became the Florida Marlins' third-base coach, and was there three years. He was a coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010 and the Washington Nationals last season and this year.

Porter had been a finalist to be the manager of the Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates after the 2010 season. Last week, the Houston Astros hired him to manage the team next season. He'll serve out the rest of this season with the Nationals, the National League East-champions.

Porter is 40.  He is a former Hawkeye two-sport athlete who will manage a major-league baseball team. He has done well.