Minors: Stars General Manager Leaving Team

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December 15, 2004 - Huntsville, AL – The Huntsville Stars announced today that General Manager Bryan Dingo will be leaving the team effective December 26th after 10 accomplished years of service.
“The Stars have meant everything to me the last 10 years,” Dingo said. “It’s been a big part of defining who I am today.

“The people are what’s making it so difficult to make a change. That’s what I’ll miss, the people I’ve worked with, our season ticket holders, our clients and customers, friends all over baseball.”

Dingo resigned from the Stars to accept a position with Buffalo Rock, Huntsville’s Pepsi distributor. Dingo will serve as Buffalo Rock’s Divisional Support Manager.

“I’m making this change for my family,” Dingo said. “I want to be more of a father to my children and husband to my wife. Next year, we might take a summer vacation and wherever that might be, we’ll catch a baseball game.”

Dingo’s stay in Huntsville began in December of 1994. Don Mincher, then the Stars’ President and GM, hired Dingo at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Dallas. Dingo started his career in Huntsville as the Stars’ stadium operations assistant in 1995. He then served two years as Director of Stadium Operations before taking over as Assistant General Manager. Following three years in that capacity, Dingo became General Manager in 2001. Dingo and his wife, Lynn, live in Huntsville with their two children, Brendan, 5, and Cameron, 2.

A replacement for Dingo is expected to be named shortly.

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Stars will search for new GM
Dingo steps down to spend more time with family

To an extent, the past weekend brought a nice symmetrical ending for Bryan Dingo of the Huntsville Stars.

Dingo, the club's general manager the past five seasons, has resigned his position. Though he'll be tying up the proverbial loose ends in the coming week, a vast number of his final duties were completed at the annual baseball meetings in Anaheim, Calif., that ended Monday.

Dingo, 33, will be a divisional support manager for Buffalo Rock, the soft drink distribution company. He told The Times the primary reason he is leaving baseball is to spend more time with his family.

"After 10 years, I still enjoy the business and the people I've met and the relationships I have in baseball,'' Dingo said. "But I'm at a stage in my life and my family's life, it's time for a change. I can be more of a husband to my wife and more a father to my kids, and enjoy seeing them grow up more.''

Dingo and his wife, Lynn, have two children, Brendan, 5, and Cameron, 2.

A replacement for Dingo is expected to be named by team owner Miles Prentice in the near future, possibly even before the end of the week. The new general manager could come from the staff of the Midland, Texas, team Prentice also owns.

"Whoever it is, I look forward to working with them and doing all I can to make this a smooth transition,'' Dingo said.

That Dingo's last extensive weekend on the job was spent at the winter meetings is somehow appropriate, since he was "discovered,'' almost in some screwy act of fate, at the winter meetings in 1994, in Dallas.

Don Mincher, then the club president and part-owner, bumped into Dingo, who was attending the meeting's job fair.

"I had left the area where the job fair was going on and was walking back to my room,'' Mincher recalled. "I saw this guy standing by himself. There was just something about him that struck me. I walked over to him and asked him, 'Young man, are you here looking for a job?'

"The first two words were, 'Yes, sir.' That hooked me,'' Mincher said. "I realized very quickly, through his body language and his answers that he was a guy who would make decisions and he was very intelligent.''

After interviewing with then-assistant GM Patrick Nichol, Mincher said, "I offered him a job. And, bless his heart, he took it.''

Dingo was elevated to assistant general manager in 1998. Then, when Mincher became president of the Southern League and had to divest himself of interest in the club, Dingo moved into the GM role in 2000.

Dingo, a native of Cincinnati, attended Ohio Northern University. Since moving to Huntsville, he has been active in various civic functions, including President of the CAJA Friends Board of Directors.

Mincher, now the president of the Southern League, said, "I'm both sad and glad to see Bryan make this decision. I'm sad, because he's a good person to have at the top with the Huntsville Stars. But I'm glad for him and his family.''