The fact that he was the highest-paid manager in baseball probably didn't help, either.

Still, it came as a jolt when the Yankees parted with a media-friendly field boss who in a dozen seasons had won multiple World Series and several other postseason berths, including one in his final year.

So it went, though, for Casey Stengel in October 1960 - just another victim of a tough town for people in his line of work. Always has been, always will be.

Joe Torre? Yeah, him, too. His 2007 departure from the Bronx Bombers mirrored Casey's in many ways, but it also was a harbinger of an even bloodier 2008 to come.

Of the seven major pro franchises Newsday covers on a regular basis, four fired their manager/coach - usually under messy circumstances - and one enters '09 with a guy seemingly on shaky ground:

Yup, Joe Girardi, who has four fewer rings as a manager than Torre and seven fewer than Stengel. (And, come to think of it, seven fewer than Joe McCarthy, whom the Yankees forced out in '46.)

That's what happens when you fail to lead the Most Famous Brand in American Sports to the playoffs and spar with the media just in time to move into a new stadium full of very expensive seats and suites in the middle of an economic meltdown.

Speaking of which . . . is there even more pressure on New York's coaches now that filling $1 billion-plus sports palaces has been added to the realities of talk radio, tabloid back pages and entitled fans?

Of course there is. New York fans always have been assumed to be averse to rebuilding projects - short of a situation as extreme as the one with the city's NBA team - but that is more true now than ever.

Take the Jets.

When he got Brett Favre, owner Woody Johnson denied that it had anything to do with the pending sale of much-detested personal seat licenses. When he fired Eric Mangini on Monday and was asked if there is added urgency because of the $1.6-billion, still-unnamed stadium, he did it again.

"No, no, I don't think that factors in," he said. "Our obligation is to put the best team on the field we can."

True, but watching the best team on the field tends to matter even more to fans writing $25,000 checks for the right to spend hundreds of dollars per game on actual tickets.

The stakes are different for the Islanders only in terms of scale. In some ways, they need to win even more than the Jets do, because they are consistent laggards in the attendance standings.

But the philosophical clash that led to Ted Nolan's departure in July can't be pinned on the organization's promoting a win-now approach. Evidently, the coach was the one resistant to a focus on developing young talent.

Nolan had problems with some of his key players, too, which also was part of the behind-the-scenes drama in the cases of Mangini and of the Mets' Willie Randolph, whose departure in June generated a conspicuous lack of remorse in some corners of the clubhouse.

It seemingly turned Carlos Delgado into the second coming of . . . Carlos Delgado, circa 2003.

(It also generated heavy criticism of the Mets for having Randolph fly to California before firing him, then announcing it at 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, greatly annoying the media on top of everything else.)

As with the Jets, as the Mets floundered, there was that nagging backdrop of the looming new building with looming new tickets and suites and sponsorships to sell.

The worst thing that could happen would be a repeat of the late-September swoon of '07.

Which, of course, is precisely what happened. Which makes Jerry Manuel only somewhat more secure than Girardi in 2009.

For all of the misery 2008 dished out to New York-area coaches, nothing quite compared to the saga of the Knicks' Isiah Thomas.

In April, Donnie Walsh mercifully "reassigned" him to duties that did not involve regular contact with players, journalists or fans. In October, Thomas was taken to a Westchester County hospital under murky circumstances after what was said to be an accidental overdose of a sleep medication.

Thomas later told the New York Post it was his 17-year-old daughter who was ill, a notion dismissed by local police.

It was a sad, ugly low point in a long, ugly year for New York coaches.

Only one, Tom Coughlin, unlocked the secret to staying out of trouble and on the job: Win it all.

After the purge of 2008, there should be less carnage among New York coaches and managers in '09, but as always, there are no guarantees. Here is how they rank in job security, in inverse order:

Most Vulnerable

Joe Girardi

Yankees

Missed playoffs, misfired with media, maybe even missed TV booth. Must win early and often behind CC, A.J., Tex and the rest.

Scott Gordon

Islanders

Sure, he just got here, but pro hockey is famous for coaches coming and going, especially ones with the fewest points in the NHL.

Jerry Manuel

Mets

Manuel was a change of pace from uptight Willie Randolph and is a news conference star. But like Willie, he blew a division title.

Gary Carter

Ducks

Coming off a Global Baseball League title with the Orange County Flyers, what could go wrong? With Kid's mouth, you never know.

Least vulnerable

Tom Renney

Rangers

You've made the Rangers consistent winners after years of floundering, but isn't it about time to get past two playoff rounds, Tom?

Tom Coughlin

Giants

A year ago, he was on shaky ground. Now is master of all he surveys. But a divisional-round loss would knock him down a peg.

Coach TBD

Jets

If the Jets go the big-name, big-money route, the new guy will get a few years. There would be less patience with a coordinator type.

Mike D'Antoni

Knicks

Barring sordid off-court issues - not that that ever would happen with a Knicks coach - D'Antoni is untouchable until 2010-11.

COMPILED BY NEIL BEST