with the Texas Rangers in 2007.|alt=Howe and Ron Washington leaning on a Texas Rangers dugout railing In 1986, Howe began his coaching career as an aide to
Bobby Valentine with the
Texas Rangers. After three seasons, he was hired by his old team, the Astros, as manager for 1989, succeeding
Hal Lanier. Howe enjoyed a successful first season in Houston, but the team was rebuilding with young players such as
Jeff Bagwell and
Craig Biggio, and suffered losing years in 1990–91. In 1992 and 1993, the Astros improved to .500 and then to a winning record, but Howe was fired in favor of
Terry Collins at the close of the '93 campaign. During the 1994–95
Dominican Winter League season, Howe led the
Azucareros del Este to their first championship. After a year as a major league scout for the
Los Angeles Dodgers and spending 1995 as bench coach for the
Colorado Rockies, Howe was chosen to replace future Hall of Famer
Tony La Russa as manager of the Athletics for 1996. The A's suffered through three losing seasons under Howe before, in 1999, they returned to contention. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, the A's won 91, 102 and 103 games respectively and made the
American League playoffs in each season. But they did not win a playoff series, losing each time in the
Division Series in five games. This included losing Game 5 at home in
2000 and
2002 and blowing a two-game lead in the
2001 series. Gradually, Howe and
general manager Billy Beane grew estranged. At the end of 2002, despite a seven-year record of 600–533 (.530), Howe was released from the final year of his Oakland contract to become the manager of the
New York Mets, signing a four-year contract worth $9.4 million.
Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed Howe in the 2011 film
Moneyball, which dramatized Beane's tactics of using
sabermetrics to select players. Howe said he was unhappy with his portrayal in both the film and the 2003
Michael Lewis book it was based on, as a stubborn traditionalist who refused to follow Beane's plans and a figurehead who submitted while Beane ran the A's from the clubhouse. Howe described himself as a team player despite his lingering doubts about Beane's methods. Howe was described in the press as a "good company man." Howe's two years in New York were unsuccessful. The Mets won only 42 percent of their games, the front office went through three general managers, and attendance at
Shea Stadium fell. Howe won his 1,000th game as manager on April 20, 2003, in a 7–4 victory against the
Florida Marlins. In September 2004, word of Howe's impending firing was leaked to the media two weeks before the season ended, but he was allowed to finish the season. Ultimately, general manager
Omar Minaya replaced Howe with
Willie Randolph, bench coach for the
New York Yankees. On October 16, 2006, the
Philadelphia Phillies hired Howe as the third base coach and an infield instructor. After the
Texas Rangers hired
Ron Washington, a former coach under Howe in Oakland, as their manager, the Phillies gave Howe permission to speak with the Rangers about any openings in the organization. On November 7, 2006, Howe was hired by the Rangers as Washington's bench coach. He served two years in that role (2007–08) but his contract was not renewed at the end of the Rangers' disappointing 2008 season. ==Managerial record==