CHICAGO, Ill. - Joe Maddon, member of the Lafayette Class of 1976, was introduced as the new manager of the Chicago Cubs, the team and Major League Baseball announced Monday afternoon.

Maddon most recently spent nine seasons as the head man with the Tampa Bay Rays, advancing to the World Series in 2008 and winning American League Manager of the Year honors in 2008 and 2011. The Hazleton, Pa. native spent 12 years at the minor league level as a manager and instructor before being promoted to the major league staff of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as a bullpen coach in 1994. Maddon was promoted to first-base coach in 1995 and bench coach in 1996 with the Angels and was in the bullpen for the Angels' World Series championship in 2002.

The skipper agreed to a five-year deal with the Cubs, who are trying to improve upon a 73-89 record in 2014 and have not recorded a winning season since 2009.

Maddon played catcher at Lafayette from 1973-75 under head coach Norm Gigon. He was initially recruited to play football, however, and played one season of freshman football for the Leopards. In his final football game, he completed 14-of-17 passes for four touchdowns in a win over Lehigh. He then turned his attention exclusively to baseball and played three seasons on the diamond on College Hill before signing as a free agent with the California Angels.

A 2009 Maroon Club Hall of Fame inductee, Maddon was awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree from Lafayette on Sept. 2, 2010. The skipper, who majored in Economics as a student-athlete at Lafayette, will be attending the 150^th Lafayette-Lehigh football game at Yankee Stadium with a group of his Zeta Psi fraternity brothers.