Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESSDestroy the myth that a black man won’t sell. Step by step, show these same men who have bought into the concept with basketball that it can work in football, too.
A lot of eyes should be on Randy Shannon’s work with the Miami Hurricanes. Shannon has taken only two years to rebuild the once nationally prominent Miami program into a Top 25 outfit again. Shannon had the ‘Canes in the Top 25 a few weeks ago, and needs to continue to win and eventually return the ‘Canes to legitimate national championship contenders, and do it with no scandalous shortcuts.
But the biggest challenge for the BCA will be convincing black coaches that they need to target Mid-Majors as the surest path to the major jobs. Not everyone gets to be Randy Shannon, who was the logical choice to take over the ‘Canes after so much success as a coordinator at Miami. There are only 31 minority offensive and defensive coordinators (out of 255) at Division IA, and 312 of 1,018 assistant coaches. Many more ultra qualified candidates have fled the colleges to work as well-paid NFL assistants and are reluctant to take a step back to chase a college job with less pay.
One athletic director told me those mid-major jobs are the ones that will provide the perfect proving ground and surest path to the top BCS jobs (see: Urban Meyer, Gary Pinkel, Nick Saban, Rich Rodriguez). “But will they take a pay cut to go there?” the AD asked. “If a Ball State or Miami of Ohio job opens up, but it only pays $200,000 or less, will a guy who is making $300,000 in the NFL take that job?”
The answer had better be “yes.”
The mid-major route is the key to all of this. Sumlin went from being a well-paid co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma last year to head coach at Conference USA’s Houston. Turner Gill left the Green Bay Packers front office three years ago to take over the University of Buffalo. Both are now experiencing the sort of early success (Gill in his third season is 7-4, champions of the MAC East, and on the verge of taking his team to its first bowl game; Sumlin’s Cougars are also a bowl-eligible 7-4 and in first place in the C-USA West) that ought to put them on everyone’s list of rising stars.
You build a cache of well-prepared, experienced men who can step right into a BCS program with a far better chance to succeed.
It shouldn’t be just about getting jobs. It has to be about keeping them, too.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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