The NFL suddenly finds six head coaching positions open – and no excuses if none of them are filled by a black candidate.
The Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers are all in the market for new coaches. Gary Kubiak retired from the Broncos for health reasons, but the other five guys got the traditional ax.
A leading black candidate to take over for Rex Ryan in Buffalo is Anthony Lynn, who served as the team’s interim coach last week.
While he was hired by Ryan to serve as offensive coordinator, early reports are that the Bills want to keep him. He has told the media, “This is where I want to be.”
Whether that means the Bills would hire him as head coach remains to be seen – but if his current team doesn’t want him, one of the remaining five should have serious interest.
Teryl Austin, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator, will be interviewed by several franchises to fulfill Rooney Rule obligations – as will other candidates. He has proven his talent by taking an injury-plagued Detroit defense and holding it together throughout the season. Don’t blame the late losing streak and home loss to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday on him – although that will be used as an excuse to not hire him. It will have nothing to do with his skin color, of course.
Harold Goodwin, Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator, saw his stock go down because of his team’s lame 2016 season. He is still regarded as ready to take over a NFL team. Goodwin coordinates the Cardinals’ running game and constructs some game plans, while head coach Bruce Arians controls the passing game. Goodwin thanks Arians, who he calls “B.A.” for preparing him for a head coaching post.
“I think B.A. has groomed me, kind of like he groomed (New York Jets head coach) Todd (Bowles). Every year he’s given me more and more responsibilities. I get to see him work every day, how he handles the team, the administrative part of it. I think it’s helped me grow a lot.”
Vance Joseph, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator, is on the Broncos’, 49ers’ and Rams’ respective radars, per reports. Head coach Adam Gase said of Joseph, “He’s put those (defensive) guys in the right positions. From where we’ve started and how we’ve grown through the year, guys being in and out, losing some key players, he’s done a good job.”
Jospeh is also known for his candid, entertaining press conferences and the way he calmed the sometimes-crazed Ndamukong Suh and helped him turn in an All-Pro season.
Don’t forget my man David Shaw at Stanford. His Cardinals defeated North Carolina 25-23 in the Sun Bowl without running back Christian McCaffrey, who selfishly decided to skip the game to prepare for the NFL draft. In addition, starting quarterback Kelly Chryst was injured during the game.
State of STL soccer not good
Gov.-elect Eric Greitens picked Zisser Tire and Auto in Dellwood to announce two of his cabinet public safety appointments because the business had been targeted during the unrest following the police shooting of Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson.
He also used the location to apparently bury any thought that the state would invest in a proposed $200-million stadium to lure a MLS franchise to St. Louis.
“To be very clear, I have completely ruled out state funding for stadiums,” Greitens said.
“We are not going to use money from the people of the state of Missouri for what I believe is corporate welfare. We’ve got far too many core priorities of government that have to be invested in.”
Jim Kavanaugh, co-chair of the SC St. Louis group that is seeking $80 million from the city and $40 million from the state to build the stadium, told the Post-Dispatch that Greitens’ refusal to back the proposal is “disappointing considering he doesn’t understand our business proposal and potential ROI (return on investment) for the state.”
I think he totally understands. He understands to keep Missouri solvent without raising taxes some difficult decisions must be made in the coming months.
Social services will be targeted, urban improvements are out and other programs will see budget reductions. How on Earth can he back that agenda while forking over $40 million in tax credits to build a soccer stadium that SC St. Louis could build itself?
What I don’t’ understand is why the entire plan is falling apart without state backing. When Dave Peacock and Kavanaugh first announced the stadium plan and a plea for $80 million on the April 4 election ballot, there was no mention of the state’s involvement.
Suddenly, without the state cash the entire deal is crashing down.
Alderman Christine Ingrassia (6th Ward) sponsored the ballot proposal, and she has gone from bullish to bearish in a matter of weeks.
“I was hoping to get to the point where this proposal made sense for St. Louis, but I’m feeling that less and less,” she told the Post.
Mayor Francis G. Slay, now in his final three months in Room 200, is all in on the stadium. However, he left it up to Chief of Staff Mary Ellen Ponder to put some kind of positive spin on Greitens’ comments.
“We’ve remained committed to working with SC STL to develop a financing plan that makes sense for the City of St. Louis and includes a vote of the people,” she said. “Having said that, the State of Missouri and Gov.-elect Greitens are critical. It will be tough to get this done without the state’s support.”
There’s that phrase again – “makes sense.”
It’s obvious that pubic dollars going to a private enterprise to build a stadium that the city would own (no property tax revenue) and operate (who knows at what price?) has never made any sense.
By the way, has anyone given Dan Cordes of Foundry St. Louis a call lately? The last we heard is that his group could come up with $80 million for the stadium project. It would “make sense” to see if his deal is for real.
Go for your guns
In November, the Philadelphia Eagles released wide receiver Josh Huff after he was arrested and charged with possessing an unloaded 9 mm handgun without a permit, a magazine that had six hollow-point bullets and a small amount of marijuana.
Based on numerous NFL players being arrested with small amounts of marijuana and NOT being released by their respective teams, the gun and bullets were obviously the problem.
Fast forward to Christmas. Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz bought shotguns for every member of his offensive line. Interesting.
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is @aareid1.
