Associated Press
The NFL Notebook…
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. ó John Fox turned around a bumbling team before. The Denver Broncos are counting on him to do it again.
Fox was picked over four other candidates to replace Josh McDaniels, who was fired Dec. 6 amid the Broncosí worst slide in four decades and the embarrassing Spygate II videotaping scandal.
The lost season led to a restructuring of the front office and the return of Hall of Famer John Elway as chief football executive. On Thursday, Elway hired Fox, the 55-year-old former Carolina Panthers coach.
Elway wrote on Twitter in announcing the hiring that Fox ěis a dynamic and proven leader who will energize our entire organization.î
ěI am very thankful to Pat Bowlen and John Elway for giving me the opportunity to coach a football team with such a proud tradition,î Fox said in a statement. ěThe Broncos have a culture of winning, and I am excited to continue that legacy. I canít wait to get to work.î
And his task seems as high and steep as the biggest peaks in the Rocky Mountains.
The Broncos are coming off a franchise-worst 4-12 season, own the second overall pick in the draft and are is need of a major overhaul ó much like the Panthers were when Fox arrived in 2002 following a 1-15 season.
He led them to a 7-9 mark in his first year before guiding them to the Super Bowl in his second season.
ěI think the rebuild probably is going to require a little bit more on defense than offense but you know, I think I have a blueprint that we executed in Carolina and I donít see any reason why it wouldnít work here in Denver,î Fox said before his interview with the Broncos on Wednesday.
Fox went 78-74 including playoffs in nine seasons with the Panthers, who didnít renew his contract following an NFL-worst 2-14 season in 2010. Fox led the Panthers to the 2004 Super Bowl.
Shurmur hopes to fix Browns
CLEVELAND ó Pat Shurmur quickly turned rookie quarterback Sam Bradford into a rising NFL star. Shurmurís next project will be tougher.
The Cleveland Browns are no easy fix.
Shurmur, St. Louisí offensive coordinator the past two years, was hired by the Browns on Thursday, ending a search for their fifth coach since 1999 that began when team president Mike Holmgren fired Eric Mangini on Jan. 3 after his second straight 11-loss season.
Shurmur isnít a big-name hire, and his addition wonít trigger a celebration by Browns fans or a rush of season-ticket requests.
But to Holmgren, the 45-year-oldís last name means success.
Shurmurís late uncle, Fritz, was Holmgrenís defensive coordinator in Green Bay when the Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996. And in hiring a candidate with no head coaching experience, Holmgren is following the same path he took in getting to the top of his profession.
Like Shurmur, Holmgren was a quarterbacks coach and an offensive coordinator before getting the Packersí job in 1992. When Shurmur, who was the first of three known candidates to be interviewed, sat across the desk from Holmgren, Clevelandís top football executive may have seen a younger version of himself.
ěPat is a bright, young man who grew up in football and around the coaching profession,î Holmgren said. ěI came away from our interview very impressed with him as a person, his extensive knowledge of the game and his track record of success as an assistant coach in this league.
ěMost importantly, I feel as though he possesses the necessary qualities which make him the right man to lead our football team.î
LA group returns
MINNEAPOLIS ó The front man for one of two Los Angeles-area groups trying to bring the NFL back to the nationís second-largest market believes the city will soon get a team.
First, the league must resolve the labor issue with the players and their union. AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke said his company has ěhuge admirationî for the NFL and will wait for a new collective bargaining agreement before focusing on the relocation of an existing franchise.
Leiweke told The Associated Press in a phone interview that his group is focused on a number of initiatives, including a naming rights deal for the proposed downtown stadium. He said AEG will ěworry about the team at the appropriate time.î
The NFL hasnít had a team in Los Angeles since the Raiders and Rams left in 1995. Both AEG and Majestic Realty Co. want to build primarily privately financed stadiums and eventually entice a team to move there. Majestic has the necessary approvals to build in a suburb 15 miles from downtown.