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Identifying an NFL coach goes way beyond hiring the hot coordinator under an established coach

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

What makes a good NFL head coach?Few things are more elusive than an accurate formula to answer a question that has been around since the league was founded 103 years ago.College coaches — even the most successful ones — are hit and mostly miss. So teams tend to look to former NFL head coaches or, more likely, hot young coordinators in hopes of taking a losing franchise and leading it to the promised land.In the end, it’s still a roll of the dice because of myriad factors that determine success, such as the coach/general manager relationship, how much interference comes from ownership and even blind luck when it comes to injuries to key players.49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is six years in along with general manager John Lynch and has lost three assistants to head coaching jobs: former defensive coordinators Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans went to the New York Jets and Houston Texans, respectively, and former offensive assistant Mike McDaniel was hired by the Miami Dolph...

Oakland youth football team moves game to Santa Rosa for safer environment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KRON) -- Oakland's East Bay Panthers youth football team is looking for somewhere new to practice after the team experienced two shootings in less than a week at Verdese Carter Park. On Saturday, they moved their game from Oakland to Santa Rosa to ensure everyone would be safe.Parents of these kids say there are a lot of bad things happening in Oakland. But, a football team like this keeps their kids from getting involved in trouble. However, after two shootings in such a short time, many kids and families want to quit because they're afraid to participate. Bay Area team named greatest prep football squad of all-time by ESPN "Just to see the children running for their lives and just scrambling not knowing where to go and on the ground and running behind cars. It was very scary," said one parent.A practice cut short twice by shootings.The East Bay Panthers football and cheer team used to practice at Verdese Carter Park near 98th and Bancroft Avenue in Oakland. B...

Virginia opossum named Basil finds new home at National Zoo

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Lions and tigers and and bears — and Oh-Possum!The National Zoo welcomed a Virginia opossum named Basil to the Small Mammal House earlier this summer.Basil was previously at local wildlife rehabilitation center City Wildlife in northwest as a non-releasable animal before he made his way to the zoo.Before being found, Basil had been injured and lost one of his eyes during a predator attack. He was brought to City Wildlife to be treated and recover. The National Zoo says that young opossums are at large risk for predation by birds of prey, larger mammals and snakes.Officials said it was unlikely that Basil would survive long in the wild with limited eyesight.He was brought to the National Zoo to be an ambassador for his species, according to a news release.Opossums are sometimes mistaken for rodents, but they’re actually marsupials. They’re in the same family as kangaroos and koalas — and they’re the only marsupials native to North America.The National Zoo says that ...

Union Berlin finally loses at home after 24 Bundesliga games as Leipzig wins 3-0

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Union Berlin fans rose to their feet to applaud their team despite Leipzig substitute Benjamin Sesko scoring twice to end Union’s long unbeaten run at home in the Bundesliga with a 3-0 defeat on Sunday.Sesko’s second goal in the 87th was his second in three minutes and it confirmed Union’s first loss at Stadion an der Alten Försterei after 24 league games unbeaten – a club record.Another 20-year-old, Xavi Simons, let fly from the edge of the penalty area to open the scoring in the 51st minute.Former Germany forward Kevin Volland made his first start for Union and was sent off in the 64th for a foul on Mohamed Simakan, when he clipped the back of his ankle. The Leipzig defender was substituted shortly afterward.It’s Leipzig’s first win over rival Union in the Bundesliga at the fifth attempt. Union won their previous four meetings, all by scores of 2-1.The home fans stood for six minutes of injury time, clapping as they sang: “FC Union, our love, our team, ou...

Aberg wins European Masters, USA rallies for Walker Cup win

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Swedish rookie Ludvig Aberg surged to a two-shot win at the European Masters on Sunday and right into the Ryder Cup picture for Europe.Aberg stunned former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick by reeling off four straight birdies through the 17th hole to close with a 6-under 64.Fitzpatrick faded to a tie for third, three shots back, though he secured one of the six automatic spots for the Ryder Cup team. Captain Luke Donald will announce his six wild-card selections on Monday, and Aberg is likely to be one of them.Fitzpatrick had led by three strokes when he birdied the par-5 14th, but just 30 minutes later — and back-to-back bogeys by the Englishman — a five-shot turnaround left Aberg clear by two. He finished at 19-under 261, two ahead of Alexander Bjork (66).Robert MacIntyre of Scotland finished 16 shots behind but still accrued enough points to earn a spot on his first Ryder Cup team. The other automatic qualifiers are Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Vik...

Yazici’s free kick gives Lille a 1-0 win against Montpellier

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — An early free kick from midfielder Yusuf Yazici was enough to give Lille a 1-0 home win against Montpellier in the French league on Sunday.The Turkey midfielder struck a hard left-foot shot into the bottom corner after only two minutes for his first goal of the season, as northern side Lille moved up to fifth place.Southern club Nice got its first win when it beat Strasbourg 2-0 at home to go seventh. Right back Youcef Atal controlled a high pass before hitting a fine curling shot in first-half stoppage time, and striker Terem Moffi dinked the ball over goalkeeper Matz Sels in the 75th.Later Sunday, French champion Paris Saint-Germain was at struggling Lyon. Winger Bradley Barcola was set for a hostile reception from home fans after joining PSG from Lyon near the end of the transfer window.In other matches, Toulouse conceded a goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time in a 2-2 home draw with Clermont, which equalized through central defender Florent Ogier.Promoted Le Ha...

Arsenal and Liverpool win in Premier League to keep in touch with Man City

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

A run of last-gasp wins fueled Arsenal’s unlikely title challenge in the Premier League last season.Maybe it’s happening again.Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus both scored deep into stoppage time for Arsenal in its 3-1 win over Manchester United that had the Emirates Stadium rocking again on Sunday.United knows that feeling all too well, having conceded a decisive goal in the 90th minute in the same ground last season. There were many others — remember Reiss Nelson’s winner against Bournemouth in the seventh minute of added-on time? — and late flourishes are starting to become a habit for Mikel Arteta’s team.“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, the team’s other scorer.Liverpool, on the other hand, got its business done early against Aston Villa with a 3-0 win at Anfield.Two goals in the opening 22 minutes preceded another strike by Mohamed Salah amid so much speculation about his future following a mega-money of...

Karolina Muchova reaches US Open quarterfinals with 3-set victory

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Karolina Muchova reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on Sunday with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Wang Xinyu.For the 10th-seeded Czech, a 2021 Australian Open semifinalist who has reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon twice, it marked her deepest run ever at Flushing Meadows.She did it after losing control of the second set to her Chinese opponent and taking over in the third, with a strong all-court attack that included 32 winners.“I came back to my game, to slice it more and to change the rhythm — that was the key,” Muchova told the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd in her post-match interview.Muchova’s next opponent is the winner of the match later Sunday between 15th-seeded Belinda Bencic and No. 30 Sorana Cirstea.In the opening match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, 14th-seeded Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton were playing in a rematch of this year’s Australian Open quarterfinals in which Paul prevailed in four sets. They are among four Americans in the fourth round, with T...

Sargent carries USA to Sunday rally and Walker Cup win at St. Andrews

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Gordon Sargent lived up to his billing as the No. 1 amateur in the world by winning all four of his matches at St. Andrews as the United States rallied to win the Walker Cup on Sunday for the fourth straight time.Great Britain & Ireland had a three-point lead going into the final two sessions on the Old Course. The Americans won three of the four morning foursomes, and they poured it on during the 10 singles matches.The Americans won six of the 10 matches and halved two others to complete a Sunday rally in which they outscored GB&I 10-4 over two sessions.They won by a final score of 14 1/2 to 11 1/2.“They played hard to the bitter end,” U.S. captain Mike McCoy said. “This one is going to be a great ride home.”Caleb Surratt never trailed in the lead match, a 3-and-2 victory over Calum Scott, and then U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap picked up a key half-point at the time. Dunlap was 3 down with four to play against Barclay Brown when he won the n...

Steven Tyler: Come back to Maui

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA — He’s most often associated with Boston, the hometown of his legendary rock band, but Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has a soft spot in his heart for the Hawaiian island of Maui.The singer, who has a home on the island, wants vacationers to return to Maui to help the island’s economy — devastated by wildfires last month — recover.Near the end of the opening night of the band’s farewell tour in Philadelphia Saturday, Tyler urged audience members not to be afraid to travel to the island again.“When you think about Lahaina, think about south Maui,” Tyler told the audience at the Wells Fargo Center shortly before performing the band’s biggest hit, “Dream On.”“Paia and Hana: it’s still there,” he said, of two other Maui resort towns unscathed by the fires. “It’s a place to go and do, you know, the love thing. It’s still open, it’s still happening.“Everything’s beautiful, exc...