Following a string of embarrassing rebuffs by candidates of all stature and variety, the Buffalo Bills head coaching search should ultimately come to fruition this week.
To this point the Bills have only officially interviewed two candidates, though an interview and/or job offer was allegedly extended, and rejected by Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.
Interim coach Perry Fewell discussed the job but ended up the new defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. He’s officially out.
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team defeated Akron, 78-65, in a rematch of the 2009 Mid-American Conference championship game. With the win, the Bulls improved to 3-0 in MAC play for the first time since joining the conference in 1998.
Rodney Pierce tied a career-high with 31 points to become the first player in the Bulls’ Division I history to score 20 or more points in eight straight games. Pierce shot 4-of-5 from the three-point line and 7-for-7 from the free throw line. He also added four of the Bulls’ season-high 13 steals.
Sean Smiley, who was the hero in Thursday night’s win at Bowling Green, added 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting. He was a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. The senior guard had a career-best five steals.
The Stampede hit the road Saturday night and got their first win of the season, a 124-114 victory over the Maryland Greenhawks in Rockville, Maryland. It’s just the second franchise win for the second-year PBL franchise, which went just 1-19 in its first season last year.
The Stampede were led by Derick Payne with 25 points and 6 rebounds. He’s averaging 23 points per game in four game this season; third-best in the PBL.
The Buffalo Bandits lost their second straight game to the Rochester Knighthawks in a 13-11 loss during the home opener at HSBC Arena.
Buffalo opened the game with a much stronger offense than in last week’s 10-5 loss in Rochester. Three quick goals from Mike Accursi, Sean Greenhalgh, and Mark Steenhuis put them up early on the power play.
However, after a major scrum broke out after the Steenhuis’ goal, Rochester retaliated on the power play with a pair of goals from Shawn Williams to bring the Knighthawks within one.
The Buffalo traveled to Long Island Saturday night for a skate with the red-hot (7-2-1 in their last 10) New York Islanders. It was the second stop for Buffalo in their season-long, seven-game road trip.
Buffalo trailed 2-0 before goals by Mike Grier and Drew Stafford tied the score, eventually sending the game to overtime and then a shootout before the Islanders finally prevailed, 3-2.
Even with the loss the Sabres have now earned at least a point in 10 straight games and haven’t lost in regulation since falling to Washington on December 23. They’re 7-0-3 in their last 10 and with 64 points are tied with Washington for second in the Eastern conference, two points behind leader New Jersey.
The Niagara men’s basketball team (10-9, 3-4 MAAC) dropped a road MAAC contest against the Iona Gaels (12-6, 4-3 MAAC), 64-47, on Saturday night. The Purple Eagles were held to a season-low 47 points and shot a season-low 28.0 percent from the field.
Niagara has lost three in a row for the first time since the beginning of the 2006-07 season during a 1-6 start. That team rebounded to win the 2007 MAAC Tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Iona started the game on a 13-4 run and never trailed in their first home game since December. Nine different Gaels made a field goal in the win.
Canisius junior Julius Coles hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5.8 seconds left on the clock and Manhattan’s last second shot to tie hit the from rim as the Golden Griffins secured a 63-61 overtime victory over the Jaspers Saturday afternoon in the Draddy Gymnasium. The win improves Canisius to 9-9 overall and 4-3 in the MAAC, while Manhattan fell to 7-10 overall and 2-5 in league play.
Coles led the Griffs with a team-high 15 points as he returned to the starting line-up for the first time since Jan. 2. Junior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons posted his third career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Frank Turner and junior Elton Frazier chipped in 12 points apiece in the winning effort.
On the CBS pregame show Saturday night, Charlie Casserly cited multiple sources that told him the Buffalo Bills offered their head coaching position to Jim Harbaugh, and the current Stanford coach turned it down.
If the organization hasn’t already hit rock bottom they’re certainly flirting with it. Candidates who’ve publicly declared their aspiration to be a NFL coach are turning down jobs and in Brian Schottenheimer as well as possibly Ron Rivera and Russ Grimm’s case, interviews.
Yes, this organization’s league-wide perception is at an all-time low.
At this rate it’s almost certain Leslie Frazier will become the next Bills head coach, if for no other reason he seems to be the only candidate willing to take the job.
Saturday was a kind day to local women’s college basketball. Niagara, Canisius and the University of Buffalo all picked up key victories, with the Griffs and Bulls winning conference games for the first time this season. Only St. Bonaventure came out on the losing end of the stick, dropping a 76-65 decision to Dayton.
The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team scored the first seven points and led wire-to-wire on Saturday afternoon as the Bulls picked up their first conference win, defeating Ohio, 76-62, at Alumni Arena. For the first time this season the Bulls had four players in double figures in scoring as UB improves to 5-12 on the season and 1-3 in the MAC.
Zach Kassian, the Buffalo Sabres first round (13th overall) pick in the 2009 NHL entry draft, is in hot water with the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
The current Windsor Spitfires forward has been suspended indefinitely by the league for a dirty open ice hit against a defenseless Matt Kennedy (Barrie) on Thursday night. The hit gave Kennedy a concussion and forced doctors to use stitches and staples to close his facial wounds.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt him.” Kassian told the Windsor Star. (We’d hate to see the result had he been).
While Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is sure to look down on this kind of play, it also serves little doubt this kid will be a physical presence in the Buffalo lineup someday.
Kassian has nine goals and 19 assists in 34 games this year.
Six consecutive goals by the Niagara men’s hockey team (6-12-2, 2-3-1 CHA) made sure the Purple Eagles would go down in CHA lore as the only unbeaten team in league history, as the Purple Eagles upset the No. 11 Bemidji State Beavers (14-5-2, 8-1-0 CHA) on Friday night at Dwyer Arena.
Niagara’s first victory over a ranked foe since a 4-3 defeat of No. 14 Clarkson at home last season made sure that the only team that will ever have finished a season of CHA play unbeaten is the 1999-00 Niagara team that went 15-0-2 en route to a berth in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
The Buffalo Bills went after the big fish in starting their head coaching search. Mike Shanahan was wooed way back in November, and Bill Cowher was wooed much more recently. Buffalo’s backup plan included formally requesting permission to interview three of the league’s most respected coordinators. With the NFL’s divisional round of playoffs set to begin today, the Bills enter a critical weekend in their coaching search, even while not participating themselves.
Shanahan is in Washington, and Cowher appears comfortable waiting for other opportunities beyond 2010. One candidate the team interviewed, Perry Fewell, is the Giants’ new defensive coordinator. One coordinator has already turned down Buffalo’s interview request; Brian Schottenheimer is happy where he’s at. A second, Arizona’s Russ Grimm, is likely to follow suit.
You don’t need me to tell you that the 2009 version of the Buffalo Bills could hardly be labeled a juggernaut offensively. In finishing 6-10, the Bills scored just 258 points on the season, an average of around 16 per game. That’s not going to win you a lot of ball games. Only five NFL teams scored fewer points than Buffalo last season – Cleveland, Oakland, Detroit, Tampa Bay and St. Louis – and those teams finished a combined 16-64.
It’s not rocket science. You have to score points to win football games, and the Bills haven’t scored enough points for a full decade.
We know what Buffalo’s biggest issues are offensively. The team has lacked a franchise quarterback since Jim Kelly retired, and the offensive line has been ravaged by injuries, youth and an overall lack of top-end talent. Clearly, the offense isn’t going to make major strides until the Bills can muster passing grades in both areas. One often-overlooked area where the Bills have lacked for quite some time, however, is the tight end position. Buffalo still has yet to hire a head coach; when that happens, however, it is imperative that the new coach find a coordinator that is capable of getting the ball to the tight end.
Senior Sean Smiley drained his fourth three pointer of the game with 4.7 seconds left to break a 65-65 tie and lead the Bulls to a win at Bowling Green, 68-65. The win for the Bulls was just their second all-time at Anderson Arena and improves their record to 9-4 on the season and 2-0 in the MAC.
The Falcons were able to erase a nine-point halftime deficit as they got within two early in the half and finally tied it on two Dee Brown free throws with 39 seconds left. From there the Bulls found a wide-open Smiley who drained a three from long range to put the Bulls up three with 4.7 seconds left. The Falcons threw up one last desperation three-point attempt, but it came up short as the Bulls were able to hold on for the win.
The Niagara University Athletics Department announced the 2010 season debut for SportsNite Niagara on Friday, Jan. 15. The half-hour coaches’ show will air on Time Warner SportsNet Friday’s at 6:30 p.m. in Buffalo (cable ch. 13) and at 5 p.m. in Rochester (cable ch. 26).
The Purple Eagles have teamed up with Time Warner SportsNet for the nine episodes of SportsNite Niagara as well as numerous live contests played at the ‘Taps’ Gallagher Center and Dwyer Arena. Along with the new channel, this year’s show features a new set and a new host, WGR’s Jeremy White.
This week’s episode opens up with 2009 MAAC Volleyball Coach of the Year Susan Clements and men’s hockey head coach Dave Burkholder. There will also be a feature on men’s cross country runner Mounkalia Hamza.
In the daily carousel of Bills’ head coaching reports, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk chimes in, saying a league source tells him the “Bills currently intend to hire a coach who specializes in the offensive side of the ball.”
As Florio states, with Brian Schottenheimer opting not to take the Bills up on an interview offer, it leaves a pair of coaches with their teams currently in the playoffs as the strongest possibilities. Russ Grimm has already been contacted for an interview by the club and Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is quickly emerging as a dark horse candidate.
Florio says the news also suggests that the pursuit of Bill Cowher has concluded, but is quick to remind people to not write if off until Buffalo or Cowher sources say so themselves.
Other coaches that could become possibilities include Jim Harbaugh and Brian Billick, although the team has not contacted Billick according to him.
Don’t sleep on Baltimore coordinator Cam Cameron either. He has ties to Buddy Nix in San Diego and could receive consideration.
Like everyone, Brian Brohm is playing the waiting game. He hears the rumors. An offensive coordinator here, a defensive guru there. He’s waiting and wondering. Any day, the Buffalo Bills will have a new head coach.
“I’m just anxious to see who it’s going to be,” Brohm said, “so we can get to work.”
Because then, Brohm’s strengths take over. Diving into a playbook. Learning the nuances of a scheme. Memorizing audibles. Knowing which on-the-line checks to make and when. Brohm is a self-diagnosed “football junkie.” Laughing, he admits that he rarely escapes the game. Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy once said Brohm picked up his offspring of the West Coast offense faster than anyone he’s ever had.
You can officially scratch Perry Fewell off the list of candidates for the next Buffalo Bills head coach. According to ESPN, Fewell is going to accept the defensive coordinator position for the New York Giants.
Fewell accepting the job means one or both of two things; either the former Bills interim coach assumed he wouldn’t get the Bills job, and/or the organization informed him formally he wasn’t going to be their choice.
Yesterday it was reported that New York Jets Brian Schottenheimer has declined the chance to interview for the Bills head coaching vacancy. It’s not yet known exactly when or if the team will interview Arizona assistant Russ Grimm.
In an interview yesterday, Adam Schefter told me that Bill Cowher will not be the next Bills head coach, citing “too many reliable people he’s talked to.” Take that for what it’s worth.
Meanwhile, at least small murmurs are emerging that perhaps the Bills have already made their decision to go with Minnesota defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, which if true may or may not have played a part in Schottenheimer’s decision to decline an opportunity to interview and Grimm’s possible hesitation.
The only thing we know for certain is that Fewell won’t be on the Bills sideline next year.
With the entirety of the UB coaching staff set (according to UB athletics), I thought I would put together a quick bullet point comparison between what we will have in 2010 and what we had in 2009. Between Turner Gill cherry picking the coaches he wants from the UB Staff (Stamn, Wimberly) and Quinn having his own ideas about who he wanted the turn over was huge.
I’m also going to present my SWAG estimate on how UB did at each position on two scales of one to five. The first measurement is of the quality over or under the previous person who held that job, the second measure is for the quality of hire given UB’s situation.
Quality above or below the person who held the job in 2009: Kind of speaks for itself, if you could have coach A or coach B who would you want based on their histories?
Western New York native Jonny Flynn continues his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves and just like the team he represents, both continue to struggle. The Wolves are just 1-7 on the new year, including dropping a triple-overtime thriller at Houston Wednesday night.
Flynn has had his moments but clearly still has a lot to learn at the NBA level. The Niagara Falls high school product has been held to double digit points two straight games and three of the past five. In total Flynn’s reached at least 20 points just once in eight games in January.
His poor shooting teammates haven’t helped his assist total as failing to knock down open looks have contributed to him not having a game this season with at least 10 assists.
A few nights ago I reported that Bill Cowher will not be coaching in Buffalo based on a public tweet by ESPN-NFL insider Adam Schefter, and a simple direct message from him that followed.
For that, I was ripped on message boards and comments everywhere and upon reflection, deservedly so. Schefter is not a source but a reporter, and erroneously I originally masked his private comment to me as a source. Lesson learned.
People were/are understandably pessimistic about Schefter’s statement, mainly because he didn’t base it on a source.
Since then I’ve sought clarification. After today I’ve found it.
The report says a time for the interview has not been set but speculates it could happen Wednesday or Thursday night in Arizona or perhaps on Sunday, after the Cardinals travel to New Orleans on Saturday.
Grimm, 50, has been in Arizona since 2007. Before that he was the offensive line coach in Pittsburgh starting in 2000. He was promoted to assistant head coach in 2004 and was a finalist for the head coaching vacancy when Bill Cowher retired. The job eventually went to Mike Tomlin.
Reports say Grimm initially turned down Buffalo’s request for an interview.
In August 2009, former UB wrestling team captain and heavyweight wrestler Jeff Parker (2004-2008) was diagnosed with melanoma. He came through surgery and finished his radiation treatments. Unfortunately, his follow up CT scan showed that his cancer had metastasized to his lungs & liver. His current treatments consist of new experimental methods, some of which may not be covered under his health insurance plan.
As a UB captain, Jeff Parker displayed every positive quality required to beat this disease. He is prepared to do whatever must be done to beat his cancer. In a letter to the current team, Jeff stated “that everything he did while wrestling for UB has made me a better employee, coach and person. It also makes the obstacles that challenge me easier to defeat.”
Today’s Wednesday. The Buffalo Bills have now had an empty chair in the head coach’s office at One Bills Drive for nearly nine full days, and given the nature of their search, that streak is likely to continue a while longer. GM Buddy Nix has his work cut out for him, as he still reportedly has several candidates to interview for the post. He’s also got that tiny task in front of him of making the Bills not stink anymore, too.
Nix, obviously, is the key figure in Buffalo for the time being (we’re guessing that once the new head coach is hired, he’ll command most fans’ attention for a considerable stretch of time). As such, it’s important for us to get our heavy discussions on Nix in before the big news breaks.
What follows after the jump is an examination of the work that Buddy Nix has done in 17 years’ worth of front office experience at the NFL level. In essence, this is his resume for the job he currently holds; we doubt his coaching experience had a tangible bearing on owner Ralph Wilson’s decision to name Nix his GM. This post is not about the process that led to Nix’s hire in Buffalo; we’ve had that discussion too many times to be interested in it. The deed is done, and for better or worse, Nix will be calling the personnel shots in Orchard Park for the foreseeable future.
Following a string of embarrassing rebuffs by candidates of all stature and variety, the Buffalo Bills head coaching search should ultimately come to fruition this week.
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team defeated Akron, 78-65, in a rematch of the 2009 Mid-American Conference championship game. With the win, the Bulls improved to 3-0 in MAC play for the first time since joining the conference in 1998.
The Buffalo Stampede is winless no more.
The Buffalo Bandits lost their second straight game to the Rochester Knighthawks in a 13-11 loss during the home opener at HSBC Arena.
The Buffalo traveled to Long Island Saturday night for a skate with the red-hot (7-2-1 in their last 10) New York Islanders. It was the second stop for Buffalo in their season-long, seven-game road trip.
The Niagara men’s basketball team (10-9, 3-4 MAAC) dropped a road MAAC contest against the Iona Gaels (12-6, 4-3 MAAC), 64-47, on Saturday night. The Purple Eagles were held to a season-low 47 points and shot a season-low 28.0 percent from the field.
Canisius junior Julius Coles hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5.8 seconds left on the clock and Manhattan’s last second shot to tie hit the from rim as the Golden Griffins secured a 63-61 overtime victory over the Jaspers Saturday afternoon in the Draddy Gymnasium. The win improves Canisius to 9-9 overall and 4-3 in the MAAC, while Manhattan fell to 7-10 overall and 2-5 in league play.
On the CBS pregame show Saturday night, Charlie Casserly cited multiple sources that told him the Buffalo Bills offered their head coaching position to Jim Harbaugh, and the current Stanford coach turned it down.
Saturday was a kind day to local women’s college basketball. Niagara, Canisius and the University of Buffalo all picked up key victories, with the Griffs and Bulls winning conference games for the first time this season. Only St. Bonaventure came out on the losing end of the stick, dropping a 76-65 decision to Dayton.
Six consecutive goals by the Niagara men’s hockey team (6-12-2, 2-3-1 CHA) made sure the Purple Eagles would go down in CHA lore as the only unbeaten team in league history, as the Purple Eagles upset the No. 11 Bemidji State Beavers (14-5-2, 8-1-0 CHA) on Friday night at Dwyer Arena. 
The Buffalo Bills went after the big fish in starting their head coaching search. Mike Shanahan was wooed way back in November, and Bill Cowher was wooed much more recently. Buffalo’s backup plan included formally requesting permission to interview three of the league’s most respected coordinators. With the NFL’s divisional round of playoffs set to begin today, the Bills enter a critical weekend in their coaching search, even while not participating themselves.
You don’t need me to tell you that the 2009 version of the Buffalo Bills could hardly be labeled a juggernaut offensively. In finishing 6-10, the Bills scored just 258 points on the season, an average of around 16 per game. That’s not going to win you a lot of ball games. Only five NFL teams scored fewer points than Buffalo last season – Cleveland, Oakland, Detroit, Tampa Bay and St. Louis – and those teams finished a combined 16-64.
Senior Sean Smiley drained his fourth three pointer of the game with 4.7 seconds left to break a 65-65 tie and lead the Bulls to a win at Bowling Green, 68-65. The win for the Bulls was just their second all-time at Anderson Arena and improves their record to 9-4 on the season and 2-0 in the MAC.
The Niagara University Athletics Department announced the 2010 season debut for SportsNite Niagara on Friday, Jan. 15. The half-hour coaches’ show will air on Time Warner SportsNet Friday’s at 6:30 p.m. in Buffalo (cable ch. 13) and at 5 p.m. in Rochester (cable ch. 26).
Like everyone, Brian Brohm is playing the waiting game. He hears the rumors. An offensive coordinator here, a defensive guru there. He’s waiting and wondering. Any day, the Buffalo Bills will have a new head coach.
With the entirety of the UB coaching staff set (
Western New York native Jonny Flynn continues his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves and just like the team he represents, both continue to struggle. The Wolves are just 1-7 on the new year, including dropping a triple-overtime thriller at Houston Wednesday night.
A few nights ago I reported that Bill Cowher will not be coaching in Buffalo based on a public tweet by ESPN-NFL insider Adam Schefter, and a simple direct message from him that followed.
According to the Arizona Republic, the 
In August 2009, former UB wrestling team captain and heavyweight wrestler Jeff Parker (2004-2008) was diagnosed with melanoma. He came through surgery and finished his radiation treatments. Unfortunately, his follow up CT scan showed that his cancer had metastasized to his lungs & liver. His current treatments consist of new experimental methods, some of which may not be covered under his health insurance plan.
Today’s Wednesday. The Buffalo Bills have now had an empty chair in the head coach’s office at One Bills Drive for nearly nine full days, and given the nature of their search, that streak is likely to continue a while longer. GM Buddy Nix has his work cut out for him, as he still reportedly has several candidates to interview for the post. He’s also got that tiny task in front of him of making the Bills not stink anymore, too.
