Chiefs extend Reid, but fire GM Dorsey
Andy Reid and John Dorsey arrived with the Kansas City Chiefs within weeks of each other, the coach and general manager given the massive undertaking of turning around a 2-14 franchise.
Reid will head into Year 5 by himself. The Chiefs announced Thursday that they had signed their head coach to a contract extension, and then revealed less than an hour later that they parted ways with their GM. The decisions were announced by chairman Clark Hunt in two statements on what is typically a quiet week in the offseason.
“My family and I have been very pleased by the success the franchise has sustained over the last four seasons under Coach Reid,” Hunt said. “He has already established himself as one of the best coaches in the league, and he is well on his way to solidifying a place among the all-time greats.”
It wasn’t just Reid who got the Chiefs on the winning track, though.
Dorsey arrived from Green Bay with a reputation for being a savvy scout, his track record working in the front office of the Packers seemingly impeccable. And over the past four seasons, he managed to turn a roster with a few big names but little depth into one of the strongest in the league.
It still wasn’t enough to keep his job with the Chiefs. Hunt did not say who will handle the GM duties on an interim basis.
The New England Patriots signed former New York Jets linebacker David Harris and released receiver DeAndrew White. Terms of Harris’ deal weren’t announced, but a source says it could be worth up to $6.75 million for two years. Harris, a second-round pick from Michigan in 2007, was released by the Jets in a series of salary-purging transactions.
Ex-Arizona State coach Kush dies
Frank Kush, the fearsome coach who transformed Arizona State from a backwater football program into a powerhouse, has died. He was 88.
Arizona State confirmed the death on Thursday.
“Coach Kush built ASU into a national football power,” ASU President Michael M. Crow said in a statement. “He taught us how to make football work, and he put ASU on the map long before it was a fullscale university . ...
“By growing ASU football he helped us build the whole university into what it is today. He will be sorely missed.”
Mr. Kush compiled a 176-54-1 record while coaching the Sun Devils from 1958 to 1979. His 1975 team went 12-0.
But Mr. Kush’s intense style figured in his firing in October 1979 for what the university said was his interference in an internal investigation of allegations by a former player of physical and mental harassment against the coach.
He was head coach of the NFL’s Colts for two years in Baltimore and one in Indianapolis from 1982 to 1984, going 11-28-1. College basketball: Santa Clara announced the signing of 6-foot-2 guard Tahj Eaddy, who started 12 games last season for Southeast Missouri, where he averaged 7.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 points for the 15-18 Redhawks. Eaddy will sit out the 2017-18 season, then have three years of eligibility remaining. Soccer: At the Confederation Cup in Russia, Alexis Sanchez became Chile’s all-time leading scorer with his 38th goal in a 1-1 draw with Germany . ... Australia and Cameroon tied 1-1. Tennis: Eight-time champion Roger Federer defeated Mischa Zverev 7-6 (4), 6-4 to make the quarterfinals at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. Arrest: Michael Dwayne Boddie, 55, the father of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, was arrested on charges of being involved in a drug ring conspiring to sell heroin in Newport News, Va.