Schottenheimer to lead Cowboys offense
Brian Schottenheimer is taking over as offensive coordinator for Dallas, with the Cowboys still planning on coach Mike McCarthy taking on play-calling duties.
Schottenheimer’s move from consultant to Kellen Moore’s replacement was announced Friday along with the rest of the changes to McCarthy’s staff.
The 49-year-old Schottenheimer joined the Dallas staff last season after a season as passing game coordinator in Jacksonville that followed a three-year stint as the offensive coordinator for Russell Wilson in Seattle.
Moore and the Cowboys agreed to part ways in January, a week quarterback Dak Prescott and the offense struggled in a 19-12 divisional round loss to San Francisco. A day after that move, Moore was hired as the offensive coordinator for the Chargers.
Schottenheimer is the son of the late Marty Schottenheimer, who gave McCarthy his first NFL job on the elder Schottenheimer’s Kansas City staff in 1993.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll cited philosophical differences when firing the younger Schottenheimer after the 2020 season.
Wilson threw 40 touchdown passes for the highest-scoring team in franchise history, but the offense regressed in the second half of the season. Similar to the Cowboys this past season, Seattle’s offense was considered one of the issues in a 3020 playoff loss to the Rams.
The Cowboys are promoting Scott Tolzien to quarterbacks coach after three seasons as an offensive assistant. He replaces Doug Nussmeier. Tolzien played seven NFL seasons, including stints as the backup to Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and Andrew Luck in Indianapolis.
• The Kansas City Chiefs promoted Matt Nagy to offensive coordinator to replace the departed Eric Bieniemy, giving him the job he held before departing Andy Reid’s staff for an opportunity as the head coach in Chicago.
Nagy spent two seasons directing the Chiefs’ offense with Alex Smith at quarterback. He then spent four seasons with the Bears, going 34-31 in the regular season and winning the NFC North in 2018, before he was fired after a 6-11 season in 2021. He returned to the Chiefs as their quarterbacks coach.
Bieniemy had been the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator the past five seasons, but was passed over numerous times for head coachings jobs. The perception has been that Reid had the majority of the say in Kansas City’s offense.
Partly in response to that, Bieniemy left Kansas City after its win over the Eagles in the Super Bowl to take the offensive coordinator job in Washington, where he will have more responsibility and call the offensive plays.
• Backup quarterback C.J. Beathard signed a two-year contract extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars, keeping him from hitting free agency next month. Beathard spent the last two seasons as Trevor Lawrence’s backup. He played in six games, with most of the work coming in mop-up duty. He’s 2-10 as an NFL starter, with all 12 starts coming during his three seasons with San Francisco.
Kirk fires a 62 at Honda, is 1 shot back
There have been about 7,200 rounds played at the Honda Classic since it moved to PGA National 17 years ago.
Only two of those were better than the one turned in Friday by Chris Kirk.
Kirk shot an 8-under 62 in the second round in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., moving him to 9 under for the week and one shot behind Justin Suh (64) at the tournament’s midway point. Kirk had an eagle and six birdies, hitting 16 greens and taking advantage of no wind blowing in the morning — very rare for PGA National.
“Usually we’re playing for 15-, 20-plus yards of hurt going into the wind shots, and 15, 20 yards of help on downwind shots,” Kirk said. “It’s really difficult to get those just right when it’s really windy. But today there was hardly a breath most of the round, and so it became a little bit more target practice.”
Suh had four consecutive birdies on holes 8 through 11, rolling in putts from 5, 15, 25 and 30 feet in that span, to post a 36-hole total of 10-under 130.
There was no shortage of players taking dead aim. Ryan Gerard (63) and Ben Taylor (65) were tied for third at 8 under. Ben Martin (64), Eric Cole (66) and Brice Garnett (64) were all another shot back.
• Paul Casey birdied his last three holes for a 6-under 65 and a share of the lead with Jason Kokrak as the second season of Saudifunded LIV Golf began at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Casey was 5 under through 10 holes before he lost ground with a double bogey on the par-4 second hole. He responded with a hat trick of birdies to close out his round on the El Camaleon golf course at the resort south of Cancun.
Kokrak played bogeyfree, chipping in for one birdie and holing a couple of lengthy putts.
They were two shots clear of Peter Uihlein, Talor Gooch and Carlos Ortiz, one of two Mexican players who are part of the 48man LIV roster.
Mayakoba previously hosted a PGA Tour event in the fall from 2007 until November, when the resort moved over to LIV Golf.
Dustin Johnson, who won the points list and its $18 million bonus last year while leading his 4Aces to the team title, was slowed by consecutive bogeys in the middle of his round. He was part of the group at 68.
• Natthakritta Vongtaveelap finished strongly with six birdies on the back nine to take a oneshot lead over Maja Stark after a 7-under 65 in the second round at the LPGA Thailand in Pattaya.
• Jan Stephenson, a three-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her “Crossroads Foundation” said the cancer was stage 3 and the 71-year-old Australian will begin a treatment of chemotherapy and radiation in the next two weeks.
Tennessee suspends coach Vitello
Tennessee suspended baseball coach Tony Vitello for the Volunteers’ weekend series with Dayton while university officials, Vitello and the NCAA handle a violation in the program.
Officials announced the suspension right before the Volunteers (3-2), ranked as high as No. 3 in one major poll, opened a threegame set with Dayton. Josh Elander is replacing Vitello as acting head coach, and the university said in a statement an update will be provided Monday.
“Coach Vitello has acknowledged his mistake and accepted full responsibility,” Tennessee said in the statement. “We appreciate his cooperation in the process and his dedication to do right by the studentathletes in the Tennessee baseball program.”
Tennessee cited NCAA bylaws for preventing any further details being released. But shortstop Maui Ahuna has yet to be cleared to play for Tennessee after transferring to the school last June.
Murray saves 5 match points to reach final
Andy Murray saved five match points to beat Jiri Lehecka 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (6) and advance to the final of the Qatar Open in Doha.
The 35-year-old Murray reached his first ATP Tour final since June and will face former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.
“He’s a legend,” Medvedev said of Murray. “Today was just unbelievable, the way he won.”
Murray, the three-time Grand Slam champion who has had two hip operations, fought back from a 5-3 deficit in the deciding set. He saved two match points on his own serve and three more when his Czech opponent served for the match.
“That was one of the most amazing turnarounds I’ve had in my career,” the Scot said in his on-court interview. “I have no idea how I managed to turn that one around to be honest.”
Medvedev beat secondseeded Felix Auger-Aliassime for the second time in two weeks, this time 6-4, 7-6 (7).
• Top-ranked Iga Swiatek stayed undefeated against Coco Gauff, beating the American teenager 6-4, 6-2 to reach the final at the Dubai Championships. The three-time Grand Slam champion improved to 6-0 against the 18-yearold Gauff, and each victory has been in straight sets. The Pole beat Gauff in last year’s French Open final.
Anthony is a World Cup ambassador
Carmelo Anthony was introduced in Manila as the newest FIBA World Cup Global Ambassador. The World Cup will be in the Philippines this summer.
Anthony said it was special to be picked for the role, especially since his close friend Kobe Bryant was an ambassador for the 2019 World Cup in China. Anthony said it was “special to kind of follow what Kobe has created on a global scale.”
“I’m sure he definitely would have been here with me, watching these games, coming over, hanging in the Philippines and just enjoying himself,” Anthony said. “For me, I can continue part of his legacy, but also establish what I have to establish for myself.”
Anthony, a three-time Olympic champion, joins Pau Gasol and Luis Scola as ambassadors.
The U.S., now 9-2 in qualifying, beat Uruguay Thursday to clinch a World Cup berth.