Chiefs extend deals of Reid, GM, president after Super Bowl win
Back-to-back Super Bowl championships and three titles in a five-year span prompted the Kansas City Chiefs to reward their top brass with contract extensions on Monday. Coach Andy Reid, general manager Brett Veach and club president Mark Donovan received what the club termed as long-term deals, though specifics weren’t announced.
According to NFL.com, Reid got a new pact that runs through 2029 and makes him the league’s highest-paid coach.
Reid, 66, has been on the job since 2013, compiling a 128-51 regular-season record and a 16-7 playoff mark in Kansas City. He has led the Chiefs to the playoffs in all but one of his 11 seasons.
His overall regular-season record as a head coach is 258-144-1, and he is 26-16 in the postseason. Reid is the active NFL leader in coaching wins, ranking fourth all time behind Don Shula (328), George Halas (318) and Bill Belichick (302). Belichick leads the postseason coaching-wins list with 31, with Reid in second.
Veach, 46, took over as the Chiefs’ GM in 2017 after four years in the team’s front office. He previously was on the Eagles’ staff from 2004-12. Donovan, 58, also came to Kansas City after a stint in the Eagles’ front office from 2003-09. He became the Chiefs’ president in January 2011. interceptions in nine games (seven starts). He also rushed for 127 yards and three scores.
Report: McIlroy set for surprise return to PGA Tour board
Rory McIlroy didn’t stay away from the PGA Tour’s policy board for long.
The four-time major champion from Northern Ireland will return as a player director on the policy board and take a seat on the board of PGA Tour Enterprises, the Guardian reported Monday.
McIlroy stepped back from the policy board in November following the dramatic tussle between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV Golf and the organizations’ subsequent “framework agreement” for a merger.
According to the Guardian, however, Webb Simpson has submitted his resignation from the policy board with an “explicit request” that McIlroy take his seat.
McIlroy would need to be approved by a vote on Wednesday, per the report. With peers like Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay holding votes, it’s unlikely McIlroy’s return would face any resistance.
Bid for historic win on hold as Korda withdraws from LA event
The golf world will have to wait a little longer to see whether Nelly Korda can make history with a sixth consecutive LPGA Tour win.
The top-ranked player in the world withdrew Monday from the JM Eagle LA Championship, scheduled to start Thursday at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.
“It was not an easy decision,” Korda said in a statement on the LPGA Tour website. “After the unbelievable week at The Chevron and grinding through the mental and physical challenges of four events in the past five weeks, I am definitely feeling exhausted.
“With so much still to come throughout 2024, I feel I need to listen to my body and get some rest, so I can be ready for the remainder of the season.”
Korda, 25, fired a final-round 69 to win her LPGA record-tying fifth straight event – and second major title – at the Chevron Championship on Sunday in The Woodlands, Texas.
Djokovic mulls going without coach after 20 years as pro
World number one Novak Djokovic is considering going without a coach after 20 years in professional tennis, the Serb said after receiving the top men’s honour at the Laureus awards.
The 24-time Grand Slam title-winner ended a fiveyear partnership with Croatian coach Goran Ivanisevic last month following his third-round exit at Indian Wells.
He had former doubles world number one Nenad Zimonjic with him at the Monte-Carlo Masters earlier this month, but the 36-year-old is pondering whether to navigate this late stage of his tennis career by himself.
“I am considering whether I should or shouldn’t have the coach,” Djokovic said on Monday. “I had a really good time with Zimonjic… we’re talking about continuing. Let’s see, I’m going to make the decision in the next period.”
“It’s not like I think I don’t need a coach at all. I think there’s always value in having that quality team… But I think I’m in the stage of my career where I can afford to maybe think having no coach is also an option.”
USADA wants investigation into China swimming
The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency demanded on Monday an investigation into the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) handling of 23 positive tests by Chinese swimmers and welcomed the global body’s threat of legal action.
During a nearly two hour Zoom call with the media WADA fired back at critics and provided detailed explanation of its decision not to pursue sanctions on the swimmers, who tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) months before the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics began in July 2021.
The swimmers escaped punishment after an investigation by Chinese authorities ruled the adverse analytical findings, or AAFs, were the result of being inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination.