Archives for January 17, 2006

‘There was a web site set up specifically for Joe by good friend Bob Loretelli, a high school principal in Modesto, Calif. The Bills also picked up on the project and have continued to maintain a steady contact base for any fans wishing to express their wishes and thoughts. “Within a week and a half after it was set up,” Ferguson recalled, “we got over a thousand e-mails wishing us the best, many from all over the world.” Some were from U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Fans in Japan e-mailed and so did countless number of Bills’ fans. And there were phone calls from former teammates in Buffalo, from Joe DeLamielleure and Reggie McKenzie and from O.J. Simpson to J.D. Hill.’

‘Team spokesman Scott Berchtold announced the interview but did not provide any details.’

‘Jauron, 55, has two decades worth of NFL coaching experience, including one season (1985) as the defensive backs coach.’

‘”Football became so small,” Ferguson said in reflecting on the months of treatments. “Everything became small. You’re talking here about life. Nothing in football or what I had ever faced in athletics comes close in comparing to this. No challenge has ever been greater than this one.”‘

‘However, the 2005 season – the final season of Wilson’s handpicked president/GM, Tom Donahoe, who failed in his five years at the helm to bring the Bills back to the NFL’s postseason tournament – was a contentious one and may have irreparably damaged the team’s standing in the community. As an organization, the Bills exuded an arrogance in recent seasons that was unfounded. There was also a paranoia, as when security personnel were ordered to remove handmade signs from fans at the final home game of the season that called for the firing of Donahoe and/or head coach Mike Mularkey.’

‘"He’s up in heaven now. Hunter fought every day of his life and that kid never gave up. He lived the longest of anyone who had Krabbe leukodystrophy," Kelly said. "I think about him every day. I wanted to see these kids. I know what their parents are going through and how important it is to raise money for causes like this."’

‘In this situation, the best thing for Levy to do is put his Chicago bias aside and look at the big picture. The Bills have been awful for five straight years and it’s time to bring a coach into the organization that is respected, successful, and has proven himself as a coordinator or head coach. Certainly, Jauron hasn’t been successful enough. If the Bills do hire an assistant as their head coach, it would be best to hire a youthful coach like Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks coach Sean Payton, or Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera.’

‘After hanging up his football helmet in 1969, Ferguson went into management training at Harrison Radiator in Lockport. He rose to manufacturing supervisor for the successor company, Delphi Corp., before retiring in 2002. In the King tradition, Ferguson has kept a commitment to community service during his years in Western New York. He is a director of Meals on Wheels and the St. Augustine Center and is active in the Bills Alumni Foundation, which distributed $75,000 to charities in 2005.’

‘The Hunter James Kelly Institute, with $7 million in initial state seed money, in the next couple of years will be home to 12 scientists with separate research teams at the University at Buffalo’s Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences studying diseases such as those that took the life of 8-year-old Hunter last August, aides to the governor said Monday.’

‘Dick Jauron will be the first to interview for the Buffalo Bills’ head-coaching position. According to an NFL source, Jauron is scheduled to meet with Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. and General Manager Marv Levy today.’

‘To western New Yorkers, disgusted with the Bills’ 5-11 season, only one fate is worse than having Ralph Wilson own the team: For him to croak and have his family sell.’

‘The team is expected to bring in ex-Buffalo linebacker and former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett, Dallas passing game coordinator Sean Peyton and possibly former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman this week.’

‘Former Bills linebacker and recent New Orleans coach Jim Haslett tells 7 Sports that he’s had more "informal" contact with Bills officials but has no interview offer at this time. Haslett says he’ll have a second interview for the Lions head coaching vacancy late Monday or early Tuesday.’

‘A source tells Channel 2 the 48 year old Sherman, who was fired following the Packers just completed 4-12 season, was contacted by the Bills and quickly agreed to the interview. Sherman has already interviewed with the NY Jets and New Orleans Saints and is believed to be the front runner for the Saints vacancy.’

‘Gray also told The Associated Press on Monday that the Bills have given him permission to seek jobs with other teams, providing him another reason to believe he won’t be back with Buffalo next season. “I don’t think so,” said Gray, who has a year left on his contract. “If you’re a defensive coordinator and they want you, they’re not going to give you permission to go somewhere else. … So I’m pretty sure that means they’re letting you go be a D coordinator elsewhere because they’ve got other plans here.”‘