Posted by Josh Katzowitz

While most of those who play in the UFL toil in relative obscurity, the league’s owners have done a pretty impressive job of hiring coaches who have big names and give some much-needed credibility to the league.

Among the biggest names are former Giants coach Jim Fassell (Las Vegas Locomotives), former Cardinals coach Dennis Green (California Redwoods), and former Falcons coach Jerry Glanville (just hired by the Hartford Colonials).

But perhaps the biggest get for the league came today when Marty Schottenheimer announced (via Twitter, naturally) that he is the new head coach and GM of the Virginia Destroyers.

This move was expected, but today’s confirmation is sure to build excitement about the relocated UFL franchise (it formerly was known as the Florida Tuskers), especially considering Schottenheimer comes in with some serious credentials as an NFL coach (a 200-126 career record, which makes him, unfortunately for him, the winningest head coach never to take a Super Bowl title).

A quick story about Schottenheimer that I (speaking of timely!) heard just this week.

One Sunday, when Schottenheimer coached in Kansas City, his squad had just beaten its opponent 10-7, when Chiefs president Carl Peterson and his guest, pass offense guru and legend Sid Gillman, visited him in the postgame locker room.

Gillman, by that time long retired, continued to watch current game film to keep up to date on the latest happenings in pro football. Knowing that Gillman regularly watched film of his team, Schottenheimer asked Gillman what he thought about the Chiefs offense.

Gillman’s response: “Marty, you have no offense.”

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones might be making plans to try to circumvent the Rooney Rule, the imperative that states an NFL team hiring a head coach must interview a minority candidate.

Although Dallas only has won a single game since Jones fired Wade Phillips and replaced him with Jason Garrett, Jones might want to keep Garrett – who was once considered a rising star among assistant coaches – and replace the “interim coach” tag with, um, the, “real coach” tag.

Jones made an appearance on KRLD today, and he said (via the Dallas Morning News) , "There are some extenuating circumstances involved here. On my decision, how we'll make it, I'll have to present that to the league. So we'll see how that goes but I can't give you any type of answer to that because I'm not sure I'm through working the process."

Unless the assistant coach has a clause in his deal that makes him the coach-in-waiting – a clause Pro Football Talk says Garrett does not have – Jones will have to interview a minority. No way around it.

But Jones already has gotten his way around the Rule one other time. In 2003, when he wanted to give the job to Bill Parcells, he interviewed Dennis Green by phone. The NFL said that was fine, but since then, the league has mandated the minority candidate actually be interviewed in person .

Jones, I’m sure, will try to figure something else out if he wants to give the job to Garrett. I don’t know, does Skype count as an in-person interview?

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Ignorant college football fans are forever asking the question, “Hey, what would happen if Ohio State/Oklahoma/Florida/Alabama played the worst team in the NFL (ahem, the Bills.”) Invariably, depending on how much they’ve imbibed that evening, those fans will say, “Aw man, I bet the Buckeyes/Sooners/Gators/Crimson Tide would kick Buffalo up and down the field.”

Of course, this is in no way true. The best college football team in American could make a decent showing against a team filled with professionals. But there’s almost no chance the college squad would actually win (the great thing about saying something definitive like that in this scenario is that there’s no way I can be proven wrong).

I will say this, though. From the 1930s to the 1970s, college all-star teams occasionally would beat the defending NFL champion) .

OK, so that’s settled. No college team would beat an NFL team. We all can agree with that, right?

But what about the UFL? Could the best squad from the UFL beat the NFL’s worst (ahem, the Bills)?

Las Vegas Locomotives coach Jim Fassel thinks it could happen.

"I can't speak for the other teams, but I think the lower part of the NFL – teams that have struggled this year – yeah, I think it would be a good game," Fassel said on a conference call this week, via Fanhouse.

“I wouldn't make a statement of, 'We can beat those teams.' I don't know about that, but that's just the way I feel about every game. Yeah, I think we would match up and play with 'em, the lower echelon of the NFL."

That’s probably true, when you consider that more than 50 players from last year’s UFL rosters were signed to NFL teams this season (FYI, at the picture on the right, Omaha Nighthawks' and former NFL RB Ahman Green is tackled by the Hartford Colonials' Adrian Grady, rear, and Kenny Ingram (91) ). And while Fassel thinks it could happen, Sacramento Mountain Lions coach Dennis Green doesn’t appear to agree.

"It's like the Rams playing against Ohio State," Green said.

And as well all know, the Buckeyes would have almost no shot against St. Louis.

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More details have emerged following the arrest of former ESPN.com analyst Jeremy Green, also the son of former coach Dennis Green.

According to the Hartford Courant , Green participated in an online chat last month where he shared sexually explicit and videos of a toddler and engaged in a conversation with a mother online (actually an undercover police officer) who offered to bring her three children to him.

Green has been charged with first-degree possession of child pornography, along with other drug charges. According to the Courant, he’s on suicide watch at Garner Correctional Institute in Connecticut.

From the story:

Green had sent the undercover detective 17 pictures of a toddler, two videos of a toddler and one video of an 8-year-old girl, the warrant states. …

Green was with his girlfriend in the motel room when detectives entered July 8. They found two computers, cocaine and flash drives. Detectives seized Green's personal computer, a computer belonging to his employer, ESPN, the cocaine and the flash drives, the warrant states.

Bristol detectives examined the contents of one of the flash drives and found more than 100 pornographic images. A sampling of those images showed girls between the ages of 2 and 10, according to the arrest warrant.

Green currently is being held on bail of $750,000.


--Josh Katzowitz

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An ESPN football analyst and the son of former Vikings and Cardinals coach Dennis Green was arrested Thursday night and charged with possession of child pornography. On Friday, the Bristol Press reported Jeremy Green, 38, told police that he was a cocaine user.

Green is a former NFL scout and worked for espn.com. He was also charged with possession of narcotics and possession of drug paraphernalia.

From the Press story:

In the state of Connecticut, an individual must possess more than 50 depictions or images to be charged with first-degree possession of child pornography. Green admitted to officers during a statement he gave police after his arrest that he used cocaine, (prosecutor Ronald) Dearstyne said. Bristol police declined to comment on any aspect citing the sealed arrest warrant.

Green has been with ESPN for five years, court officials said, and was described on the company’s web site as an “ESPN.com NFL Insider” who responds to questions from fans on SportsNation. Green also previously hosted the “Football Today” podcast for ESPN.com and works for Scouts, Inc.

Green’s bond has been set at $750,000, and he has a court appearance scheduled for July 20.

UPDATE (7:22 PM ET): ESPN now says Green no longer works for the network.


--Josh Katzowitz

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On Monday, we learned former Redskins QB Doug Williams, the MVP of Super Bowl XXII will become the GM of the United Football League’s hot-off-the-presses approved team in Norfolk, Va.

Williams is only the latest former NFL star to turn up in the UFL. Last week, the rumors were hot and heavy that former Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell would show up in the league, though that hasn’t happened. You also might remember former Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper has joined the Sacramento Mountain Lions (working, by the way, with his old coach Dennis Green), while former Packers star RB Ahman Green – a four-time Pro Bowler – is continuing his career with the Omaha Nighthawks.

You’ll remember last year (or, probably, you don’t) that former Bills QB J.P. Losman, former Bengals RB DeDe Dorsey and former Giants coach Jim Fassel starred in the league. The league also is expanding. Last season, four teams played six times. This year, there’s a fifth team – the Nighthawks, coached by Jeff Jagodzinski (who’s had quite a ride himself these past few years ) – and in 2011, Norfolk will join.

If you have a minute, take a look at a UFL roster. You’ll see players who you’ll recognize from the NFL but players you probably haven’t thought about in a while. A guy like Tim Rattay or Eric Ghiaciuc or Chris Perry or Brooks Bollinger (last season’s league MVP). Plus, you’ll see plenty of all-conference college players who simply weren’t good enough to stick in the NFL.

Or you’ll find somebody like Culpepper – a three-time Pro Bowler who threw for more than 24,000 yards and 149 touchdowns in his 11-year NFL career.

This is what he said when he signed:

"My goal for this year was to get on the field and play football," Culpepper said in a statement released by the league. "When the opportunity came for me to sign with the UFL and play for coach Green in Sacramento, I could not resist. I am impressed with his approach to the game and to his players."

He must really want to play. After all, he could have been the Detroit Lions starting QB last year (if he had beaten out Matthew Stafford for the job). I wanted to get a current NFL player’s opinion on the NFL, so I asked Bengals FS Chris Crocker about it.

“Those guys obviously think they can still play football,” Crocker said. “It kind of depends on where they are in their career. Take Daunte. If you can make $200,000 or $300,000 and play eight games, that’s not a bad gig. But you won’t see guys like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning doing something like that, because it tarnishes your reputation.”

I’d say there’s very little chance Culpepper is making $300,000. In fact, I’d be shocked if that was the case. At the maximum, I’d guess he’s making $50,000. But if he thinks he can play well enough to earn another chance in the NFL, why not take the plunge?

All you have to think about is Kurt Warner, who went from obscurity in the AFL to a probable Pro Football Hall of Famer. It's not an impossible task. It's happened before, and Culpepper hopes it can happen again.


--Josh Katzowitz

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