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NFL

Three-time NFL Coach of Year Knox dies at 86
8:11 PM ET

  • Brady HendersonESPN

SEATTLE — Chuck Knox, who has the second-most victories of any coach in Seattle Seahawks history and who also coached the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills, died at age 86 after suffering from dementia.

The Seahawks on Sunday confirmed the news of Knox’s death.

Nicknamed “Ground Chuck” for his teams’ run-first offenses, Knox went 80-63 during the regular season over nine years as Seattle’s coach. His debut season with the Seahawks in 1983 was highlighted by the first playoff appearance in franchise history; Seattle advanced to the AFC Championship Game against the Raiders with a road upset of Dan Marino’s Miami Dolphins in the divisional round.

Knox is the only head coach in the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor, having been inducted in 2005. His 80 victories with Seattle are second to Mike Holmgren’s 86. Pete Carroll is third with 79.

“The Seahawks family is saddened by the loss of Chuck Knox, and our deepest sympathies are extended to his wife, Shirley, and the entire Knox family,” the Seahawks said in a statement. “His presence projects an external toughness, but merited instantaneous respect by the genuine care and concern he held for his players. He was one of the great influences not only in football, but in life.”

Carroll along with former players Jack Youngblood and Brian Bosworth, who both played under Knox, were among those who paid tribute on Twitter.

Born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, Knox compiled a regular-season record of 186-147-1 and went 7-11 in the playoffs during his 22 seasons as a head coach. He coached the Rams (54-15-1) from 1973 to 1977, the Bills (37-36) from 1978 to 1982, the Seahawks from 1983 to 1991 and the Rams (15-33) again from 1992 to 1994.

He was named the AP Coach of the Year in 1973, 1980 and 1984 and also won the UPI version of the award in 1983 and 1984.

“Chuck Knox was the best coach I ever had,” Tom Mack, a former Rams guard and Pro Football Hall of Famer, was quoted as saying in a 2016 Los Angeles Times story. “He always took the time to know each player well enough that he could talk to each player and hit their hot buttons. I never saw another coach like that.”

In their statement, the Rams said that Knox “established a winning culture and a legacy that will never be forgotten, being the only coach to lead the Rams to five consecutive double-digit-win seasons. The memories and accomplishments that Coach Knox left behind will continue to inspire us and Rams fans.”

Soccer

Liverpool, Real Madrid fans in for Kyiv hotel price shock

Kiev – Fancy shelling out 3,500 euros ($4,200) for a night in a budget hotel?

Liverpool and Real Madrid fans who do not may end up sleeping rough for the night when they come to Kiev for the Champions League final.

The Ukrainian capital is the focus of fan fury after its hotels began charging 100 times their standard rates for the big match on May 26.

And some supporters lucky enough to book their beds before they turned into luxury items were aghast to discover their reservations annulled.

The Liverpool FC supporters club even posted a “rough” guide on Facebook that included overnight stays in the Polish city of Wroclaw.

The trek back out of Kiev was set for 3:00 am.

The European football governing body UEFA issued a diplomatic statement to AFP agreeing it might be wisest to just pop in and out of town on match day.

“It is expected that the preferred option for the majority of travelling fans will be charter flights arriving and leaving on the same day,” UEFA said.

The rates some of the city’s more modest places are charging sometimes look like a misprint.

A hotel called Harmony on Andriyivskiy Descent offers a room with a double bed and a miniature TV set balanced on a windowsill for 3,534 euros.

Another two euros gets you a breakfast.

A person at reception asked AFP to write a formal letter to management when asked why the price had been revised up for that one day from the usual 29 euros.

Fans who thought they were being clever by booking long in advance also had trouble getting answers after discovering they had no places to stay.

“Booked my hotel for Kiev months ago,” a Liverpudlian named Stephen wrote on Twitter.

“Now @bookingcom decided that they are gonna cancel it for me free of charge so I can re-book it for 15 grand!”

A spokesperson for Booking.com said all of the site’s prices were set by the hotels and that it was ready to defend the interests of clients who had their reservations tossed out.

Virus attack

The Spanish sport daily Marca published accounts of similar horror stories befalling Real fans.

One received a message from his hotel asking him to cancel his reservation “because we will not have electricity and water for the dates indicated”.

Another place said “a virus attack” was responsible for a cheap room being offered when in fact there were none.

Kiev city authorities have responded by assigning the problem to the state anti-monopoly committee.

The committee said on Tuesday that it had started “to monitor prices on the hotel services market”.

It has not been heard from since.

All of which prompted kind Ukrainian souls to start a Facebook page offering free couches to desperate lovers of the beautiful game.

It had nearly five thousands members by Saturday and a big writeup in the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

Page creator Victor Kylymar told the paper that he was not really into football but felt an “obligation” to help people out.

“This is a common event for all of Europe and to use this to make money is not the best idea,” Kylymar said.

NFL

Wood: Lions followed law with Patricia hiring

Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood said Saturday that his team followed the law when it came to how it approached the hiring process for first-year head coach Matt Patricia earlier this year, even if they didn’t uncover a 22-year-old aggravated sexual assault indictment that has since come to light.

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“We always err on the side of hiring a firm who understands all the laws, follows them, state and federal,” Wood told ESPN on Saturday, “so that we don’t happen upon something that we’re not entitled to have nor would we be able to use.”

In this case, it meant following both federal law and the state laws of Massachusetts and Michigan. The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not allow felony arrests that did not result in convictions beyond seven years old to be considered in possible employment, so most search firms do not include that information on the background checks they provide to employers — and that includes the Lions.

This is all in response to a 1996 aggravated sexual assault indictment after an alleged assault in South Padre Island, Texas, on spring break, when Patricia was a 21-year-old student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The indictment was brought by the grand jury, but Patricia never stood trial, and the case was dismissed in January 1997, when the woman who made the accusation declined to testify.

On Thursday, Patricia maintained he believes he did nothing wrong. He declined during the news conference to go into the specifics of that evening.

“I was innocent then, and I am innocent now,” Patricia said. “I was falsely accused of something that I did not do.”

Wood declined to say what firm the team used for the background check other than to say “they are a well-regarded, national professional background screening company.” He also said he was unaware of APG Security, the firm the Detroit News reported this week had requested the indictment and dismissal forms from the Cameron County prosecutor’s office in January. Wood said the Lions had not employed that firm for their background check.

Wood knows there are other ways for information like this to be found — it is publicly available in Nexis searches and on the Cameron County open records website — but for employment purposes, it could not be considered anyway. And Wood said his franchise wanted to follow the law.

“There might be ways for companies, teams in our case, to find information out about a prospective employee through other means than the legal means,” Wood said. “I guess if others wanted to do that, that’s their prerogative. I’m only in charge of what the Lions do, and I want to do it the right way.”

Additionally, because the Lions were following both Massachusetts and Michigan law, they were not allowed to ask Patricia about any felony or misdemeanor arrests that didn’t lead to convictions. By Michigan law, they could have asked about felony arrests, although Ann Arbor, Michigan-based employment attorney Nicholas Roumel told ESPN he wouldn’t advise companies to ask about arrests that didn’t result in convictions.

Wood did not disclose what questions the franchise asked Patricia other than saying that the answers he gave to their questions were truthful. Wood declined to answer other questions about Patricia and the allegations on Saturday other than the background search and search process.

“There’s been a lot of criticism of people interviewing and questions that were asked that are inappropriate, at the combine and et cetera. And we’re not one of those teams that are going to do those kind of things, whether it’s a player, a coach or an employee,” Wood said. “We’re following the rules, and I’d rather follow the rules and maybe end up where I’m at, although we’re not happy to be dealing with this, there’s no doubt about that.

“But I’d rather be doing that than have broken the rules and had an issue that we were in an unlawful position by having some information. So there’s no doubt it’s a tough spot to be, but I’ll take the tough spot by following the rules versus not following the rules and being in an unlawful position.”

Wood said they did more than just a standard background check and interview in vetting Patricia. They spoke with coaches who had hired him and worked with and for him, along with players who have played for him. Everything, Wood said, came back positive within the reference checks the team sought.

When asked if he had any regrets with how he and the Lions went through the screening process, Wood said they are always looking at how to improve things.

“I would say I’m always trying to get better and the organization is always trying to get better,” Wood said. “But I’m not sure what specific changes, if any, we would make based on this. Always trying to improve every process.”

Soccer

Ronaldo left off Real Madrid's 19-man squad for penultimate La Liga tie

Real Madrid will be without Cristiano Ronaldo for the penultimate match of the season after the Portuguese star was left off manager Zinedine Zidane’s 19-man squad for Saturday’s clash with Celta Vigo.

Ronaldo, who was also absent for Real Madrid’s loss to Sevilla on Wednesday, suffered an ankle injury during El Clasico with Barcelona last week.

It’s unclear if the knock is preventing him from being available for Saturday’s fixture or if Zidane is resting the 32-year-old to ensure he’s fully fit for the Champions League final against Liverpool on May 26.

Despite Ronaldo’s absence in the team sheet, Real Madrid fans will be encouraged by his prospects of featuring in the final in Kyiv, Ukraine, after he participated in Friday’s training session without any signs of being bothered by the injury.

Real Madrid is expected to field a strong team, as Zidane pledged that he wants to “treat” supporters to a victory to cap off the final league match of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“It’s the last game of the season at our stadium and we want to give our fans one last treat by winning the match,” Zidane said Friday. “They deserve it and that’s what we are going to try to do tomorrow. We will give everything to make those who come to watch the last home game leave happy.”

A victory Saturday could result in Real Madrid – which sits 18 points back of Liga champion Barcelona – moving into second place if Atletico Madrid falters during its match Saturday against Getafe.

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Soccer