Wannstedt

LOS ANGELES -- Dave Wannstedt has one eye on the Buffalo Bills and the other on the Chicago Bears this week.The Dallas Cowboys' defensive coordinator finds himself in an unusual situation as he prepares the defensive game plan for the Cowboys against the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII on Sunday. He was named head coach of the Bears last week, but won't begin his duties until after the game.It's believed to be the first time a coach has found himself in this dual capacity, but it doesn't seem to bother Wannstedt.

Dave Wannstedt is out as coach at Pittsburgh. Wannstedt, who coached the Dolphins and Bears in the NFL, resigned under pressure after the Panthers finished 7-5 and qualified for the minor BBVA Compass Bowl. Pitt was favored to win the Big East title. Wannstedt got a two-year extension in March after Pitt went 10-3 in 2009, the program's most wins since 1981. He finished 42-31 in six seasons at his alma mater. Athletic director Steve Pederson said the search for a new coach will begin immediately and that Wannstedt will remain with the school as his special assistant.

SAN FRANCISCO -- When he wasn't dissecting game film, meeting to develop a game plan or preparing the NFL's top-ranked defense for the San Francisco 49ers' quick-strike offense last week, Dave Wannstedt was concentrating on the rest of his professional football life.The Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator met with New York Giants general manager George Young in Dallas about their vacant coaching job. He met with Bears president Mike McCaskey about Chicago's vacancy. He also spoke by telephone with his two main suitors and with Denver general manager John Beake, who also needs a coach.

Baseball BRAVES -- Designated P Lance Cormier for assignment. College PITTSBURGH -- Signed football coach Dave Wannstedt to three-year contract extension through 2012 season. Hockey WILD -- Announced retirement of C Wes Walz.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bears have singled out Dalla Cowboys assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt to become their next coach. An announcement of an agreement was imminent today.Wannstedt met with Bears president Michael McCaskey about the vacant position yesterday, and perhaps sealed the deal to succeed Mike Ditka."We wish him well," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on his radio show last night. "We know Dave Wannstedt will do very well as a head coach, and we expect that announcement at any time."

CHICAGO -- Chicago Bears president Michael McCaskey spoke with Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt by telephone yesterday about the Bears' head-coaching position.McCaskey first received permission to talk with Wannstedt from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.Dallas travels to San Francisco for Sunday's National Football Conference Championship game.Washington Redskins assistant Petitbon said yesterday he was expecting a call from the Bears. McCaskey would neither confirm nor deny any contact with Petitbon last night.

DALLAS -- Defense wins championships and championship teams sometimes lose defensive coordinators. Dave Wannstedt currently leads Dallas Cowboys assistant coaches in titles with three and hopes not to leave without first securing a fourth -- as Super Bowl winners.This has all been discussed by the two football coaches who stick cigars in their mouths before leaving work at least once each week of the season. Wannstedt, who is one of the top head coaching prospects in the NFL, and offensive line coach Tony Wise take long walks around the team practice complex to reduce the stress and pressure of their occupations.

Jimmy Johnson had offers to coach two Florida teams -- Miami and Tampa Bay -- four years ago. Johnson knew Tampa Bay had a younger team and a better situation under the salary cap, but he wanted to live in Miami and figured Dan Marino was a quarterback who could take the team to the Super Bowl. Four years later, Johnson has retired without getting to the Super Bowl, and the Buccaneers, with rookie Shaun King at quarterback, are one game away. Nobody will know whether Johnson would have had the same success in Tampa Bay that Tony Dungy has had, but it's obvious that Johnson made a mistake thinking Marino was the answer.

Jimmy Johnson, who found out how tough it is for a football coach to go home again, resigned yesterday as the coach of the Miami Dolphins after failing to duplicate the success he had with the University of Miami and the Dallas Cowboys. With the approval of Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, Johnson turned the head-coaching job over to his longtime sidekick, Dave Wannstedt, and said he'll have a limited role with the team. "This is final and forever. I really feel that this transition will be very smooth," he said.

NFL coaches were falling like leaves on a chilly autumn afternoon yesterday. Five more hit the unemployment line, boosting the number of vacant jobs to seven.Besides the five teams that handed out pink slips, the two other clubs looking for coaches are the Cleveland Browns expansion team and the San Diego Chargers, who fired Kevin Gilbride during the season and then saw interim coach June Jones depart for a college job at the University of Hawaii.An eighth team will likely be looking for a coach after the playoffs because Mike Holmgren is expected to leave Green Bay for a club that will make him a coach/general manager.

The price of losing at home to the Arizona Cardinals was Dave Wannstedt's job as coach of the Miami Dolphins, served on a plate of retribution last week for a season gone awry. Wannstedt officially stepped down as coach on Tuesday, two days after the Dolphins blew a pair of leads against Arizona, one day after he was told by team owner Wayne Huizenga that he would not be back next season. Call it what you want. In effect, Wannstedt got off easy. He leaves behind an organization in shambles.

MIAMI - Dave Wannstedt will resign as Miami Dolphins head coach today amid his team's 1-8 season, two NFL sources said. Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga met late yesterday afternoon with Wannstedt at team headquarters in Davie, Fla. Huizenga hired Wannstedt in January 2000 to replace the retiring Jimmy Johnson. Wannstedt could not be reached for comment despite several attempts by telephone. Defensive coordinator Jim Bates will serve as Wannstedt's interim replacement, the sources said.

DAVIE, Fla. - Coach Dave Wannstedt did about the only thing he could yesterday. He tried to remain positive about a Miami Dolphins season that got rocky before it even started because star running back Ricky Williams decided he didn't want to play football anymore. Wannstedt, appearing weary but composed at a news conference, likened Williams' sudden retirement - first reported early yesterday by The Miami Herald - to any situation where a player is lost suddenly to injury. But there is a difference between losing a player to a broken leg, an inevitable part of the game, and losing the team's top offensive player because he quits days before the season, a development that jolted the Dolphins.

MIAMI - The Miami Dolphins' series of offseason headaches turned into a crisis this weekend when star running back Ricky Williams told coach Dave Wannstedt he is retiring - a week before training camp. Despite attempts by friends and colleagues to talk him out of quitting, Williams said yesterday he was overjoyed by his decision, one that has been months in the making. "You can't understand how free I feel," Williams said before boarding a plane in Hawaii and heading to Asia to begin several months of travel.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Dan Marino's tenure as the Miami Dolphins' top football executive ended before it really started. Marino, who accepted a job as senior vice president of football operations three weeks ago and was to begin next week, surprised team owner H. Wayne Huizenga yesterday by telling him he would not rejoin the organization he led as a quarterback for 17 seasons. In a statement released by the team, Marino said he wasn't prepared to make the "significant lifestyle change" that the position would require for him and his family, which includes six children.

The Miami Dolphins sent quarterback Dan Marino off into pro football's retirement sunset yesterday with what amounted to a golden parachute. Moments after Marino made it official that he's ending his 17-year career as the most prolific passer in NFL history, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga announced how the team will salute him. Huizenga said the Dolphins will retire his No. 13, induct him into the Dolphin Hall of Honor at halftime of the first regular-season game...

George Young is having this little problem. He can't fin anyone to coach the New York Giants. How humiliating.He took a run at Tom Coughlin. Rejected. He took a run at Dave Wannstedt. Rejected. He took a big swing and missed on this last one, too, with the Bears expected to announce Wannstedt today to replace Mike Ditka.And with the odds better that Young will bring back Ray Handley before he would work again with Bill Parcells, you can say Young is in a bit of a bind right about now. He must start over.

The Miami Dolphins sent quarterback Dan Marino off into pro football's retirement sunset yesterday with what amounted to a golden parachute. Moments after Marino made it official that he's ending his 17-year career as the most prolific passer in NFL history, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga announced how the team will salute him. Huizenga said the Dolphins will retire his No. 13, induct him into the Dolphin Hall of Honor at halftime of the first regular-season game...

Jimmy Johnson had offers to coach two Florida teams -- Miami and Tampa Bay -- four years ago. Johnson knew Tampa Bay had a younger team and a better situation under the salary cap, but he wanted to live in Miami and figured Dan Marino was a quarterback who could take the team to the Super Bowl. Four years later, Johnson has retired without getting to the Super Bowl, and the Buccaneers, with rookie Shaun King at quarterback, are one game away. Nobody will know whether Johnson would have had the same success in Tampa Bay that Tony Dungy has had, but it's obvious that Johnson made a mistake thinking Marino was the answer.

Jimmy Johnson, who found out how tough it is for a football coach to go home again, resigned yesterday as the coach of the Miami Dolphins after failing to duplicate the success he had with the University of Miami and the Dallas Cowboys. With the approval of Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, Johnson turned the head-coaching job over to his longtime sidekick, Dave Wannstedt, and said he'll have a limited role with the team. "This is final and forever. I really feel that this transition will be very smooth," he said.